My Epic Colombian Adventure (Solo — Part 2)
Be sure to check out Part 1, which covers my first week in Colombia as part of a group tour with El Camino Travel.
Days 9–14: Envigado, Medellín
Lunch with an ATLien
While everyone in the group was at the airport heading back to their respective homes, I met up with another Black female content professional that I met online last year named Jen, who lives in Atlanta (I used to live there too). We had lunch at RepEat. She had been in Medellín for a couple of months and was leaving soon, so we traded notes. Among them, she said she got her hair braided locally for $280,000 in Colombian pesos (COP), which was a steal. I made a mental note since it was hot and I didn’t feel like dealing with my hair for the rest of my trip (I still had 3 weeks left at this point).
Once I got back the hotel, I retrieved my luggage and caught an Uber to the next neighborhood from Poblado, called Envigado. I originally booked an Airbnb for 3 weeks in a neighborhood I saw in a walking tour on YouTube, but because I wanted to visit Juan in Cartegena, I changed my reservation for 2 weeks. (I later left at the end of the first week due to the noise all day from an apartment above me that was being remodeled. I did not get a refund for that full week I was gone, but I couldn’t enjoy myself there for another week with constant banging all day, starting before 8 am every day.)
VIVA Envigado (mall)
As I mentioned before, most everyday things you buy in Colombia are substantially cheaper than they cost in the States. (The main exceptions are for name-brand items from an Apple store, Adidas, Nike, etc.)
VIVA Envigado mall is one of the largest in Medellín. I also visited VIVA Laureles, and it was smaller. (Sabaneta is the next town over, and has a large mall I visited as well.) One of the main stores at the entrance is Exito, a major supermarket. As I visited each mall, I mainly looked around and got lunch or a snack. The only things I bought were from Exito, such as detergent and a few food items. (Note that JUMBO is another supermarket, which I went to with Juan in Cartegena on my second day back.)
Festival
Most of my 10 days in Medellín, I took an evening stroll to explore and get dinner, since I didn’t cook much. One evening, about 15 minutes into my walk, I found myself in a square with a festival with lots of booths selling food and gifts. I came across one booth where they sold lechon, which is a full roasted pig, head and all, that cooks for who knows how long, and is delicious. I only had lechon once before in 2016, when my late husband drove us into the mountains of Puerto Rico with his cousins to get it.
Plaza Botero
Even though I studied YouTube vlogs about Medellín for several months, I found myself running out of things I wanted to do. But I decided to hit one last touristy spot called Plaza Botero. I’ve seen the statues in vlogs before, but I wasn’t ready for the marketplace chaos and overstimulation. It was so busy and frenetic that I almost felt like I was in Times Square in NYC. I ate at a small spot called Rellenitos where there was almost nowhere to sit. One of the workers asked a patron if I could sit at her table, and she was fine with it. Many people were sitting with strangers actually.
Nail shop
My fingernails are naturally long and strong, so I never get manicures. But I occasionally get pedicures and since there was a nail shop 3 blocks from my apartment called Imagen & Estilo (on Diagonal 33), I went for it. I tried to go one evening and wore my flip-flops, but they were too busy. So on my last day in Medellin, after coming back from Botero or somewhere, I stopped by and was able to get it done. (I didn’t want to walk around in my flip-flops all day, so I arrived wearing shoes that cover my toes.) The nail techs looked at me crazy when I left because I was walking barefoot, but I didn’t have far to go.
Days 15–27: Back to Cartegena
I wasn’t looking forward to the humidity of Cartegena, but was excited to see Juan again. He picked me up from the airport and helped me check in to my Airbnb in El Laguito, a touristy area past Bocagrande. (This was an apartment that did not include hot water, which surprised me. I had hot water in the hostel before, as well as my apartment in Medellín.)
Juan and I went to lunch and I told him I was interested in learning more about Afro-Colombian culture. He immediately called a friend who’s a tour guide for Black Legacy Experiences, and added me to the list for their tour of Palenque for the next day.
Palenque tour
The next morning, I took an Uber to Castillo de San Felipe to meet the group. We took off around 8 am, and I think the ride to Palenque was about an hour. I didn’t realize that Cartegena was a major port used during the slave trade, and Palenque was a big part of that. I enjoyed the tour, where we learned, danced, boxed, drummed, sipped medicinal tea, and ate. We returned to Cartegena at 3 pm or so.
