2016 Archives - Page 6 of 7 - In Search Of Umami

How much does it cost to travel in Colombia? Our budget and tips

With one euro being at least 3300 Colombian pesos everyone is a millionaire. But those millions fade away like in a casino in Vegas. In Colombia we spend 6686 euros for an amazing 110 day adventure. Per day that would give us 30.40 euros per person.

Where did we go?

From the amazing Caribbean islands of San Andres and Providencia to calm villages of the coffee region. From the salsa vibe in Cali to the excruciating hike to the Lost City of the Tayrona. And of course we also went to Bogota and the villages surrounding it including San Gil where JD tried some paragliding.

How did we travel?

To San Andres we obviously flew, to get to Providencia we took a boat but to go back we were forced to fly as a cargo boat sunk and no one wanted to risk it. On the main land we either took a bus or plane (in many long distance trips flying was cheaper than the bus check out Viva Colombia). In the big cities we got fancy with really cheap and handy Uber. Overal on the transport we spend 1060 euros.
Examples: return flight from Medellin to San Andres for both of us with luggage (Viva Colombia) was 719 960 COP so 210 euros.
Uber fare in Medellin: 4000-8000 COP so around 1.15-2.30 euros (depending on the distance and traffic)
Overnight bus from San Gil to Medellin was 140 000 COP so around 40 euros for the two of us.

Where did we stay?

On accomodation we spend 2130 euros sleeping 65 nights in dorms from which 2 weeks for free as we were volunteering in a hostel. One week during Christmas we rented a whole apartment in Medellin and the rest of the nights we stayed in private rooms in hostels or in airbnbs.

A bed in a dorm was around 9 euros except on Providencia where there was only one hostel and a bed in a dorm costed around 13 euros (when booked in advance). Private rooms were usually starting at around 20 euros.

What did we eat?

We mostly kept our habit of cooking at the hostels so a lot of vegetables, oven dishes, pastas, all fresh and delicious and way cheaper. But in some places like on San Andres and Providencia we didn't have a kitchen so we had to eat out. Tough life eating lobster and crab for almost no money at all but we managed (detailed budget about the islands). We also had to cool ourselves with some ice cream quite often and then bring back the temperature with some delicious coffee. In total we spend 756 euros on eating out.

How expensive are museums, tours etc?

On tourism we spent 1274 euros including entrances to museums, boat renting in Guatape, paragliding, trek to the Lost City and a few cinema dates (top tourist destination)

Examples: trek to the Lost City- set price of 200 000 COP so around 205 euros per person
Gold museum entrance: 3000 COP so under a euro
Cinema: around 1 euro depending on the time of the week

What else did we spend our pesitos on?

Medication, books, wool for my crochet, haircut etc. All that and more for only 140 euros.

We also spend 133 euros on "equipment" so clothes, a towel, sunglasses, underwater masks etc.

Our tips to save money in Colombia:

Cooking on your own is the best way to save money. It’s healthier, often more delicious and almost always cheaper
If you don’t want to use public transport in big cities in Colombia, use Uber! It’s easy, fast and very safe. And it’s not very expensive especially if you travel with the 2 of you or more
Volunteer! We did that and it not only saved us some money but it gave us the opportunity to meet incredible people and stay longer in places. We used workaway to volunteer in the coffee region
If you speak fluent spanish consider volunteering as a translator on the tours, they often need someone to translate to english. We used that for a discount to the Lost City Trek
Try to go off season so not in December-February and not in July-August

P.S. Exchange rate used for the overal budget 1 COP= 0.00028 EURO

If you have any questions or you would like to take a look at our spreadsheet, let us know:)

Goodbye Colombia, hello Spain

The last days in Colombia were difficult, we were realizing that something was coming to an end. On one hand we wanted to eat as much papayas, granadillas and dragon fruit as possible on the other we were ready to go to Europe. 14 months in South America has been incredible but we were on for a change. I think we were ready to leave the chaos, dirt and noise. At least for a while. We actually didn’t wait for our flight to do that, for the last couple of days we stayed in the middle of absolute nowhere an hour from Medellin. Santa Elena was a sleepy, green village in the forest. It was a different world. We stayed in a portable house which was just spectacular! Just us, nature and weird bugs. Perfect scenery to contemplate our journey and the new chapter ahead of us.

Our flight to Europe was a long, long one. It stopped before it even started as they had to clean the plane. Nope, it absolutely couldn’t get cleaned before. It took 1.5 hr.

