Post by elexpatriado on Mar 19, 2019 10:12:14 GMT -5
On another site they asked about how much travelling you did while you were in Colombia.
I took the time to go through a detailed list so I thought I would post it here.
BuenPues why dont you post your list?
I prepared this in WORD and changed the spell check to English. I think it is fairly complete, and a good reference for me.
Where I have travelled outside of Colombia since I came here 6 and a half years ago:
-Every year I go back to Canada, one month in summer for rock climbing and mountaineering, and to visit my family and one month in winter for resort skiing, cat skiing and mostly back country (touring) skiing. I will be probably reducing the winter trips to once every 2 years in future due to costs and to be able visit more countries and places in South America and the Caribbean
-Mexico, twice to Cancun , once to Cabo San Lucas and once to Mazatlán
-UK once for a village to village walking holiday in the English Lake District. I also visited my aunt in Holland on the same trip
-Aruba
-Panama (briefly)
-Nepal for 2 weeks on a trekking trip. I came back with the worst case of Bronchitis in my life
-Argentina, to Buenas Aires for a few days and then to Bariloche for skiing
-Peru to visit Machu Picchu and Cuzco (for the second time in my life- way more crowded than it was in the year 2000).
-This following summer (June)- I have purchased tickets to take my girlfriend to Spain- I will be staying over longer to do some mountaineering in the Alps near San Moritz. Might visit relatives in Holland again. I had planned to go to the Lofoten islands for rock climbing, but it is too far away , too expensive, and I don’t know if I can bring my climbing skills up to the level to do the routes I want to do,
In the future, I would like to go to Ecuador to climb some of the Big Volcanos and go to the Galapagos (amazingly I have not been there yet), Curacao, Chie, Peru again hopefully to do a Trek in the cordillera huayhuash, Argentina again, maybe deeper into Patagonia,
The places I have been to in Colombia since I started coming here in 2004 are as follows (I need to look at a Colombian map and am trying to start from South to North:
-Popayan (twice)
- Cali (several times and have spent months at a time there).
And Following in Valle de Cauca
-Pance (and área), Dapa, KM 18
-Palmira (several times)
-Tulua
-Buga
-Lago Colima (several times)
- Cartago
In Tolima
-Girardot (Actually in Cudinamarca)
-Espiñal
-Melgar
-Chicoral
-Honda
In Quindio the following-
-Armenia (frequently)
-Calarca (frequently)
-Quimbayo
-Finlandia
-Parque del Café (several times)
-Panaca
-Salento (many many times)
- Valle de Cocora (several times)
- PNN los Nevados- several times- went up to the Finca Primavera 1500 m above Valle de Cocora 4 times total. Attempted ascent of Nevado del Tolima once, actually climbed it twice by 2 different routes, and climbed Nevado del Quindio
Bogota and Cudinamarca área:
-Bogota several times, pretty well all the museums and climbed / ran the 550 m staircase to Monseratte several times. Not to mention the airport and are around the embassies (LOL)
-Zipaquira and the salt mine cathedral
-That stupid theme park with the Taj Mahal imitation on the way out of Bogota on the way to Suesca-its named after some guy James someone- a famous Colombia pilot
-Suesca- several times – I go at least a couple times a year for rock climbing. Plus I have done some hiking in the hills around there
- Laguna Sagreda de Guatavita (twice)
-Sesquille
Cities and areas in Meta:
-Villavicencio
-Puerto Lopez (With the obelisk monument indicting the geographic center of Colombia)
-La Macarena and Caño Cristales- the multi-colored river
Risaralda and Caldas:
-Pereira and Dos Quebradas (frequently)
-Cerritos (and finca near here)
- Santa Rosa de Cabal and the Thermales (been to all the thermals in the area- the principle ones several times)
-Manizales (Lived there for 4 years)
-Villa Maria
- Manazares
-Chinchina
-Rio Sucio area
-Balacazar ( where there is a big statue of Christ you can crawl inside)
-PNN de los Nevados- including climbing to the summit of Nevado Del Ruiz (many years ago when it was not active) and Santa Isabel 2 different peaks -3 or 4 different times.
Boyaca:
-Villa de Leiva
- Cocuy and Guican and Parque Naicional del Cocuy- twice- I climbed 4 of the highest peaks between 5100 m and 5400m (Rita Cuba Blanca, Pan De Azucar, Concavo, San Pablo Sur ) on two separate mountaineering tripstrips before they stupidly closed the parque to mountaineering above snow line.
