[mobike008]

I have been thinking of penning down this photo-log for a while but, I happen to do nice local weekend trips so often that they and as they take precedence and the older activity is put in the back-burner. That’s exactly what happened to the plan of penning down this amazing trip which happened during the long weekend of July 4th in 2023.

It’s been a ritual that some of us classmates meet once in a year (sometimes it’s twice in a year). Thanks to our professions we all travel quite a bit. So, we meet once in the US or in a different country or for sure in India.

Basically, we meet at least once in a year. The characters of this story are 4-guys who love to wander, travel, party more than they love to work. Lol!

A quick introduction of the team:

1. Bala- Lives in Hyderabad
2. Sethu- Lives in Bay Area, California (Also, happens to be brother-in-law of Bala)
3. Vijay- Lives in Princeton, New Jersey
4. Yours Truly- in the beautiful "wadiyon" of PNW area- Seattle, Washington

Bala travels to US on a holiday once a year and we meet in some location in the US or travel outside of the US. He visited my home in Seattle in June 2022. And, this time he was hell-bent on going out of the US for a boy’s trip. When he visited me in Seattle in 2022, these three gents had gone to Puerto Rico, and I could not make it as I had work related travels within US.

This trip, which was planned for June 2023, Bala proposed that we do two countries:

1. Panama, Central America
2. Colombia, South America

I immediately jumped at this idea and wanted to make both trips and confirmed to him in April when Bala was booking his US tickets that I will make it.

However, my sister planned a trip to Seattle around the same time, so I had to tweak my plan and told them I can join only after my sister’s family leave. So, I was confirmed for one of the two proposed locations and told Bala to plan for Colombia as Stage 2 as I was super keen to visit Colombia as I am a huge fan of “Narcos” series on Netflix and ever since I saw that mind-boggling series which was based on the true story of the biggest drug kingpin in entire world “Pablo Escobar”, it’s been on my bucket list.

After the basic questions cleared like how safe is it to travel to a location like Colombia as I keep seeing news of tourists getting kidnapped for ransom. Bala convinced me they won't kidnap middle class folks like us as we are not the "target" crowd as they are only after the rich Americans. That said, I decided to take the risk and agreed on their plan. On hindsight, the entire travel experience was smooth and I felt Colombia is safe and a welcoming place.

The final plan

• Bala would fly from Hyderabad to SFO and he along with his BIL would fly to Panama City and spend a week there.
• Vijay would join in at Cartagena, Colombia and since he had work related time restrictions, he would spend just 3-days with us in Cartagena and fly back to Miami where he was supposed to be on official work and then fly back home to New Jersey.
• I would also fly from Seattle to Cartagena and spend a week with them in Colombia and fly back to Seattle.

Colombia Plan

Cartagena, Colombia: 3-Days
Medellin, Colombia: 3 Days
Bogota, Colombia: 2 Days

Cartagena- It's pronounced as Car-te-hena.

Medellin- It's pronounced as Medi-jin.

Bogota- It's pronounced as Bogo-tha

Bala did all the research and convinced us that Colombia would be safe country to travel and also booked Airbnb’s at all 3-locations.

Seattle-Cartegena- That's a long distance I travelled to meet my pals.



Our domestic sojourn within Colombia- Cartagena, Medellin and Bogota.



Intro of tourists (Left-Right)- Yours truly, Vijay, Sethu and Bala





Partying on Speed Boat in Cartagena.

[mobike008]

I was excited to make my first ever trip to South America and especially to Colombia as the country brings two things to mind- beautiful woman (Every Miss. World or Miss. Universe will be either have a Colombian or a Venezuelan as the Top 3- Finalists. And, of course, the biggest excitement was to explore the. Land of Pablo Escobar.