After many hours of movies, we reached Madrid and then Barcelona. Getting out of the airport we realized that 16 degrees in Europe is really cold. We were wondering if we were the only ones feeling that way because half of the tourists that we saw along the way were practically dressed for the beach. Possibly they thought that Spain is always hot or they were determined to get the best vacation pictures possible. Selfie sticks were everywhere and who didn’t have one could easily buy one on the streets. The local sellers are not screaming Gaudi anymore, now the only English words they know are “selfie stick”. And there are some pearls to photograph. Honestly for us everything was
beautiful, even food on the market. All well-presented and ready to buy. We were in heaven. We didn’t have to look
at bananas 100 ways with rice. And there was no corn either. Just croissants, bread, ham, cheese, fruit and veg all of it was our dream coming true. After a nice dinner we could even flush the toilet paper. Only the prices were less of an excitement. The pearls of Gaudi’s architecture have reached just outrageous prices, unfinished Sagrada Familia costs 15 euros if you don’t want the view from the towers if you do 30… Batllo
house is now 22.5 euro and there are still plenty of people waiting in line. Even though it’s expensive Gaudi has created some marvelous architecture in Barcelona and it would be a sin not to see it so we did. The playful light in Sagrada Familia was just spectacular,
incredible colors at every time of the day, I wonder how it will look in 2026 when it’s finished… and how much it will cost. Casa Bartllo was a masterpiece and walking around with kinda smartphones that were showing us how the house looked like when it was just built- insane idea. Obviously Bcn has so much more to offer except for Gaudi’s work and architecture in general. Shopping for example...:) unfortunately we didn’t manage to buy much. And now off to Galicia!!

Strolling through the streets of little towns north of Bogota

The identity of Colombia lies in its villages. While big cities are more western-like with their traffic, commercial centers and facilities, in the countryside everyone has time for a cafecito (small coffee) and not such a small talk. No wonder we always prefer small towns and villages.
Above Bogota there are few unmissable villages, three of which are on absolutely every "must see" list that I saw so far. Obviously that means crowds and higher prices in most cases. But not in Villa de Leyva. Places like that are a reason to travel really. Places that surprise us even though we saw every picture ever taken. First shock- no people, empty square, only a few locals, second- no one wanted to sell us a cow or not even a cigar. Third- the hostel we stayed in was really cheap (7 euro per bed) and absolutely stunning- two features that rarely go together. It had a huge outside common area overlooking the whole town with its mountains in the background. And the room itself was vintage in a European meaning of the word (in South America vintage is often synonym of broken, stolen from an old lady with dust untouched for quite some time). It was a pleasure to stay in Villa de Leyva and discover that there is so much more to it than just its main square. Charming broad streets, nice suburbs, mountains and superb ice cream is all we needed:)
After ice cream days we decided to burn some of the calories in San Gil- the capital of extreme sports. We started with our absolute favorite sport- walking in excruciating heat from the bus station to the hostel. JD was so tempted by the prices of extreme sports that he decided to try paragliding above the beautiful Canyon Chicamocha (170 000 pesos for a flight so around 50 euro). He didn't even have time to get scared before the flight because seconds after we arrived to the spot he was already tied to his instructor and the paraglide. The guy tied him faster than I could unpack the camera. True Ninja. San Gil offers not only paragliding but also rafting, caving, bungee jumping and sports that I have never heard about like rappelling which is descending from something (for example a rock) with a rope. We learn everyday while travelling:)
San Gil was actually also very close to another top destination village Barichara, supposedly the most beautiful town in Colombia. Definitely its cuisine has its charm as they eat "fat-ass ants" (hormigas culonas) which are deep fried huge ants. The town itself was also pretty although not as much as Villa de Leyva or any of the towns in the coffee regions. Maybe because it was Tuesday and Tuesday is the new Sunday in the area so most of the things are
closed and villages seem rather dead. From Barichara there is a nice, easy hike Camino Real (Royal Path) full of colorful birds that took us to Guane. It was like a mini Barichara, quite pretty streets with all the shops closed (Tuesday of course!) except for liquor shops (hmmm). After 10 minutes we already saw the whole village and there was nothing more left to do than to sit in the main square and wait for the bus to go back. It actually wasn't as boring as it sounds as there were really many beautiful birds flying around. Obviously too fast and too far for my photographic skills...

