Billie Besos

So the time came for me to bid goodbye to the beautiful Central America. Having spent almost six weeks in this stunning, culturally diverse corner of the world, I decided it was time to explore further afield. Of course, I could have spent longer there and have only covered two central American countries, but I am happy to have left on a high, yearning for more; this way I know I will return in the future. I wanted to fly to Colombia just in time for the long-established Carnaval de Barranquilla, an event unbeknown to me prior to my trip, but one which has since been spoken about by many, one that everyone had said ‘should not be missed’. Claimed to be the second biggest Carnival in Latin America after Rio, I was eager to see what all the fuss was about.

On landing at Barranquilla airport, I felt an instant warmth from the country’s people. Having just been in Panama, I felt an immediate difference between the Panamanian and Colombian cultures, even from solely passing through customs (I have another blog post to come about culture in both Panama and Costa Rica, this will come in due course). People were eager to help us in any way possibe. The taxi driver who took us from the airport had traditional music blasting out of the speakers, and was singing along enthusiastically; he spoke genuinely and with a humbling optimism about life: “Life is a Carnival”, he said. All was hunky dory until we arrived at our hotel. As I previously mentioned, we had taken a gamble with our Carnival accommodation, and it turns out we had good reason to be anxious, except in a different way to what we had expected. We were worried about having only booked one small room to share, but it turns out we had no reservation at all. AT ALL. This was in spite of the confirmation email we had received from Booking.com a week prior. The guy at reception was quick to tell us that the hotel had already been fully booked for a month, and that he had received nothing from Booking.com. This news was slightly alarming following a morning of travel, but I wasn’t going to leave it at that. I had told myself before arriving that I would put in a good effort to make sure we had some sort of room in this hotel if an issue was to arise. Following some heated Spanish conversation, some insistence and the hotel guy making a few calls, it turns out he could do us a deal and get us a better room than we had originally booked for the same price… persistence is key.

Once we were all settled in, we headed out to meet a friend we made in Tamarindo for food and then to experience our first night of Carnival. We were all wary of our surroundings as Barranquilla didn’t feel like the safest of places, and from reading a few websites about safety while in Colombia, but our friend succeeded in making us well and truly scared. Probably within the first 10 minutes of meeting him and sitting down to eat, him and his friend had both recounted stories of situations that they had found themselves in while travelling Colombia. One of them had been drugged by a girl he met in a club, and woke up the next day with no recollection and minus a gold necklace. Brilliant. The other had had his pocket slashed open by someone with a knife who had then stolen the contents. These events had taken place in a different city but still put us on edge. I guess it was good to hear these things as it made me more wary during Carnival; I kept my bag tight to my body at all times, didn’t take too much money out with me and tried not to use my phone while walking down the street, particularly at night. Some of the other guys we were with were maybe not as cautious and two of them had their phones stolen within 20 minutes on the following night of Carnival.

This was all just protocol and didn’t stop us from enjoying our time at Carnival. I was overwhelmed by how friendly Colombians were. We must have had about 10 different families approach us and ask for pictures; it was as if we were more fascinating than the actual parades. One night, we met a lovely old lady who was out with her niece, and had such a genuine interest in where we were from and what we had studied etc. She kept saying how she wanted to invite us over for a traditional Colombian dinner at her home; I’m so sad we never got to actually do this.

The Police in Colombia are slightly strange though; they’re everywhere which was reassuring, but I can’t help but wonder how much they do sometimes. At times they looked so serious, and others they were wolf-whistling at us and saying “Hey baby.” Their guns had looked so much like paintball guns that one of the guys we were with actually approached them to ask if this was the case; it turns out they genuinely were decoys.

Colombian coach travel is luxurious and soooo cheap. I was surprised when we boarded our £3 bus to find it was air-conditioned, had comfy seats, and had a selection of films you could watch along the way. I have had to learn to sleep on public transport which isn’t something I was very good at before I came on this trip, but I think I am getting better. I still haven’t quite adjusted to sleeping in noisy dorm rooms though. Our hostel here in Cartagena is located in the party district named Getsmani. This meant the noise didn’t stop until about 4:30am on our first night and I think I probably had about one hour of shut-eye. I don’t want to sound like a grandma but I get moody when I haven’t slept. Having lost my earplugs while at camp, I think it may be time to invest in some new ones, and maybe even an eyemask.

Ciao for now.