Santander and Norte De Santander:
-Bucaramanga (where I know live), including Floridablanca, Piedecuesta, Giron, and a holiday parque near Rio Negro, several hikes to waterfalls in the area (there are many waterfalls, posos , rios and lagunas in the area worth visiting)
-Cañon de Chicamocha including the national parquet and teleferico (6m long one of longest in the world)
-Barichara, Guane, San Gil (twicw)
-Socorro
-Zapatoca (Nice pueblo here as well)
-Guadalupe Santander- which has “Las Gachas” an underground river in a Karst formation which bubbles to the surface through pot holes in the river bed. Each pot hole is like a miniature Jacuzzi you can go in or bathe in. As a matter of fact, you can slide on your butt down the river bed at least 15 meters into one of these potholes. I have a video of me doing this. They also have a cave you can go in through one end and come out the other, with water rushing. Also at least one waterfall.
- Berlin (the one on the way to Cucuta and the Paramos de Santurban
-Vetas- at altitude 3350 M on the edge of the Paramos de Santurban. A real picturesque little alpine pueblo perched on the side of a mountain. It has the highest soccer field in Colombia. I don’t know why the Selecion de Colombia don’t practice here before they go to La Paz to play Bolivia.
-Paramos de Santurban-a massive paramo- one of the biggest in Colombia, straddling the frontier between Santander and Norte de Santander. Varies in Altitude between 3200m and 4400 m peaks. Over 100 alpine lakes, some quite colorful. Reminiscent of the Scottish highlands, except with significant frailejones in some areas. I have been there 4 times, doing extensive day hikes.
Antioquia:
-Medellin (lived for 1 year), Envigado (lived for 2 years), Itagui, Bello ,Sabaneta
-Guatape, Peñol (several times)
- Santa Fe de Antioquia (several times)
- Rio Negro, Llano Grande
-Copacabana and finca nearby
-Venecia
-Reserva del Rio Claro – twice (You Gotta go on the cave excursión ¡!)
-Parque hacienda Napoles (Pablo Escobar`s old Finca)
Cordoba;
-Monteria. Montelibano , Cerro Matoso nickel smelter (for work assignment several years ago).
Choco- Caribbean Region;
-Capurgana and Sapzuro- Real nice 4 day excursion to all inclusive with small plane flight from Medellin
Cartagena and area¨
-Cartagena, Playa Blanca, Islas Rosarios, Baru
Santa Marta and área
-Santa Marta (several times)
-Rodadero (twice)
-Tatanga
-PNN Tayrona- Playa Cristal, Trek and walk to Cabo San Juan (twice).
-PNN Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta- several times- I have been trying for the last couple years to make an ascent of the 2 highest peaks in Colombia- Cristobol Colon and Simon Bolivar (Both around 5800 m). However, there has been many false starts, several trips to the coffee village of Palmor (18 km off of the main highway 45 going south from Cienaga ) and two trips by foot on trails to or near the Kogi Village of Maramongo, approximately 20 Km from Palmor. Because of bureaucracy, inexperience, corruption of the locals (and other Colombians) and the Kogis (and in addition the general timid, distrusting nature of the Kogis), most of these expeditions failed miserably one way or another. However, in one instance was able to make it with a team to the summit of the third highest peak in Colombia , Pico Simmonds, around 5700 m. This involved 5 days walking inland with guides, cook, mules and mule keepers, sleeping in the Kogi village of Maramongo, sleeping in Kogi huts (or “hooch” as they would say in Nam) and in tents above tree line at up to 4800m, and a final push to the summit with 2 AM alpine start on the 6th day, then followed 3 days return trekking downhill (mostly LOL) to Palmor. Involved about 120 km of back country hiking with over 6000 m in ups and downs round trip. A real “NatGeo” type expedition.
La Guajira
-Rio Hache
-Cabo de Vela
-Punto Gallinas
-Manuare (This place NOT recomendad)
San Andreas –once for a couple of days. That is all the time you need to see it.
That’s about all the places I have been to. Here is my preliminary “Bucket List” here I would Like to Go in the Future in Colombia:
- Isla Providencia
- -Rock Climbing in La Mojarra in the Chicamocha cañon
- Nariño, Pasto
- Choco Pacific side- Bahia Solano, Nuqui
- -Coveñas, Santiago de Tolu , Islas San Bernardo in Caribbean
- Beaches near Buenaventura (My friend knows some safe beautiful beaches there, and knows how to get there)
- Nevado del Huila (To climb- extremely complicated)
- High Peaks of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta again ( I need experienced Partner(s) with deep pockets and patience willing to share risks and expenses)
- PNN Cocuy- especially if they fix up stupid rules about restriction of access to high peaks above snow line.
