Travel Journal: The Kids of Comuna Trece

One of my favorite memories from Colombia was playing with the neighborhood kids in Comuna Trece - a slum in Medellin.  What was once one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country is now an area frequented by tourists. Over the past decade the government has worked hard to recover from years of violence and clean up the slums. In 2011 they built an outdoor escalator system to help the residents of this area climb up and down the steep hillside more easily.  After finishing the Real City Tour of Medellin (which I highly recommend!), my friends Kent, Aaron, my boyfriend James and I hopped on the metro to Comuna Trece.

Looking Down at the Escalators

Colorful Graffiti

View from the Top

We rode the chain of 6 escalators to the top, checked out the colorful graffiti, and took in the view of Medellin. After walking around a bit we stumbled upon an outdoor slide where two little boys were playing. Immediately, my friend Kent ran to the top and went down the slide with the boys. They thought we were crazy, but after a few rides they were begging us to slide down with them. A group of little girls joined us and we all took turns sliding down together. 

Playing on the Slide

After snapping a few pictures I began recording the rides on my iPhone in slow motion. I showed it to the kids and they thought it was the most amazing thing ever. They begged me to record them and then laughed hysterically at themselves. Anytime we spoke in English, one of the boys, Armando, would ask me to translate everything we said.. he didn’t like to feel left out. He told us about how he wanted to be an opera singer someday, and he and the guys bonded over video games. We stayed and played with these kids for hours until they were called home. I recorded so many slow mo videos my phone ran out of storage. It was so much fun being silly and feeling young on something as simple as a slide. 

Travel Journal: The Most Northern Point of South America

When my boyfriend and I were traveling around Colombia together we typically wouldn’t plan too far in advance on where we were going. We met people along the way and adjusted our travel plans based on what they recommended. That’s how we ended up in Punta Gallinas - the most northern part of South America. We heard from multiple people that it was beautiful and worth going to.  We couldn’t find much information online but decided to wing it and make our way up there.

We took a bus headed for Venezuela and got off just before the boarder crossing at a stop called Cuatro Vias. We caught a collectivo - a shared taxi (which basically means any Colombian with a car) and made our way to Cabo de la Vela.  

In this part of Colombia, the desert blurs into the ocean and after a two hour bumpy ride on a dirt road we finally made it to the coast.  The wind was strong and the water was the most brilliant shade of turquoise I had ever seen.  

The turquoise water in Cabo de la Vela

We settled into our hostel, grabbed a few Polars (Venezuelan beer) and relaxed on the beach. As it got later in the afternoon some local guys came out to take advantage of the strong wind and kite surf. Besides a few crazy tourists, they were the only people brave enough to enter the jellyfish infested water.  

Beached jellyfish

We spent the evening watching them rip through the water and soar dozens of feet into the sky.  Besides the kite surfing, one of the best parts of Cabo de la Vela is the abundance of fresh seafood - especially lobster. That night we enjoyed two butter soaked lobster tails each for under $15 a plate.

On our third morning in Cabo de la Vela, we woke up before dawn to begin our tour to Punta Gallinas.  We were joined by a Canadian couple and a Colombian from Bogota. We drove for hours through the desert on the bumpiest dirt road I’ve ever been on to a bay where two teenage Wayuu girls met us.  They took us across the bay to the hospedaje where we were staying the night. 

After a quick breakfast we continued our tour to the most northern tip of the continent. 

The most northern point

The best part of the tour was visiting the sand dunes.  It was basically a massive slide into the ocean.  We spent several hours running down the dunes, playing in the water and walking along the beach.  

We stopped at a few more scenic spots on our way back to the hospedaje, then cleaned up and watched the sunset.  We spent the evening laughing, drinking Cherreche (basically the Wayuu version of moonshine) and getting to know the Wayuu people who ran the hospedaje where we were staying. 

The crew

The next morning we woke up in our hammocks, heads spinning a little from the night before. We said a sad goodbye to our new friends and made our way back to civilization. 

Travel Journal: Spearfishing in San Bernardo

Several months ago, I spent some time on a catamaran in Cartagena, Colombia. The captain, his friend and I sailed out to San Bernardo overnight and dropped anchor in front of a small island covered with palm trees and surrounded by the clearest blue water I’d ever seen. 

After making lunch, we selected a random spot to try spearfishing. We saw loads and loads of colorful reef fish and swam around for over an hour, but had no luck finding anything worth spearing.   

