Unforgettable Encounters in Colombia
In year 2010 I and my friend were backpacking in Colombia.
Colombian people are certainly the best memory and first thing I will always remember and tell everybody about Colombia. Regardless of our limited knowledge of Spanish they always turned out the most hospitable friendly we met on the way.
As we visited El Penol and decided to have lunch in the eatery with magnificent scenery, due to our poor Spanish, we did not know what to order. We started asking the owner, what is under numero dos,etc, he tried to explained us, of course unsuccessfully. Then he just brought all the meat and fish to our table from the kitchen and kindly showed us from the menu what is what. Who would have done this somewhere else???
On the trip to Zipaquira we asked the driver to remind us where to step off the bus. We arrived to Zipaquira stop that was quite far away from the actual plaza, we had to look like two lost souls, standing on the crossroad as we didn’t know where to head next very embarrassing actually. Then bus driver that already headed away, took rear gear, stepped out of the bus and kindly directed us in right direction.
On the visit to Medellin we took the cable right till the final stop on Monserrate Mountain – after short few minutes we found out there is nothing to see, even though the crowds of elder people waiting for the cable back to Medellin. After we paid the ticket back, a staff approached us and let us through the queue directly to the cable car. We actually skipped around 100 people that waited in the queue.
A ticket girl in Cali that sold us bus tickets for Armenia closed the counter and insisted on helping me carrying my backpack.
First day in Bogota when I bought my first bus ticket i gave the lady 10000 COP . (have to admit I didn’t’ manage to get familiar with the money yet at that point of time). She kindly explained to me that it’s too way too much money and gave the rest back.
If in Bogota then you have to visit a police museum - partially because of really nice young Colombian guides that enjoy practicing English. He even let me touch the Pablo Escobar’s phone.
Besides friendly locals a big thanks goes to expat Werner K. (diving center owner) from San Andres, firstly for saving our lives by insisting not to take such a late night flight with a plane as he was not willing to pick up us at 2 am - that got stoked by lightning!! And secondly, for trusting us and paying first night from his money as we couldn’t wire the money from bank on mainland.