I booked my flight tickets:

Onward: Seattle-Los Angeles- Cartagena
Return: Bogota- Miami-Seattle

On the D-day, I caught my flight to Los Angeles (Actually, I booked the flight in such a way that my sis’s flight to Boston was around the same time, so we spend the time at the airport as well) and it was smooth. When it was time to board my long haul (9-hours flight) I was stopped at boarding as I did not fill some form that is required to for all incoming passenger to Colombia. The lady at the gate said I cannot travel without filling the form and she asked me to do it online. I stepped aside and tried filling the form. Then realization hit me that everything about South America is so different starting from language. The portal was in Spanish, and I could not make head or tail of it. I requested the lady to help me as gate would close soon. She took me aside and winked at me and said, I will let you pass but, if anyone asks when you land in Colombia, tell them you filled the online form. Gosh, this was totally equal to our “Indian Jugaad”, and I was super relieved and boarded the flight.

My flight to Cartagena was smooth and landed without any problem. As soon as I land, the sultry weather hit me as I was landing from a cool 10C Seattle weather to an almost 35C sultry Cartagena weather. I cleared immigration and stepped out on the curb of this small airport. Like we are used to in India, I was immediately accosted by 4-5 people asking if I want Taxi. They looked bit shady, and I was anyways paranoid as Colombia is notorious for kidnapping tourists for ransom so I was praying my phone international connection works (it’s a work phone and my global roaming is always on) and thankfully the UBER app worked and I booked an UBER from the airport after a hard time understanding the addressd as the address in South America is very different to what we are used to.

For Example: Calle 65 # 10-15

That’s it. Yeah, that’s an actual address in Colombia. When I select that on UBER app, I was not even sure if I was going to the right destination. Since the UBER app was in Spanish, so just trusted the driver to take me to the Airbnb where my pals were staying.

Our airbnb was in a vibrant and local area with 4-separate bedrooms with jacuzzi and some nice amenities.

After chilling for a bit, we headed out late afternoon to explore the city.

Cartagena from up and above. Just about to land.



Welcome to Colombia. Immigration was a breeze. Took me around 30 mins to get on other side.







My cab to the Airbnb where we all were staying.



Beautiful architecture of Cartagena.







Horse Carriage ride in the evening. They take you around for an hour showing the historic cities of the city.



























Me and Vijay posing in some alley in Cartagena.



Vijay, Bala and Sethu.





This reminded me of goa.









Shakira- Pop Singers home in Cartagena.





Horse Carriage Ride in Cartagena.

https://youtu.be/trKHUOtG1P0

Talented Street Hip-Hop Artist in Cartagena.

[mobike008]

Speed Boat Ride to Islands in Cartagena, Colombia.

One of the days, we hired a fast motorboat with crew and loaded the boat with snacks and decided to visit 3-islands- Rosaria, Isabella and Sholan Beach.

The boat costed us $600 for the whole day which was roughly about 8-hours. Many tourists do group boat rides but, we wanted a private experience, so we got the boat for ourselves.

We visited the islands which are super small and in one of the popular islands we docked and got down and partied for a couple of hours standing in “waist deep” water and there were local folks selling everything on floating boats. It was an amazing experience, and we had an almost 1.5 ride back to mainland, so we headed back around 5pm as any later the water become absolutely choppy. Even the time we left, it was the most nerve wrecking boat ride of my life as the motorboat had to navigate some really choppy waters and it felt like we will crash and turn upside down anytime. We learnt a lesson that it’s always better to get back to mainland before the high tide (especially if you are in a smaller boat).

We walked a short distance from our place to the waterfront to catch the speedboat.



We start sailing now.



Warship.



It was surprising to see such a nice skyline of Cartagena. I was not expecting Colombia to be developed to this extent.









We reached the island where we got off the boat and walked waist deep to the edge of the water and enjoyed some decent but, exorbitantly priced lunch. Same like any tourist destination- what was shown in menu and charged was different. We had a small argument as well here as the bill was just too much.



























Baywatch Boys. lol!









These floating boats were selling everything you need.

[mobike008]

We were classmates and not so young but, point to be noted is that we are permanently young at heart and all of us are big party animals and despite so many years under the belt we can start party all night long. So, the whole idea of the vacation was one long party so there are many pictures that I cannot share on the forum due to the rules.

Other big reason is ever since I saw “Narcos” on Netflix. I was completely enamored with Pablo Escobar and how he built the biggest drug empire to the tune of a staggering $30+ billion dollars was a mind-boggling story of his rise and downfall. Obviously, the whole show was shot in Medellin, Colombia and as many of you may have seen this popular show, the locales are absolutely gorgeous and wanted to experience it in-person.

