***FYI: I accidentally published an unfinished version of this. Stupid iPod app. Sorry for the repeat information.

A brief little run-down on our time in Colombia, the first stop on this crazy voyage.

Traveled for:  39 days

Cost per day of travel:
– About $40 person/day (under budget of $50 person/day- Yea!)
– We stayed mostly in hostels/small hotels. We always had our own room (we feel a bit old for the dorm room thing), and most of the time we even had our own bathroom.
-Now that we are in Ecuador, we realized how relatively expensive transportation was in Colombia, especially to the out-of-the-way places (Mompos, Tayrona).
– Street food is cheap! Also the “set meals” are inexpensive and pretty filling.

Places Visited:
Cartagena, Tayrona, Mompos, San Gil, Bogota, Guatape, Medellin, The Farm, Jardin, Salento, Buga, and Popayan

Favorite Stop:
This was an easy one. Joe & Kris agree… Jardin!

New Phrase Learned:
“a la orden”
This is used all the time! We’ve gathered that it means: “Can I help you?” “Welcome (to my shop/restaurant).” “You’re welcome.”

Moments of Genius:
-When you order a roasted chicken, they give you a plastic glove to eat it with. Perfect for getting all the meat without getting the napkin welded to your fingers. I guess it’s good for the non-hand washers out there too.

Joe utilizing the glove

– The fruit juices. They were everywhere, cheap, and so delicious. We’re hoping this is a recurring theme throughout our travels.
– Amazing street food. We ate a lot of street food in Colombia and never got sick! For some reason, the burgers from the street carts were way better than most burgers are at home. We already miss them dearly, especially after trying burgers in Quito. NOT good.

Joe eating again! Kristen "helped" him a lot with this one.

Biggest Surprise:
Liking Medellin. We were pretty scared of this city before we got there, but we enjoyed running around here. Especially for a big and bustling city, people were super nice and friendly. We believe our great hostel and local guides (Thanks again, Tatiana and Dave!), made this city experience extra special.

Item we packed that we couldn’t live without:
– This prestigious award belongs to the Steripen! It already has paid for it self a few times over because we don’t have to keep buying bottles of water. Also, we have taken it with us on hikes, just in case we find ourselves without water. We don’t want to be featured on “I Shouldn’t Be Alive.”

Total time spent apart from Spouse:
10 minutes- a beer and chocolate run that Joe braved on his own.

Would we do anything differently:
– We would bring more water on the hike to Tayrona! An overheated Joe is not a good Joe.
– Studied and practiced more Spanish before arriving so we could have had better conversations.

Will we return:
Yes! This question should be “When will we return?”

If you have any questions about our time in Colombia, feel free to ask in the comment section and we’ll be happy to answer them.

Ecuador, here we come!