So Long South America

It is unfortunately our last day in South America. We could definitely have spent much more time here and will hopefully be able to return in the future to see some of the places we missed, and revisit some of the places we loved.

Our time spent in Colombia has been amazing. Cartagena was a very interesting city divided into 3 distinct parts: the beautiful old town, the trendy and modern Bocagrande, and a much scruffier area that seems to be in complete contrast with the others. When we weren't wandering the streets of the old town, we were discovering some interesting places outside of Cartagena.

We visited the nearby mud volcano and had quite the mud bath. You climb up to the top of the volcano and pay people to hold your camera (and take some epic photos), give you massages, and eventually rinse you off in a little swampy area nearby - note: by rinse, I mean accosted by buckets of water while trying to keep swampy water away from your mouth and eyes.  Then you find your bathing suit has been stealthily removed for further washing...really a great experience though- we felt like total kids playing in the mud!

We also visited the Rosario islands and Playa Blanca. We had the most delicious fish of our lives on the beach (in fact all of the food here is amazing) and enjoyed swimming in the Caribbean sea afterwards.

After Cartagena, we took the bus to Medellin. The countryside was incredible and we passed through many small towns along the way. It seemed that every house we saw no matter how basic had an open, welcoming door, and lovely blinking Christmas lights.

Medellin was a great city to visit. They have so many free tourist attractions and interesting cultural sites. Our favorite places were the Botero museum, Parque Explora (where we again embraced our inner child), and the cable car ride up over the city which was conveniently part of the metro system. From Medellin we took a day trip to Guatape and El Penol. Guatape was a very colorful town with animals, vehicles, and geometric signs popping out from all the building walls. There is a huge rock in El Penol that you can climb to see a beautiful view of the reservoir below. Definitely worth the day trip! 

We are now in Bogota and have been exploring La Candelaria (old town) and the more ritzier, not to mention safer, northern zones of the city. We went to the police museum here, and had a great tour by a young local completing his mandatory military service. We learned more about the Pablo Escobar cartel and saw a few of his confiscated possesions (some old guns, and a desk with hidden drawers,etc). We were also taken to a weapons room filled with various sized guns, swords, and cannons. To our surprise, we also found a Mounties uniform among some international police artifacts.

City of God

We spent about a week in Rio and we really loved the city. We didn't have great weather every day (side note - forecasts are highly inaccurate here) but when it is sunny it may be the most beautiful city in the world. We managed to get a couple of clear days which we took advantage of to go and see the Sugar Loaf mountain, Christ the Redeemer, and take some walks along the famous beaches. Rio was such an interesting city to see with a huge divide between rich and poor. Looking over the city you see beaches, jungle, and high rises mixed in with favelas climbing up almost every mountain in sight. We opted against a favela tour but we heard that they were very interesting and different than you might expect. There is even a McDonald's in the largest favela of the city, and one of our hostel staff said he met a young guy from Vancouver living at the top of one favela just for the cheap rent!

 

There are definitely some areas you would want to be careful in but luckily we made it through the city without any mishaps. We stayed in Ipanema and felt very safe in the neighborhood even after dark. We heard that most of the beautiful, young Cariocas strive to live in this area of the city and it's not hard to imagine why. Walk a couple blocks one way and you hit a gorgeous beach, walk the other way and you hit a nice lake in the city with a botanical garden. On our first night in town they had a big celebration on the lake and lit a floating Christmas tree while setting off fireworks behind it. Hard to believe it is getting close to Christmas while we are in this part of the world! Another highlight from the city was a night out in Lapa listening to some live samba music with some more caipirinhas! They are just so hard to resist!

Ipanema and the Lagoa

Found some monkeys while hiking the Sugar Loaf

After a 24 hour flight journey, we made it to Colombia - sin Adam's backpack. Luckily the airline found it the day after and has just sent it to the hostel.  The jury is still out on whether anything is missing! (Update: nothing is missing.)

Spaceship Cathedral..

Copacabana Beach

View of Copacabana beach from the Sugar Loaf