Anecdote: When we saw the night life and party culture of Medellin, Colombia, it just blew our brains out as it was no less if not better than other big party scenes in the world like London, Munich, NYC, Tokyo (I have been to all these cities so can firsthand compare). We got little time to do the regular sight-seeing stuff that tourists are expected to do.

Well, I love outdoors and had to practically drag my friends out to check the outdoor scenes of the places we visited. So, in Cartagena most of the late afternoons and evenings would be spent walking around the city after taking a short cab ride or horse carriage ride (if the distance is far). Other than this spectacular speed boat ride, of course.

One of the horse carriage rides, the driver showed us the home of the famous pop singer- Shakira. She is from Cartagena, Colombia.

Speed Boat Ride.

https://youtu.be/O0ujfOmEZwo

Boat was going so fast and water was so choppy. Clicking a picture was a challenge.









We all took a ride in this and it was fun.



Convincing ourselves that we made our millions. Lol!















Some snacks post the boat ride.





Walk back to the Airbnb.

[mobike008]

Medellin, Colombia

We spent an amazing 3-nights in Cartagena. After bidding a farewell to Vijay who took a flight back to US due to his work commitments, we 3-musketeers (Bala, Sethu and I) took a domestic flight of 1-hour to Medellin, Colombia which is southwest to Cartagena. We landed in the evening and took a cab ride from airport to our Airbnb.

Landscape of Medellin is totally different from Cartagena. While Cartagena is hugging the coast and had a bit of sultry weather and mostly flat landscapes and reminded me a bit like Goa.

Medellin is totally different and is much more beautiful as its nestled in the mountains and greenery here was just amazing. I reckon you can make out that I am more of a mountain’s person. Lol!

Next 3-days will be in Medellin and we did exactly what we did in Cartagena, party all night long and whatever little time we got during the day, it was spent catching some sight-seeing.

We did the following in Medellin, Colombia:

1.Spent almost a full day at the famous “Commune 13” which is where majority of the Narcos series was shot and if you see the pictures, you will recognize the location as it’s an amazing place with steep inclines/stairs where many action sequences have been shot. There is also a basketball court where majority of assassinations have been done of rival gangs who were caught and publicly executed by Pablo Escobar.

2.We did a drive-by to the location where Pablo Escobar was killed on the rooftop (as seen in the Narcos series).

3.We did a full day tour of Guatape Rock-a monolith rock about 650 feet tall, and stairs are absolutely inclined but, we climbed to the top in about 30 minutes. This is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Medellin with beautiful man-made lake and greenery surrounding it.

Street Hip-Hop in Commune 13.

https://youtu.be/KGoJvcLINqQ

At the airport catching a flight to Medellin.



Medellin airport was colorful and pretty.



Driving from Airpot to Airbnb in Medellin. It was like going through ghat section and that's Medellin city below the ghat road. Very pretty.







Visit Colombo and not have their coffee? This was our daily routine. Juan Valdez is like Starbucks of Colombia.

Very popular. Declious coffees and croissants.





Hilly terrain.



Medellin cops use these motorbikes. We have seen them on OTT platform series. Pretty cool. eh?



One pic with the Medellin Cops. I'm sure they lead an exciting and dangerous life.





Daily breakfast would be home made by any of the guys as Sethu was veggie and he needs his daily dose of home made meal (at least one).





Our ride to Commune 13 with a stop at place where Escobar was killed.



This is the home and rooftop where Pablo Escobar was chased and killed.



Most of the day spent at Commune 13. It's a mandatory visit and extremely vibrant place.















This basketball court was where Pablo would kill all snitches and rival gang members.





Ah! Bill Clinton was also here.



You keep climbing stairs or steep slopes and view from the top is fabulous.

[mobike008]

Guatape Rock, Medellin, Colombia.

One of the day in Medellin, we planned a must visit tour to Guatape Rock which is located about 90kms or 2-hours away from Medellin city. We booked a car (one of my favorites-Mazda 3) for this entire day trip to Gutape Rock.