I took the time to go through a detailed list so I thought I would post it here.
BuenPues why dont you post your list?
I prepared this in WORD and changed the spell check to English. I think it is fairly complete, and a good reference for me.
Where I have travelled outside of Colombia since I came here 6 and a half years ago:
-Every year I go back to Canada, one month in summer for rock climbing and mountaineering, and to visit my family and one month in winter for resort skiing, cat skiing and mostly back country (touring) skiing. I will be probably reducing the winter trips to once every 2 years in future due to costs and to be able visit more countries and places in South America and the Caribbean
-Mexico, twice to Cancun , once to Cabo San Lucas and once to Mazatlán
-UK once for a village to village walking holiday in the English Lake District. I also visited my aunt in Holland on the same trip
-Aruba
-Panama (briefly)
-Nepal for 2 weeks on a trekking trip. I came back with the worst case of Bronchitis in my life
-Argentina, to Buenas Aires for a few days and then to Bariloche for skiing
-Peru to visit Machu Picchu and Cuzco (for the second time in my life- way more crowded than it was in the year 2000).
-This following summer (June)- I have purchased tickets to take my girlfriend to Spain- I will be staying over longer to do some mountaineering in the Alps near San Moritz. Might visit relatives in Holland again. I had planned to go to the Lofoten islands for rock climbing, but it is too far away , too expensive, and I don’t know if I can bring my climbing skills up to the level to do the routes I want to do,
In the future, I would like to go to Ecuador to climb some of the Big Volcanos and go to the Galapagos (amazingly I have not been there yet), Curacao, Chie, Peru again hopefully to do a Trek in the cordillera huayhuash, Argentina again, maybe deeper into Patagonia,
The places I have been to in Colombia since I started coming here in 2004 are as follows (I need to look at a Colombian map and am trying to start from South to North:
-Popayan (twice)
- Cali (several times and have spent months at a time there).
And Following in Valle de Cauca
-Pance (and área), Dapa, KM 18
-Palmira (several times)
-Tulua
-Buga
-Lago Colima (several times)
- Cartago
In Tolima
-Girardot (Actually in Cudinamarca)
-Espiñal
-Melgar
-Chicoral
-Honda
In Quindio the following-
-Armenia (frequently)
-Calarca (frequently)
-Quimbayo
-Finlandia
-Parque del Café (several times)
-Panaca
-Salento (many many times)
- Valle de Cocora (several times)
- PNN los Nevados- several times- went up to the Finca Primavera 1500 m above Valle de Cocora 4 times total. Attempted ascent of Nevado del Tolima once, actually climbed it twice by 2 different routes, and climbed Nevado del Quindio
Bogota and Cudinamarca área:
-Bogota several times, pretty well all the museums and climbed / ran the 550 m staircase to Monseratte several times. Not to mention the airport and are around the embassies (LOL)
-Zipaquira and the salt mine cathedral
-That stupid theme park with the Taj Mahal imitation on the way out of Bogota on the way to Suesca-its named after some guy James someone- a famous Colombia pilot
-Suesca- several times – I go at least a couple times a year for rock climbing. Plus I have done some hiking in the hills around there
- Laguna Sagreda de Guatavita (twice)
-Sesquille
Cities and areas in Meta:
-Villavicencio
-Puerto Lopez (With the obelisk monument indicting the geographic center of Colombia)
-La Macarena and Caño Cristales- the multi-colored river
Risaralda and Caldas:
-Pereira and Dos Quebradas (frequently)
-Cerritos (and finca near here)
- Santa Rosa de Cabal and the Thermales (been to all the thermals in the area- the principle ones several times)
-Manizales (Lived there for 4 years)
-Villa Maria
- Manazares
-Chinchina
-Rio Sucio area
-Balacazar ( where there is a big statue of Christ you can crawl inside)
-PNN de los Nevados- including climbing to the summit of Nevado Del Ruiz (many years ago when it was not active) and Santa Isabel 2 different peaks -3 or 4 different times.
Boyaca:
-Villa de Leiva
- Cocuy and Guican and Parque Naicional del Cocuy- twice- I climbed 4 of the highest peaks between 5100 m and 5400m (Rita Cuba Blanca, Pan De Azucar, Concavo, San Pablo Sur ) on two separate mountaineering tripstrips before they stupidly closed the parque to mountaineering above snow line.
