!!!! First impressions !!!!

Finally we're providing you with some first impressions of our travels in Colombia. As most of you know, stufabi and our friend (amigooooo) Dani met in Bogota....delayed by one day, as Fabi had to sleepover in Newark due to a false alarm and a partly evacuation of that US airport.

Spending some days in Bogota, we were wandering around to check out some major sights. Also we took a taxi to the district of Chico Norte, where we visited the swiss Yvonne & Harry. Thanks to their great knowledge about colombians must-sees, we figured out our travel route for this month.

All in all we were a bit unsure about safety matters during the first couple of days in the capital city. It was mostely because the locals kept telling us how dangerous it is especially after dark. However after two nights or so we figured out that it was not as bad as we were beeing told and we started to feel very comfortable and safe. And as soon as we left Bogota behind us, there have been no doubts anymore !

First stop on our journey northwards was Zipaquira, famous for its salt mine and the underground salt cathedral - > check out the foto;-) On the same day we bused to the colonial town of Villa de Leyva where we spent the night. As there were the Festivos de los Reyes (Holidays) in the whole country, many locals were hanging around in the streets, having some beers and having a good time. Of course we totally agree with them !

Before heading to San Gil, we went on a lovely early morning walk up the hills, through some amazing forests / jungles. Normally you could see waterfalls along the way, but as rainfalls have been very sparse lately, there was just a little bit of water flowing in the stream. Back in town, we found the best empanadas so far. For one time not fried, but baked in the oven. We are writing this, because food here is often fried, therefore quite greasy or something is wrong about it (see Danis Facebook status).

San Gil is Colombias outdoor capital...paragliding, river rafting, caving, repelling down the waterfall. However we didn't do any of those activities. We were just very happy to finally have arrived ...or beeing back for stufi and dani...in a warmer region. From now on we can say goodbye to socks and jeans and heavy blankets during the night;-). Taking San Gil as our base for the next 4 days, we visited some villages where we did some hikes and enjoyed the beautiful nature. We also did go to one of the nearby waterfalls where we swam in the natural pool and climbed down the canyon. Stunning moments in the nature !

On the 14th of January we took the bus to Parque National de Chicmocha in the morning, where we wanted to do a real walk for a few hours. Surprisingly, the park turned out as a tourist park for the rather rich Colombians with lots of attractions but not one possiblity for proper hiking or even walking...what a disappointment!
Anyway, after a while we took the next bus to Bucaramanga. During the ride Dani got to talk to Edith, a nice colombian girl, who later joined us for dinner. We had a really nice evening with a lot of laughing and left the town with the night bus heading to the Carribean cost. Wisely we brought our sleeping bag as we knew that night buses are usually cooled down to freezing temperatures.

So our current location is Taganga, a small village where stufi did the spanish clases in December. It's going to be our base until Dani leaves Colombia at the end of Janary. Tomorrow we leave Taganga for the next six days as we will be on famous trek to Ciudad Perdida - the Lost City.