Lazy days in the Colombian Caribbean

Caribbean coast greeted us with unbearable heat and it didn't leave us even for a second. Sweating we started our trip in Cartagena, probably the most popular city in Colombia among all the travelers. And I really mean all even among old people dressed as if they were going for a Mount Everest expedition but with their balconies in front of them I don't think they go any further then the border of the old city. There is not even a need to go any further then that because the old town and the hip Getsemani neighborhood are all there is to see. But I have to admit that the old town is really gorgeous, charming, colorful, playful with its street art and actually quite big so it was not difficult to get lost there for a few hours.

Especially that there are some beautiful shops with clothes, accessories and everything a person would (not) need. So we have done some window shopping as well:) Outside of the touristic places Cartagena is a city literally drowned in garbage and poverty. Many people live in ruins and the middle- class neighborhood where we stayed did not look middle- class even by polish standards. No wonder we were not sad to leave Cartagena to go to start our trek to the Lost City (that hike deserved a separate post so ...).
The trek was absolutely spectacular and worth the effort. To rest and chill out we went to Palomino, a small village with one paved road. The village itself was nothing great but strolling on its beaches and chilling was really great. Especially knowing that there was nothing in particular to see also not underwater as the currents are too strong to even enter the sea.

To rest from resting we went to Minca. It's pretty much known as THE coffee town. But honestly it missed the vibrant green surroundings of the town's in the coffee region, that I am not going to mention the architecture that they missed. The town looked pretty much built 20 years ago from cheap bricks and metal for the roofs. The views from the mountains around Minca were pretty nice but we felt a bit disappointed.

Luckily we also visited an amazing local farm specialized in avocado, cacao and coffee (La Candaleria). Beautifully situated on top of a mountain (definitely worth the walk) and super crowded with all sorts of gorgeous birds. Unfortunately way too fast for me to take a picture of most of them. Thankfully there was a lazy hummingbird going back and forth to the same flower and a beautiful toucan. And not only the birds were nice but also the family running the farm. They were really warm and excited about their farm and their cacao and coffee. And so were we:) a highlight of our trip to Minca for sure.

How much does it cost to travel in Panama? Our budget and tips

In Panama we spend 1070 euro for 24 days so 22.30 euro per person per day. Although it's not visible in the budget, it's not a cheap country compared with Colombia or other South American countries. But we saved a lot of money by volunteering for 2 weeks.

Where did we go?

In Panama we visited Bocas del Toro region, Valle del Anton and Panama City.

How did we travel?

Long distance travel we did by buses but in Panama City we used mostly Uber both for transport and a nice conversation 🙂 in the area of Bocas we had to use boat taxis. All of that fun transport costed us 92 euros.

Example: Bus from Almirante (mainland next to Bocas del Toro) to Panama City costed 13.9 dollar (round 12 euro) per person and it was an overnightbus. Uber taxi from our hostel in Panama City to the Canal (which was the most expensive fare ever because we stopped in a few places and saw the Canal from a lot of viewpoints) was 16.11 dollars (around 14 euro) and a ride from our hostel to the city center or other parts of the city was about 3-5 dollar (around 2.8 - 4.4 euro). Boat taxis in Bocas were around 3-5 dollars (2.8- 4.4 euro)

Where did we stay?

On accommodation we spend 296 euro spending 4 days in a private room on Bastimentos (Bocas del Toro) and
the rest in cosy dorms in El Valle and Panama City.

Examples: private room on Bastimentos was 45 dollar (around 39 euro) per night per room and a bed in dorms were around 15 dollar per night (around 13 euro) although we volunteered for two weeks so we didn't pay for our cosy bed during that period.

What did we eat?

As usual we mostly cooked ourselves but really good food, we are not instant noodles type of people:) that's how we spend 343 euros. Unfortunately fresh vegetables and fruit is not cheap in Panama, it also didn't help that the closest supermarket in Panama City was kosher.... (yep it was a shock for us too).

On Bastimentos we didn't have a kitchen so we had to eat out and we also treated ourselves with a nice meal in Panama City so all of that resulted in 266 euros. Few of those euros came with ice cream so necessary in such a warm country:)

How expensive are museums, tours etc?

On tourism we spent 66 euro taking a tour on Bocas del Toro to an idyllic beach of Isla Zapatilla. Except for that we did mostly hikes and the nature we saw was for free:)

What else did we spend our dollars on?

6 euros went on peeing in public toilets and putting stitches on JD's head.

Our tips to save money in Panama:

Cooking on your own is the best way to save money. It's healthier, often more delicious and almost always cheaper
If you don't want to use public transport in Panama City, use Uber! It's easy, fast and very safe. And it's not very expensive especially if you travel with the 2 of you or more.
Volunteer! We did that and it not only saved us some money but it gave us the opportunity to meet incredible people and stay longer in places. We used workaway to volunteer in El Valle in Panama.