My vlog has several videos from this tour.
The next day was more low-key, so Juan and I went to the mall and the beach for awhile before he had to go to work.
Trenzas (Braids)
Another thing I told Juan I wanted was to get my hair braided. Jen told me how much hers cost, and it was unbelievably inexpensive compared to the States, like most other things. So Juan contacted an African braiding shop called African Trenzas, and arranged an appointment. The following week, he drove 45 minutes to get the braider from the shop and brought her to my apartment. She brought everything I needed: the hair extensions, the gold accessories, gel, combs — everything. Juan took a nap in my bedroom while she worked, and then after we cleaned up, he took her back to the shop. All I had to do was sit there until the braids were done, and pay her. If it hadn’t happened before, that was the day I fell in love with Juan. He went above and beyond for me.
My schedule
I spent most days in this Airbnb doing 2 or 3 hours of freelance work, then going out in the afternoon. There was a noticeable breeze of relief that started around 4 or 5 pm each day, so I’d usually wait until evening to go out for any length of time. I was with Juan at some point almost every day, but I’d end my nights there the way I do at home: with YouTube. (Note: YouTube is available in Colombia, but YouTube TV was not — even when I tried to cast it from my iPad.)
December is a high season for tourism because of Christmas, so Juan spent most of this time working 18-hour days and getting little sleep. I’m really grateful to know someone local who could be my resource for the second half of my trip and take care of whatever I needed.
Day 28: Barranquilla and Castillo Grande
On my last day in Colombia, I took a tour of Barranquilla from Cartagena (which is only 2 hours away when driving).
Barranquilla is the city that hosts the annual Carnaval (only rivaled by the one in Rio de Janeiro).
Unfortunately, I don’t have anything to share about this tour because we just stopped at a few places for a few minutes each and then went to the mall. It was a big disappointment. I had specifically told the people in the office that I wanted to go on a tour there that took us to the carnival museum. This one did not.
On the way back, about 3 miles from my apartment, the bus hit something in the road and messed up the wheel, and it happened right next to the main Cartagena sign at the beach. This is a sign that I have been trying to get a picture in front of for the last two weeks. In any case, we all got into taxis to get back to our respective places, except for a few ladies, who just decided to walk.
A couple hours later, Juan arrived to my apartment, but this time in a car that he borrowed from a friend, since he still didn’t have keys to his own car. He gave me a “private tour” around the bay to Castillo Grande and Manga Fishing Club. The lights were beautiful — both the city lights and the Christmas decorations.
Day 29: Time to go back to the U.S.
The day before, Juan’s friend Jorge texted me to say he was taking me to the airport. Juan wasn’t sure if he’d be available to do so himself since he was working and on call. I didn’t need to arrive at the airport until 1 pm, so Jorge picked me up at my checkout time (11 am) and we went a mile down the street to have lunch at the beach.
After we ate, Juan called Jorge and said he was on his way there to say goodbye to me. I wondered if he would, or if the goodbye we had early that morning would be it. Well, Juan didn’t get there until after 1 pm. And the 3 of us arrived at the airport at 2 pm.
That was a mistake.
The Cartagena airport is very small, and Colombians are generally not in a hurry to do anything except drive. (Traffic is wild here.) So my advice is, if you have an international flight through this airport, arrive at least 3 hours in advance unless you have a Colombian passport. I made it on the flight only by speaking up and getting myself ahead in the immigration line.
I took 2 flights: first to Miami, and then home. Each flight was 2.5 hours, and once my daughter took us home, we arrived at 1 am.
Of course it was very hard to leave my new beau, but it gives me even more incentive to apply for a VISA and get back there ASAP! I’m so grateful for this whole experience because it showed me lots of things about:
- Making new friends as an adult with common interests (even with big age gaps)
- Gaining more confidence in my foreign language and navigation skills
- Experiencing the joy of new discoveries with different cultures and ways of living
- Being open to unexpected blessings and love
- Dreaming about possibilities and slowly making them a reality
Check out my travel vlog for many more pics and videos from this epic adventure!
