Introduction
After a busy month of March, I was looking forward to a more chill April, but that’s not what I got! I had planned to finish my time in Costa Rica, visiting Sámara and Tamarindo to see some friends, then meeting up with an old dive student of mine to get an intro to Colombia before choosing somewhere to return to and just chill. But as I mentioned at the end of the March 2022 Recap, I decided to cut my time short in South America to return to the States for May.
Guanacaste
I arrived in Sámara, Costa Rica at the end of March with plans to stay in town for one week to get some work done, chill on the beach, and catch up with a friend nearby. The town is very quiet compared to other western coastal cities like Tamarindo, Nosara, or Santa Teresa. It helps that it is not very easy to get to nor on any main route or highway. The beach is wide and hard-packed and made for a nice run early before the heat of the day set in.
During the week, I walked into town for breakfast at Root’s Bakery each day before heading upstairs to LoCoworking to get some work done. By evening time, I made the daily trek to the beach to watch the sunset and usually finished it up with a beer or two at 2 Gringos Brewing. On the weekend, I went exploring with my friend Valeria to her favorite beaches in the area.
After a week in Sámara, I returned to Tamarindo, my favorite beach town in Costa Rica. I had one week left before heading to Colombia and what better place to spend that than among friends. I got to hang out with my friend Kevin at his radio station, see and meet new friends at the Selina, and visit my favorite beaches and restaurants.
And I finally got to go diving in the Islas Santa Catalina northwest of Tamarindo. My friend Virginia, founder of Diving Nomads (no relation to my other venture Nomad Diver!) took me out on her company’s small boat for a couple dives around the rocky islets. We had two nice dives, but the second was by far and above because we swam with a school of 30-ish mobula rays! These smaller cousins to manta rays tend to be seen in large groups and were quite the treat. Thanks Virginia!
Intro to Medellín
On the 11th of the month, I made the three hour flight to meet my friend in Medellín. As Tabea is a high school teacher back in her home country of Germany, she only had her two-week spring break to see as much of Colombia as possible. She had proposed a grueling schedule flying all over the place to try and see as much of the major highlights as possible. My travel style, however, is to take things easy and to stay pretty loose with my plans. This was the first planned-out trip I had done since a family vacation to Australia in Summer 2018. It took some adjusting and Tabea was very understanding!
My time in Colombia also fell on a very busy couple of weeks for my marketing business so I sadly had to miss several of the main sights of Medellín, so I will definitely need to return. On our second day we did a walking tour through El Centro Medellín. Our guide, German, was a former high school teacher and it showed. He was animated, engaging, and highly entertaining all while distilling Colombia’s complicated history into a three hour tour.
Tabea got a chance to do an exotic fruits tour through the labyrinthine Plaza Minorista also with Real City Tours. This one involved trying 15+ different fruits native to Colombia and learning more about their use and cultivation. It sounded exactly up my alley, but worked beckoned. She also attended the city’s most popular tour of Comuna 13. Once labeled the most dangerous place in Colombia, this socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhood has reinvented itself through celebration of its art, culture, heritage, and burgeoning tourism scene. I really must get back here to experience for myself!
Guatapé and the Rock
On our third day in Medellín, I took a break from my work and we jumped on a local commuter bus to the municipality of Guatapé about 2 hours east of Medellín. The town is a major tourism destination for two reasons. First, El Peñón de Guatapé, is a giant rock outcropping that absolutely towers over the surrounding region. The climb up to the top passes 659 steps and a max altitude of 7012 ft (2137m)! To say it requires a bit of effort is an understatement – you pass two separate first aid stations on the way up! Good thing the views are absolutely worth it!
The second major draw for the area, is the small town of Guatapé itself. This picture postcard pueblo is painted in bright shades of every color. It is a treat just to wander its narrow, compact lanes looking for nice scenes. Be on the lookout for the Zócalos tiles along the bottom third of walls within Guatapé. These relief carvings highlight area history, advertise the business contained within, or are simply decorative.
Colorful Cartagena
As I covered in my article on Cartagena, I loved my long weekend in the city. It is colorful and full of life while being easier to get around and safer than Medellín. I loved the vibrancy around every corner and I also really enjoyed going for runs through the neighborhoods and beachfront. My experiences are best captured in that article, so check it out for more Cartagena!
Diving in San Andrés
After a much too short weekend on the coast, we jumped on a flight to San Andrés, the supposed nicest island in Colombia. The far flung locale actually sits far to the north just a bit off the coast of Nicaragua. It is a small 12km by 3km sandy spit of land and sadly I was not too impressed.
Our original plan had been to visit the even smaller and much more lush Isla Providencia, but found out it continues to be closed to tourists after a devastating hurricane destroyed 95% of all buildings on the island in November 2020. Tabea had read that it has hands down the best scuba diving in the area, but that San Andrés was good too. In the mornings we would head out to dive, hitting up several different dive centers and dive sites. During the afternoons, I worked on some of the worst wifi I’d had in years. WhatsApp couldn’t even send texts! I’ve had better internet in some of the farthest reaches of Thailand.
The one dive that blew our minds though was a location called The Pyramid, a shallow collection of reef and rocky outcroppings that we dived several times during the day and once at night. That latter dive was next level! We saw several turtles, squid, stingray, and I found a very well camouflaged octopus. Then for some 5 minutes, our whole group swam without lights, relying only on the bioluminescent plankton to guide our way.
Relaxing in Salento
Following San Andrés, I was looking for a comfortable and relaxed place where I could enjoy the outdoors, but also not have to move around at all! After a bit of research, it was clear to me that the village of Salento was exactly what I was looking for. This temperate mountain town is located within the cafetera (or coffee growing) region of Colombia. It is incredibly green and lush with nearly every shade of green.
It really reminded me of the lovely Mexican town of San Cristobal de las Casas in the far southern Chiapas state. It is arranged in a grid pattern around the central plaza and Calle Real which is the main walking thoroughfare in town. Heading uphill from the plaza, Calle Real works its way up to the base of the stairwell to Alto de la Cruz a viewpoint over the whole valley.
The area restaurants specialize in local coffee, freshwater rainbow trout, and fried green plantains. While in town you really must visit a local coffee farm like Finca El Ocaso Salento, who offers both short two hour excursions, or extended 4 hour experiences.
The jewel of the region is Valle de Cocora. The valley is located within the Los Nevados National Natural Park and is home to the national tree of Colombia, the Quindío wax palm. This unique palm is the tallest in the world reaching heights of up to 200 ft (60 meters) and 200 years old. They absolutely tower over the valley below and feel incredibly out of place at their native altitude of 6,600 to 10,200 ft (2,000 – 3,100 m). Visitors can take a jeep from the town square in Salento for a few dollars and be within the park in under 30 minutes.
Where I’ve Been
COUNTRIES VISITED: 2
Costa Rica, Colombia
CITIES VISITED: 8
Sámara, Tamarindo, Medellín, Guatape, Cartagena, San Andrés, Salento, Bogotá
Where I’m Going
At the beginning of May, I returned to Florida to assist my stepmom as she moved homes. I’ll was back for at least a few weeks. I was also excited to catch up with a friend from Thailand who was in Florida mid month. We did some diving and got to check out the NASA Kennedy Space Center. It was fun to be a tour guide again! Post May, I’ll be traveling Europe. More to come on that in the next post!
