South America, finally! Two weeks in Bogota and the northern coast of Colombia

Two years between blog posts isn't traditionally how you keep an audience coming back for more. But then blogging itself is a bit old-fashioned now, so I'm not exactly at the cutting edge of online entertainment.

That said, this blog is now in its 20th year because I am a middle-aged man and started it when I went backpacking after university. And while the posts may not be as regular as they once were, they're still packed full of travel-based goodness and top quality photos with pithy captions.

Excitingly, this was my first foray into the continent of South America which leaves me with only one continent left to visit – Antarctica. Probably won't be ticking that one off the list any time soon, but never say never,    

In two weeks you can just about scrape the surface of Colombia but there's so much I didn't have time for on this trip. It's a big country, nearly five times the size of the UK, so I had to leave some things out. You could go there and focus on just the cities, the mountains, coffee regions, the jungles, or the coast. 

I flew in and out of Bogota, then focused on the north coast – Cartagena, the Rosario Islands, Tayrona National Park and Santa Marta. Cartagena and Tayrona National Park were the highlights on the coast. Cartagena is a beautiful old walled city beside the sea and Tayrona is a scenic national park with trails you can take through the jungle before ending up on a stunning beach.

One notable achievement for me in Colombia was that I levelled up to become a black coffee drinker. If you're going to do it anywhere, it might as well be a country known for excellent coffee. The food and drink in general was pretty decent, although I wouldn't say Colombian food is the most exciting in the world. Lots of good solid hearty options, and ceviche was a highlight, but often the best food I had was non-Colombian. Wu Dumplings and Beer in Bogota, for example, was really good and the food is accompanied by 90s hip-hop restaurant soundtrack.

Taxis and the driving in general was an experience. Driving in Colombia is what you could generously call 'quite aggressive' – indicators might as well be replaced entirely with an extra button to honk your horn. It's not the first place in the world I've been where buses are driven with such gusto but sometimes you forget quite how different countries have their own national driving style. Let's call it a style.

Here are are a few other highlights to round off:

- Watching the World Cup Final in Cartagena where everyone was supporting Spain and disliked Argentina because of the dirty tactics they employed.

- Playing tejo (see photos below) which is technically the national sport of Colombia but one I'd not heard of before visiting.

- Met a Welsh boat captain in a bar who had decided to make a bold career change to emerald dealer. He had employed the translation services of a Colombian man (also in the bar) who had spent 30 years in the Swedish Air Force, before becoming a translator for high-level diplomats and state leaders, including Tony Blair and Barack Obama. (Saw photo evidence of Blair)

- Zipaquirá and its Salt Cathedral were an unexpectedly charming day trip out of Bogota. 

- Street art in Colombia is a big deal and really brighten the place up. More street art everywhere please.

Plaza de Bolivar in the Candelaria district of Bogota. The mountain behind it is called Monserrate, which has a large Catholic Church on top. You can walk all the way up, which takes about two hours, but the cable car and funicular railway seemed the more fun and less sweaty options.

This was one of my favourite paintings on a walk round the Botero Museum in Bogota. It features lots of works by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, who certainly had a recognisable style.

Street art in Colombia was fantastic in general, especially in the capital. A bit of fortuitous timing means the cat is looking at the woman who works in the cafe inside the building.

More street art, but in Cartagena this time.

The walls of Cartagena and the clock tower at night.

If you see a guillotine in the backyard of a museum it's your duty to have a photo taken in it. This was in the Palacio de la Inquisicion in Cartagena. 

A park in Cartagena that went big on the fairy lights.

A balcony in Cartagena that went big on the flowers.

I intercepted Alastair in Cartagena and we took a trip to Isla Grande, which is part of the Rosario Islands off the northern coast of Colombia. The ride there was pretty smooth, the ride back was somewhat bumpier.

Langoustine lunch on the beach in Isla Grande. Watched the fishermen arrive on their boat, they showed us what they'd caught and we said yes please.

Obligatory sunset photo on Island Grande. Although by luck more than judgement we also happened upon one of Pablo Escobar's abandoned mansions, which was just over my left shoulder as I took this photo. It's  boarded up and falling apart now.

One of several monkeys I saw on the walk through Tayrona National Park.

If you ignore how sweaty my shirt is, the scene looks kind of idyllic. This is the destination when you're on the two-hour jungle trek through Tayrona National Park. If you don't want to do the walk there and back in one day, you can sleep in a hammock in that tower in the background.

There wasn't a lot to see in Santa Marta, it's more of a transport hub for people visiting other places nearby. But large iguanas roaming around the gardens of the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino were worth a photo. 

This sign in the Chapinero district of Bogota raises more questions than it answers. 

The central square in Zipaquirá, home to the Salt Cathedral and an excellent cafe with a manager that very charmingly upsold us on some excellent coffee.

Inside the Salt Cathedral. That green crucifix at the back is supposedly the largest underground crucifix in the world. How much competition is there for that title? I don't know. But what I do know is the cathedral/caves dug out of a giant former salt mine was very impressive and well worth a day trip from Bogota.

On the final night in Colombia we played a game called Tejo, which involves throwing a heavy metal disc like (about the size of an ice hockey puck) at some exploding targets surrounded by clay. Can be played at the same time as drinking beer.

Close up of the metal disc (known as a tejo), which is thrown at the clay target area. You get more points for landing between the exploding targets but where's the fun in that?