A couple of weeks before I landed in Colombia, I wrote to my Colombian friend Ernesto. I had met him one year before at the Anića Kuk Camp in Paklenica, Croatia. There, we shared an hour or two of conversation and linked up on Facebook. I had mentioned South America was in the running for my future travels and he suggested that if I did end up coming, I should write him. So me being me, I did just that. I let him know when I was arriving and asked where he was; perhaps we could meet up for a beer. And Ernesto being Colombian, agreed to having that beer but also offered for me to stay with him and his parents! I would soon learn that this hospitality and friendliness is deeply rooted in Colombian culture and one of many reasons I fell in love with this captivating country. And in the end, I would unexpectedly spend seven months meandering about Colombia’s diverse and stunning landscapes.

I began those seven months with a couple of weeks in Ernesto’s hometown, Bogotá. At the airport, I grabbed a cab and showed the driver his address. He carted me off through the busy streets of Colombia’s largest city and governmental capital. After a quick 15 minute drive, he dropped me off near by but not exactly in front of Ernesto’s home. A bit lost, I wandered around for several minutes before deciding it was time to find a phone. At the time, I spoke very little Spanish, and in general, Colombians speak very little English. This made it a little tricky, but I knew just enough to convince a random person to loan me their phone so that I could call Ernesto. Eventually he peered around the corner and we were off to get me settled in and to share a home-cooked lunch with his parents!

The next morning we made for Cerro Monserrate, the mountainous hill that dominates the center of Bogotá. Atop sits the church, Santuario de Bogotá, and to ascend up to its summit you have two options: First, hike the 2.35mi (3.78km) stone path gaining about 1,550ft (472m) in elevation reaching a maximum elevation of about 10,500ft (3200m). Or second, you can cheat and take the cable car up saving a few hours of time but sacrificing a little bit of dignity.

We of course chose the first option and with our dignity securely in hand, headed for that path’s entrance. Being a popular hike for tourists and locals alike, we got going bright and early to beat the crowds of Sunday hikers making their pilgrimage to the top. Shortly after starting off, however, I discovered that altitude is, in fact, a real thing. Having grown up at sea level and never having been above a couple thousand feet, then landing at 8,660 ft (2,640m) the day before, my lungs were a bit confused to say the least. Thankfully, despite having arrived early, the path was still overrun with enough other hikers that I didn’t have to feel so bad about my slow pace. I could blame it on the other slowpokes getting in the way and just pretend that my heavy breathing, wobbly legs, and racing heartbeat weren’t real!

After about two arduous hours of trudging up the stone steps, we finally arrived to the summit. At the top, we explored the church and walked around enjoying the expansive views of Bogotá before descending via the cable car. I was particularly excited at this chosen way down because it’s a cool ride and it would save a lot of time. It of course had nothing to do with the possibility of my legs feeling like pools of Jello!

About a week after I arrived, I moved over to the house of Ernesto’s friend, Rosalba. Her daughters are currently living in Europe, so she had a room open for me to rent, which would be a nice upgrade from sleeping on the floor at Ernesto’s! And throughout my time there, she became a really great new friend and was incredibly helpful during my several visits to Bogotá. She made many delicious meals and we had a lot of fun exchanging English and Spanish lessons! Because of this, I would like to give her a big shout out and huge thank you for all of her help! Muchísimas gracias por todo, Doña Rosalba!

Over the next week I went exploring to find out what the city had to offer. One of my favorite spots was the Paloquemao Market. This vast and seemingly chaotic market has an enormous selection of fruits, vegetables, meats, fishes, spices, and really anything food related, even dishes and cookware. And each morning, they have a large outdoor flower market filled with thousands of varieties on display, all brilliantly colored.

The whole place can be a bit of a complicated maze, but once you get the hang of it, the chaos starts to make sense and you begin to realize just how well organized it all actually is. These markets in South America offer up some of the freshest, most delicious produce you can find and most often, at cheaper-than-the-supermarket prices! Needless to say, Paloquemao received several visits during my stays in Bogotá and made me wish that we could have markets similar to these in the United States. Our farmer’s markets, in my opinion, aren’t nearly as good.

Coincidentally, at about the same time that I had met Ernesto at the Anića Kuk Camp in Croatia, I met another Colombian named Sara. While in Paklenica, we climbed on several occasions together and became good friends. So when I arrived to Colombia, I wrote to her as well. Sara is actually from the city of Cali, but as luck would have it, she was staying in Bogotá too. So we met up a few times, going for hikes up Monserrate and for a couple runs in town (who knew? Apparently, I go for runs!) with after-run workouts in the park. She also toured me around town once, giving me a few exceptional history lessons on Colombia and the city of Bogotá.

On one of the nights, we attended a free concert with Ernesto at the campus of Colombia’s National University celebrating it’s 150th anniversary! First on the line-up was a salsa artist named Yuri Buenaventura. And second, Herencia de Timbiquí, my first introduction to Colombian Pacífico music, the Afro-infused Latino style of music that I’d grown to really enjoy! It was a super fun night filled with ton of dancing!
 

During those first two weeks, I did managed to get out and rock climb twice. For the first day, I met up with some climbers that Ernesto’s friend Sebastian hooked me up with. We took an hour bus ride out to the small village of Suesca. Just outside of town lies a band of craggy, sandstone cliffs, home to the first climbed routes in all of Colombia! The bus drops you off right at the path entrance, where you follow along a set of train tracks. Then after a few minutes of easy hiking, the climbs begin to appear. I spent the day climbing mostly single pitch, but the area has a lot of multi pitch climbs as well. So later in the day, I found myself going up an easy but super fun two pitch route named, La Diagonal (5.7/5a). To begin the second pitch, you have an exciting pull off the belay ledge where the ground just falls right out from below your feet! One step out and you’ve got 100+ feet (33+ meters) of air swirling around between you and ground below!

For the second day of climbing, I met up with Sebastian in a different small village outside of Bogotá called, Machetá. The small area near Machetá for climbing is characterized by its steep, overhung limestone roof. Roof climbing typically increases the difficulty grade significantly and climbs here were no exception! Fortunately, for the vast majority of the climbs, the first half goes up a vertical face allowing for at least 30 or 40 feet (3 to 4 meters) of fun but manageable climbing even if you aren’t able to finish out the last 5 to 10 feet to the anchors.

To wrap up this two week stretch in Bogotá, Sara invited me to join her and her friend on the drive to her hometown. So one morning, before the crack of dawn, we started off on our ten hour journey, zigzagging through the beautiful Andes Mountains. I didn’t know it quite yet, but I was off to one of my favorite parts of Colombia, Cali and the Pacific Coast! There, I would find myself on a few of unique experiences that would remain as some of my most special memories from the time that I spent in Colombia!

Me voy pa’ Cali!
Translation: I’m headed to Cali

PS: I would also like to give a special thank you to Ernesto and his parents. Their hospitality and friendship are a big part of why Colombia was and will always remain special in my heart. Entonces, muchísimas más más más gracias por todo a ustedes!