Our driver was a youngish fella and someone like us- A total auto enthusiasts. He was more of a biker than a car as he owned a couple of sports bikes. I can see why he chose a Mazda 3 as it's an enthusiasts car and is super fun to drive.

I sat in the passenger seat both sides of the drive and was chatting with him about cars and using my phone for translation as he was speaking in broken English.

Entire drive of 2-hours was through some beautiful curvy roads and mountain passes with amazing amount of greenery which was a pleasant surprise.

We reached Gutape Rock and our driver waited at parking lot while we bought the tickets and climbed to the top. When I first saw the rock, I gave up and told my pals that I won't be climbing as it looked pretty challenging but, they coaxed me and thankfully I joined them as it was not that hard and views from the top was totally worth it.

I switched on my Apple Watch and timed the climb up and I think did it in about 30-35 mins to the top which entailed climbing 650 steps.

By the time, we reached back to the city it was around 6:00pm and time to continue the party scene for the night.

Our Ride to Guatape Rock.



I owned 2 Mazdas in my life so a familiar interior.



Drive through some beautiful mountain passes.









First view of the rock from a side-angle.







Walking to the entry point.



Fun Facts of the ROCK.





Whew! The climb begins here.



Total 675 steps.



Some pictures enroute the climb.















Some refereshments at the top.





Beautiful views from the top.





My favorite picture from the top.



3-Musketeers in front of the Guatape Rock.





Yours truly on the top of the world.



Start of the Guatape Rock Climbing.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=UUhcuIPtng4?feature=share

Beautiful views from top of the Guatape Rock.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=46zxM_9sWZs?feature=share

[mobike008]

Miscellaneous Pictures from our trip.

This post has miscellaneous pictures from the trip and some maybe repeated but, it's just to give a flavor of this beautiful country. The last pitstop was Bogota, Colombia which was again via. a domestic flight from Medellin. We spent roughly 1.5 days in the city and did a quick driving tour of the city before catching our flights back to the US.

I was headed back to Seattle and they were going to San Francisco. Overall, it was an enjoyable week-long trip and we can't wait to repeat this vacation.

2024 Plans is cooking as we speak. Bala is visiting US from June 28th to July 18th 2024.

This time we are thinking of Brazil and Ecuador/Peru.

A few fun facts.

1. Language is the biggest problem as literally nobody speaks in English. So, we always had the phone in hand with a translator open and this is how we communicated through our entire trip. It's quite challenging but, it was fun at the same time.

2. Colombia's reputation precedes itself but, its a safe country if you are not getting too adventurous and stick to the touristy spots and popular night clubs, it's safe as most nights we would be out until almost 4:00am.

3. Colombia is a beautiful country with diverse landscapes and there are tons of things to do. If we were not partying so hard, we could have covered more attractions. I reckon, it's parked for our next visit.

4. 1 US$ = ~ 4,000 Colombian pesos. Which means we are dealing with crazy numbers with every purchase. Like for an example : Our Speed boat ride costed us $600 which translates to 2.4 Million Colombian Pesos. LOL!

A cup of coffee would be $2 which is 8,000 Pesos. So, understanding the currency was challenging and many places you need to deal in cash so you better master math before going to Colombia. lol!

Hope you enjoyed this virtual tour and if any questions on travel to this country. Happy to help !!

Talented folks doing hip-hop on the streets of Cartagena, Colombia.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ouZiCxoEVS0?feature=share

View from top of the Commune 13 in Medellin, Colombia.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QGukQvBco8M?feature=share

Bought some nice t-shirts.



Any fans of Narcos here? Do you remember "Plata or Plomo" ?



I see that Colombians love motorcycling. Lot of super bikes everywhere.







Spotted outside a nightclub.



Ready made Upma.



Few more pics of Communa 13.









This is available for rent. Woah!!









On top of Communa 13.











Streets of Cartagena.





My BYD rental. I hired it for 4-hours in Bogota to do a drive by tour of the city.





BYD Interiors. Looks fancy but, the quality is "Cheap".



Bogota Party Scene.





