Colombia according to Junia

Hello, Junia here. This trip has been beyond our expectations and we really feel that Colombia is so underrated. Everything about this county is amazing and I really feel that people’s thoughts about colombia are totally wrong. When we started telling people that we were going to Colombia the first things they said was always ”oh I hope you don’t get kidnapped” or ”well bring back some drugs for me, I’m sure you will come across lots of dealers.” When i first heard from my parents that we were going to colombia this was also the first thing that popped in to my head but now i know that i was totally wrong. The nature is amazing, the food fantastic (especially the desserts) and the people that live here are so welcoming and they really try their best to make our experience of colombia the best experience we’ve ever had. For example, a coupe of days ago when we were trying to find the house that we were going to stay at we had a really big problem. It was completely dark and the only things you could clearly see was the barbed wire around the big fields were animals were walking. We drove around for more that 30 minutes trying to find our house but it was nowhere to be seen. Than we decided to knock on a locals house to ask if they knew the direction to our place and without hesitation they picked up their motorcycle and gladly showed us the way in complete darker. Keep in mind that it was 9 pm and the time and that the locals had their pyjamas on. This really shows how thoughtful the Colombians are how different it is from the Swedish arrogant and childish behaviour, that they for example never say hello in the streets. Here in colombia I here about hundreds of hola, buenos diaz, buenos tardes about every day. Anyway, enough about the cultural differences. Now I will talk about our most fun experiences on this trip. 


We started of in Bogotá were we were completely exhausted after a closed airport in Bogotá so we had to go to Cali airport instead where we were locked inside of the airplane for about two hours before we could go to the airport instead Bogotá. In Bogotá we spend a lot of time in the city where we for example visited a really popular square that was filled with pigdeons from head to toe. In the afternoons it always started raining so then we decided to visit Alma’s host family from when she was here this summer which was truly a wonderful experience. We got to experience the Colombian Christmas traditions that involved a lot of singing and laughing and we also got to taste an amazing barbecue that the host dad did. Alma and I also showed them the dutch christmas dance ”pietedans” where everyone gladly tryed to join the easy moves that involved jumping and swinging your armed over your head. 




After Bogotá we flew to Medellin where the first night was spend in our amazing backyard where dad enjoyed his barbecueing and I enjoyed taking pictures. We also spend some time in the local mall where Alma and Kiara gladly ate their Frisby food. This contains a cup of soda that you put a paper around that you fill with fries chicked and French fries. This way you could slurp your soda through a plastic straw at from the same place you ate you’re food from. An amazing idea Alma and Kiara thought. We also visited Alma’s friends from her cisv camp where their parents tipsed us to go to a night market. This was a truly wonderful experience and Alma finally got to eat her long awaited chocolate couverd strawberry’s. Oh yeah, one day when the kids were chilling by the pool mum and dad went on a guided tour were they among others saw amazing breakdancing. 





In our next stop guatape we had a really cool hose that came with a bubble pool and amazing wiew. We also climbed a really popular rock that actually was the cover of our lovely lonely planet that we used the entire trip.

After guatape we flew to Cartagena which we had heard not so good stuff about but blew all expectations. This was an amazing city with amazing people and amazing resturants! Especially one, Pezetarian! If you ever decied to visit Cartagena we highly reccomend to visit this restaurant. I am not such a big fan of Asian food but this Asian food! It was truly amazing and the best dish I ever had on this whole vacation! We also did a big request from the kids. Nails, finally! The kids had been begging for this and even tho it took half a day since Alma and Kiara also cut their hair it was totally worth it when we saw the result! Since we had a pool here we did spend a lot of time in there with the whole family which was super fun! We often spended our afternoons in the city where we for example looked for new sunglasses for dad (did not find any) and a Colombian soccer shirt for Alma (we found a perfect one!) Another thing we did here was to take a boat to incredible beaches with crystal blue water and incredible snorkel places. Mum was a bit bord here but especially the kids found it amazing! Dad and I also went to play basketball one night which was really fun especially when we played against older Colombian boys and I shot a 3 pointer and made it! 









After Cartagena we headed to another beach palace Santa Marta! Here we had a rooftop pool in an apartmant by the sea. 









Here we spent our New Year’s Eve which was truly a wonderful experience since thousands of people gathered at the beach watching hundreds of fireworks that were shot up in to the air. We also hiked to some waterfalls, ate ice cream and cookies and saw wild capybaras to Kiaras delight! 






Mum and dad also went diving where they saw lots of wonderful fish and corals!









After this wonderful place we flew to villa de Leyva where we did lots of cool things! First of all we headed to see more waterfalls where we met some more Swedish people. These people were one of the few talkative people which we really appreciated since these people were much more fun to talk to then….. yeah you know the ones that I described earlier in this text. Other from that we also went to an adventure park where we did sort of bungeejumping and lots of other cool obstical courses! We also spent some time in the city, visiting Alma cafe and eating lots of good food!

Tomorrow we have to wake up early to leave for Bogotá where we are going to stay one night and then leave for dark cold Stockholm again… After all this trip has been absolutely amazing in every way you could think of and I am 100% sure that Colombia truly is underrated! I would defently recommend this county for people that want to travel somewhere! Like there is almost nothing bad you can say about this place! To finish this off, Colombia is and amazing county and I am so happy that we chose to go here! Goodbye and I hope that everyone that read this had an amazing winter break! 

Btw: I had to write this whole text two times since the first time it got deleted. 

/JUNIA