P.S. Exchange rate used for the overal budget 1 USD= 1.11EURO
If you have any questions or you would like to take a look at our spreadsheet, let us know:)

Pain, sweat and smiles on the way to the Lost City

The Lost City is the Machu Picchu of Colombia. The Tayrona people left it in the jungle, after being conquered by the Spanish, to be forgotten till the 1970s when it was rediscovered by grave robbers. Still we were hesitating if we should go to see it as the pictures of the main square didn't look like anything more than just circles, stone rings. In the end we got convinced by a big discount that I got for translating during the tour as obviously the guide spoke only Spanish 🙂
And there we were walking in a world of pain to the Lost City. It was 1 pm when we started the walk through the mountains without any trees or clouds. The sun was excruciating and we were sweating like pigs. The sweat was literally dropping even from my hands. It was so hot that even mosquitoes were not interested in their walking prey. I was already thinking that I seriously underestimated this hike as I thought after Salkantay and Choquequirao this would be a walk in a park. Only the indigenous kids were full of energy and motivated to pose for sweets from tourists. Obviously I didn't join that tradition, I don't want them to be teethless from that everyday- Halloween- sugar. Although there are three tribes living in the area we mostly saw Kogis, indigenous people who are directly descended from the Tayrona people or so they claim. They live in traditional huts made of wood and palm leaves but cell phones and pesos are already well known wealth that tourism brought to them. So it's hard to say how much of their tradition is still really alive. Along the way we heard about other Kogis communities living higher in the mountains, that are isolated from the foreign money and culture but since we haven't seen them, we can't judge.
Apart from the communities along the way we also saw some spectacular views, high mountains, rivers, natural swimming pools and dense jungle. Our campsites were not a part of that spectacular scenery but they were OK. The main rules were: to take a shower before going to bed and not to put any backpacks on the bed. All of it to keep the beds as clean as possible because no one will change the sheets after every person...or 2nd or 3rd... Or maybe ever. Every time I went to sleep I could smell sweat from the sheets and I was hoping that no bed bugs were in there waiting for me. Gladly I was lucky. Also because I didn't get hardcore food poisoning during the hike. Judging by the look of the toilets (got almost sick from looking) and sinks (of course people vomit there, why would they do it on the grass??!!) at least half of the people got very sick. Some didn't even see the ruins. Well at least not live... Thankfully JD and I were doing quite okish and so we were able to climb those 1200 stairs to reach the top. And it was worth it. The ruins were just breathtaking!! Huge, stone constructions, arising from the jungle. I can imagine it was hidden and forgotten for so many years. And the mystical atmosphere surrounding it. We could hear the birds and the nature was truly singing. We were not alone but the few people that were there got spread through the ruins and disappeared between the terraces. Just us, the ruins, nature and... a few young soldiers with huge guns. Good that it's all safe now because if someone would like to kidnap us (and it happened already in 2003 with a group of tourists and their guide) I don't know if those tiny boys with big guns would know what to do actually.
The Lost City left us thinking what else might be hidden in the dense rainforest in Colombia or maybe in the Amazons. Maybe there are still civilizations to be discovered... It would be history rising in front of our eyes.

Practical tips and info:

The Lost City can be visited only with a guided tour and there are 5 agencies who do them: Turcol, Expotur, Magic Tour, Wiwa Tour and Guias y Baquianos Tour. All of them offer the trek for 700 000 COP and the price doesn't change if you do it in 5 or 6 days instead of 4. All of the agencies are equal, same food, same sleeping conditions, same level of chaos in their organisation. The only difference is maybe that Wiwa sends you with an indigenous guide.
If you speak Spanish you can get quite a deal on the price depending on the level of desperation of the agency. I wrote to all of them a few days before and ended up going with Turcol for 200 000 COP
Bring: repellent (although not too much, it's still not the amazon out there), alcohol to disinfect your hands, electrolytes for those moments when you will be hugging the toilet, toilet paper, small money for water, chocolate and gatorade, a headlamp and a swimming suit for those many natural pools. Don't forget to bring soap and shampoo as there are showers on each campsite:)
The first camp has electricity so you can still charge your camera, later on it's not possible
Don't bring too much clothes, they will all stink anyway!! Bring your own sheets or very light sleeping bag to sleep in your own sweat!!