This beautiful Desert X parked at Bogota International Airport.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[thomahawk]

Originally Posted by mobike008

My BYD rental. I hired it for 4-hours in Bogota to do a drive by tour of the city.

Attachment 2581745

Didn't know BYD also made clones - that too of budget segment cars like Ecosport:
https://www.rushlane.com/byd-yuan-pr...-12471195.html

[ach1lles]

A destination that has been on my list for over a decade. The flight options from India are kind of crappy so this has remained dormant. So far.
Your write-up has re-ignited that desire, and I really do wish to absorb the continent, starting from Colombia. thanks for sharing.
Have you shared elsewhere too, where this forum's rules do not apply?

[Quad47]

Brilliant ! ...was quite excited to read this article when it mentioned Columbia ! I admire folks who go to off-beat places..but Medellin and Cartagena is something else- there is a bit of risk involved and you folks dared to go to the land of Pablo Escobar ! great writeup and thanks for giving us glimpse of these places. I am going to share this is in my friends group who are still planning to have a group trip to Ladakh

[ike]

Nice travelogue. Cool pics too. I also loved the Narcos series. Leaving a pic of me and my wingman watchin Narcos back in the day.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by thomahawk

Didn't know BYD also made clones - that too of budget segment cars like Ecosport:

Hmm. I was not aware about this. But, then BYD is a mass segment maker who makes vehicles on volumes and probably also relies a lot on exports.

Originally Posted by ach1lles

A destination that has been on my list for over a decade. The flight options from India are kind of crappy so this has remained dormant. So far.
Your write-up has re-ignited that desire, and I really do wish to absorb the continent, starting from Colombia. thanks for sharing.
Have you shared elsewhere too, where this forum's rules do not apply?

Thanks for the nice words. That's exactly my thought process too. It was a major bucket list in my life as well and happy that it's ticked off.

Colombia is safe if you take basic precautions and they are really promoting tourism so it's worth while to check this place out.

We really enjoyed this beautiful country. You should plan a trip soon. Feel free to reach out if you need any specific information. Cheers

Originally Posted by Quad47

Brilliant ! ...was quite excited to read this article when it mentioned Columbia ! I admire folks who go to off-beat places..but Medellin and Cartagena is something else- there is a bit of risk involved and you folks dared to go to the land of Pablo Escobar.

great writeup and thanks for giving us glimpse of these places. I am going to share this is in my friends group who are still planning to have a group trip to Ladakh.

Thank you. Yes, visiting Medellin was like a dream. Even I am glad that we are back unscathed after visiting this place as the vibes of that place still remains.

As mentioned, if you stick to the basics its fine and we are not the ones under threat but, the rich white folks are which you will find in limited numbers in Colombia.

Having been to most major destinations in the world, we are now picking all offbeat locations.

Next on the platter is Brazil and Peru.

Originally Posted by ike

Nice travelogue. Cool pics too. I also loved the Narcos series. Leaving a pic of me and my wingman watchin Narcos back in the day.

Thanks. Glad to know you too are from the fanlist of Narcos.

That's such a cute pic. Your son seems to be more engrossed than you and probably he too will visit Colombia when he grows up inspired by the series.

[SithDefender]

This is a fantastic travelogue indeed. With the right company of friends, any destination is awesome, and it seems you guys had a blast. Excellent photos too that fully capture the vibes of the trip.

The way that red Ferrari gleams and shines is just so thrilling. And I had to do a double take on that Ecosport, nay, BYD !

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by SithDefender

This is a fantastic travelogue indeed. With the right company of friends, any destination is awesome, and it seems you guys had a blast. Excellent photos too that fully capture the vibes of the trip.

The way that red Ferrari gleams and shines is just so thrilling. And I had to do a double take on that Ecosport, nay, BYD !

Thanks for the nice words. What you said is right, if you have the right company, any destination would be super fun.

Hopefully, the same group is going to reconvene for a different trip in June/July of this year.

On a separate note, I started collecting fridge magnets quite late in life and there are many places that I visited are not part of this collection. Now I make sure wherever I am travelling, I pick one and stick it on refrigerator.