24hrs In Bogota

It was a couple of weeks before Christmas when John and I decided to heed the call of his family and visit them for the holidays. We managed to find a decent deal flying out of Cartagena (not the cheapest place to fly in and out of) and as a bonus due to the flight schedule we had an entire day to spend in Bogota. The catch was that we had not told a soul, our visit was to be a complete surprise to his family. The only one who knew was his cousin Griffin, who we had arranged to pick us up at the airport. In order to achieve maximum impact we orchestrated the arrival to be on Christmas Eve, at night when we knew the entire extended family would be sitting around the tree at John’s childhood home.

Flying To Bogota

We flew out of Cartagena without a hitch and in a few hours found ourselves racing through city highways and traffic as our yellow cab wound it’s way through Bogota to our hostel.

Airport Vendor in Bogota

Handy Translations For Tourist In Bogota Cab

We arrived in the hostel by 3:30pm and we had to be at the airport no later than 5:30 am the next morning. With such limited time we wanted to hit the city fast to see as much as possible. After checking in we realized a few things about our immediate surroundings: 1.) Our hostel, the Cranky Croc, was the nicest backpacker hostel we have been in, and 2.) It was CHILLY in Bogota at 60F! It was a little worrisome that it was already feeling freezing to us at 60F when where we were going in the U.S., even though in the South, was a nippy 30-40F! I guess spending 8 months where the temperature never dropped under 70F had seriously damaged our sense of hot and cold.

Our hostel, the Cranky Croc, was created by a backpacker who fell in love with Colombia and wanted to create a hostel where all the needs he had identified while traveling where put into practice. The results are quite nice.

Cranky Croc Hostel

Aly at the Cranky Croc Hostel

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Hop & Jaunt’s Top Ten of 2009

Happy New Years from the Crew at Hop & Jaunt Travelouges!  We’re excited about the new adventures and travels that lay ahead in 2010.  But before we jaunt into the last year of the decade, lets hop back and take a look at some of our favorite experiences from the past year.   Its Hop & Jaunt’s Top Ten Favorite Adventures of 2009.

10.)  Beach Bumming at Roger’s Bar on Hog Island, Grenada

Roger's Beach Bar - Hog Island, Grenada

Roger’s Bar on Hog Island was our first Caribbean experience after joining Alyson’s parents on Quercus.  Roger’s ramshackle beach shack not only had the appearance of being thrown together with driftwood, bamboo and palm leaves, but it literally was put together with nothing more than driftwood, bamboo and palm leaves.  Many afternoon ‘sundowners’ turned into late night ‘howl at the moon’ sessions underneath the glow of the single 12 Volt powered light bulb.  Live reggae music, sand between your toes and always a cold beer set the perfect mood for mingling and socializing with the  locals and sailors from around the world.  To read more click here.

9.)  Baby Sitting a Whale in Curacao

Giving baby Sully a tummy rub.

While boat sitting in Curacao we decided to try a little baby sitting as well.  We volunteered to watch after a 10 foot baby pilot whale that was being nursed back to health.  Sully the pilot whale was beached by his family after becoming too ill to keep up with the rest of his pod.  Efforts by local marine biologist and volunteers helped to restore the baby whale back to full health.  We spent a few nights lying by Sully’s pen keeping him company as he vied for our attention by requesting several belly rubs.  It was an experience we will always remember.  Unfortunately efforts to integrate Sully back into the wild have failed, and there are talks that he will be moved to a tank in Sea World, San Diego.  For more click here.
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Christmas Time in Cartagena

The Old Walled City of Cartagena at Night

One of our favorite Christmas time traditions is to go for a ride and look at the Christmas lights and decorations. This year we continued the tradition in Cartagena by taking a horse drawn carriage ride through the old walled city. We picked a nice warm night, grabbed the cameras and hit the streets.

For me its different to be in such a warm climate during the holiday season. Its odd to be sweating in the mid-day heat while listening to “White Christmas” (although I suppose there is plenty of “snow” here).  Despite the heat, Christmas season is celebrated in Colombia just as enthusiastically as in the United States.  The city becomes decorated with an array of vividly colored lights and ornaments.  Nativity scenes are especially prominent in front of the gigantic, ominous cathedrals. 

A Large Illuminated Nativity Scene

Cherry blossom Christmas lights are set in trees throughout the city

The old city is safe enough to stroll through during the nights and evenings.  In fact, it was one of our favorite activities to aimlessly meander around town in the cool of night.  But if you want to view the city in style, you can’t beat a horse drawn carriage.  The clip-clop of the horse’s shoes on the cobblestone streets really add to the charm of the city.  A fair price for a coach ride is around 25,000 Pesos ($12.50 US).

We hire a coche for a ride around town.

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How to Tell Which is a Witch

La mesa de la bruja

While living in a new place its important to learn more about the local culture and history.  For this museums are just great, and Cartagena offers several beautiful buildings outfitted with a variety of historical artifacts and relevant information.  Recently, we visited the Palace of the Inquisition which is considered one the most significant constructinos of civil architecture in Colombia.  Built around 1770 this building was the center for the Spanish Inquisition in Cartagena, where witches, heretics, and other ‘sinners’ met the infamous torture devices hidden away in the dungeoun cellars. Over 600 of the accused met their end inside those walls. Today it is a museum with some of the torture devices on display, and the building itself is an amazing piece of work but knowing what happened there gives you a bit of a chill. 

Palace of the Inquisition, Cartagena

No One Escapes the Spanish Inquisition

Interior courtyard of the palace

So during their reign of terror the Spanish Inquisition used a variety of twisted and sadistic tools to convert protestants, slaughter indigenious indians, and interrogate witches about the details of their craft.

 As you will see from the following photos, they were some pretty sick bastards.

The twisted things people do for politics and religion.

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Teatro Heredia

The Crew of Hop & Jaunt

When you’re traveling abroad knowing the native tongue is a handy asset (obviously), and since Alyson is well versed in Espanol it saves me alot of  time with complex translations.  However, I do like the challenge of being able to do things myself.  Living in Colombia has definitely helped my Spanish to improve.  Alyson also has been a good tutor and often gives me the opportunity to take the lead in some conversations.  The practice has helped me come a long way from my first failed attempt at trying to rent a computer at a Colombian internet cafe.  As we approached the counter I was so surprised and unprepared when Alyson told me, “You try this time” that the only Spanish word I could muster was “Senor”.  As in ” uhh…I’d like to use a computer…Senor.”  That didn’t really get me anything but a blank stare.

Luckily though I’ve gotten much better.  Now its absolutely no problem for me to go out in the city to do things on my own.  But on occassion I do find myself in conversational situations that exhaust my basic knowledge of the language, and I’m forced to resort to awkward charade-like gestures.  Today it happened again when I attempted to purchase tickets to tour Cartagena’s World Famous Teatro Heredia.

Relaxing on the Balcony

We woke up midmorning today with nothing in particular to do.  The day was warm and the skies were clear.  While enjoying the view from the balcony of our new hostel room we decided it would be a good day to take the cameras around the city and take some photographs.

View from our suite.

Nice warm weather here with cool December breezes.

Hitting the streets in search of coffee.

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