Santander and Norte De Santander:
-Bucaramanga (where I know live), including Floridablanca, Piedecuesta, Giron, and a holiday parque near Rio Negro, several hikes to waterfalls in the area (there are many waterfalls, posos , rios and lagunas in the area worth visiting)
-Cañon de Chicamocha including the national parquet and teleferico (6m long one of longest in the world)
-Barichara, Guane, San Gil (twicw)
-Socorro
-Zapatoca (Nice pueblo here as well)
-Guadalupe Santander- which has “Las Gachas” an underground river in a Karst formation which bubbles to the surface through pot holes in the river bed. Each pot hole is like a miniature Jacuzzi you can go in or bathe in. As a matter of fact, you can slide on your butt down the river bed at least 15 meters into one of these potholes. I have a video of me doing this. They also have a cave you can go in through one end and come out the other, with water rushing. Also at least one waterfall.
- Berlin (the one on the way to Cucuta and the Paramos de Santurban
-Vetas- at altitude 3350 M on the edge of the Paramos de Santurban. A real picturesque little alpine pueblo perched on the side of a mountain. It has the highest soccer field in Colombia. I don’t know why the Selecion de Colombia don’t practice here before they go to La Paz to play Bolivia.
-Paramos de Santurban-a massive paramo- one of the biggest in Colombia, straddling the frontier between Santander and Norte de Santander. Varies in Altitude between 3200m and 4400 m peaks. Over 100 alpine lakes, some quite colorful. Reminiscent of the Scottish highlands, except with significant frailejones in some areas. I have been there 4 times, doing extensive day hikes.
Antioquia:
-Medellin (lived for 1 year), Envigado (lived for 2 years), Itagui, Bello ,Sabaneta
-Guatape, Peñol (several times)
- Santa Fe de Antioquia (several times)
- Rio Negro, Llano Grande
-Copacabana and finca nearby
-Venecia
-Reserva del Rio Claro – twice (You Gotta go on the cave excursión ¡!)
-Parque hacienda Napoles (Pablo Escobar`s old Finca)
Cordoba;
-Monteria. Montelibano , Cerro Matoso nickel smelter (for work assignment several years ago).
Choco- Caribbean Region;
-Capurgana and Sapzuro- Real nice 4 day excursion to all inclusive with small plane flight from Medellin
Cartagena and area¨
-Cartagena, Playa Blanca, Islas Rosarios, Baru
Santa Marta and área
-Santa Marta (several times)
-Rodadero (twice)
-Tatanga
-PNN Tayrona- Playa Cristal, Trek and walk to Cabo San Juan (twice).
-PNN Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta- several times- I have been trying for the last couple years to make an ascent of the 2 highest peaks in Colombia- Cristobol Colon and Simon Bolivar (Both around 5800 m). However, there has been many false starts, several trips to the coffee village of Palmor (18 km off of the main highway 45 going south from Cienaga ) and two trips by foot on trails to or near the Kogi Village of Maramongo, approximately 20 Km from Palmor. Because of bureaucracy, inexperience, corruption of the locals (and other Colombians) and the Kogis (and in addition the general timid, distrusting nature of the Kogis), most of these expeditions failed miserably one way or another. However, in one instance was able to make it with a team to the summit of the third highest peak in Colombia , Pico Simmonds, around 5700 m. This involved 5 days walking inland with guides, cook, mules and mule keepers, sleeping in the Kogi village of Maramongo, sleeping in Kogi huts (or “hooch” as they would say in Nam) and in tents above tree line at up to 4800m, and a final push to the summit with 2 AM alpine start on the 6th day, then followed 3 days return trekking downhill (mostly LOL) to Palmor. Involved about 120 km of back country hiking with over 6000 m in ups and downs round trip. A real “NatGeo” type expedition.
La Guajira
-Rio Hache
-Cabo de Vela
-Punto Gallinas
-Manuare (This place NOT recomendad)
San Andreas –once for a couple of days. That is all the time you need to see it.
That’s about all the places I have been to. Here is my preliminary “Bucket List” here I would Like to Go in the Future in Colombia:
- Isla Providencia
- -Rock Climbing in La Mojarra in the Chicamocha cañon
- Nariño, Pasto
- Choco Pacific side- Bahia Solano, Nuqui
- -Coveñas, Santiago de Tolu , Islas San Bernardo in Caribbean
- Beaches near Buenaventura (My friend knows some safe beautiful beaches there, and knows how to get there)
- Nevado del Huila (To climb- extremely complicated)
- High Peaks of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta again ( I need experienced Partner(s) with deep pockets and patience willing to share risks and expenses)
- PNN Cocuy- especially if they fix up stupid rules about restriction of access to high peaks above snow line.