Later that day we made our way over to Casa en el Agua, the notorious floating hostel (It’s not actually floating, but because it’s built up in the middle of water, it looks like it is). There, we met a local who agreed to take us spearfishing for snapper in the mangroves - at night. We returned to the catamaran and waited for the last light from the sun to fade away. The sky and water became pitch black, and there was no moon in sight. We met up with the guide and set out for the mangroves.

As we rode in the dark, the stars lit our way. There were billions of them. You could even see the milky way. The water glowed too, as bioluminescence floated on the surface. We maneuvered our way through the narrow waterways in between the mangrove bushes. Our guide directed us to a spot where we should find snapper. We hopped into the water and swam along the mangroves with our eyes peeled, in search of the fish. No dice. We all climbed back inside the dingy and went to the second fishing spot. Still nothing.

 As we dropped into the water at our third location, the moon slowly began to rise over the island. It was massive, bright and full, a magical sight I will never forget. Swimming around one last time, we finally saw a large snapper.  I loaded my pole spear and shot at it. I stunned the fish, but it easily shimmied off the spear, so I loaded up and shot it again. Unfortunately, the spear was too small to hold the fish. Being wounded but not dead, the fish quickly swam away. We all reluctantly climbed back into the dingy, a little disappointed and hungry, and made our way back to the catamaran. The moon was completely full in the sky now and shown so bright you could no longer see the stars. I looked up, closed my eyes and smiled. While it was technically an unsuccessful night, it was an experience I will never forget!

Colombia

After a little blogging hiatus I'm back! I'm so excited to share stories from my recent travels around Colombia!  I've spent three and a half months traveling around Colombia and it has become one of my favorite countries I've ever been to.  The people are so friendly, the scenery is amazing and the juice! Oh, the fruit and the juice! I mean, coconut lemonade?!  

One of the beautiful things about travel is you never know who you'll meet along the way! I met my now boyfriend (an Irishman) in Chile back in May.  We instantly hit it off but after just a few days went our separate ways. We kept in touch, met back up and have spent the past two months traveling all over Colombia together.  We started in Santa Marta and ended here, where I currently am, in San Andres Island. In just a few days I'm heading up to the United States for a while.  I'm sad to leave this country, but know I'll be back again (just after I go to Ireland!)

Stay tuned for more stories from South America!

Travel Journal: Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Mesmerized by the pictures of never ending horizon line and crazy perspective shots, I was extremely excited to visit Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world located in Bolivia.  We took a three day tour of the salt flats and the surrounding areas which includes the highest desert in the world, one of the highest volcanoes in Bolivia and oh yeah, dinosaurs! ;)

Travel Journal: Conquering Death... Road

Ever since quitting my job in Hawaii and making the decision I would travel around South America, I’ve tried to live my life fearlessly.  I am definitely not a fearless person by nature, but I believe that you shouldn’t allow fear to hold you back from what you want to do.

Biking Death Road was one of those things that sounded so scary, but also really exciting and when we made the decision to go to Bolivia I knew it had to be on our list of things to do.

Nicknamed the deadliest road in the world in 1995, the dirt gravel road that connects Coroico to La Paz in Bolivia is notoriously dangerous.  Because, or despite it’s infamous reputation it’s become a huge tourist attraction to bike down the roughly 40 mile road.  

Before arriving in La Paz we booked our trip with a company called Gravity.  The morning of our ride I was feeling ready and pumped up to get going.  I didn’t feel nervous or afraid, but figured that would kick in once I was on the bike staring down the twisty road ahead. I’ve only gone trail biking twice in my life and never downhill on a road like this for this long! We rode a bus to the starting point, put on our gear and got a briefing.  The first part of the ride was downhill on paved road.  I hadn’t ridden a bike in months and I was a little self conscious about being the first person to fly over the handle bars.  My two friends I was traveling with did mountain biking and motocross. I think I was more nervous about embarrassing myself than the actual ride!  Luckily once I hopped on the bike and started peddling, I felt very comfortable.  Not once did I fly over the handle bars, or even fall for that matter, but I also never felt afraid.  While riding down the tarmac going faster than I’ve ever gone on a bike, I felt free and alive! 

The ride on the actual rose was broken up with stops to discuss what was ahead and how to best ride through it.  It was incredibly beautiful starting out above the clouds and slowly descending through them as we dropped in elevation to the Amazonian Jungle. The cliffs and greenery was breathtaking and I constantly stole quick glances around while trying to focus on the road.

The ride overall was the most physically intense thing I’ve ever done and one of the funnest.  We celebrated the ride with a few beers and dinner at a La Senda Verde Animal Refuge and then rode the bus back up the same road we went down. 

As we rose in elevation and were back above the clouds, the full moon shone brightly and lit the clouds up, making them look like the sea. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen and an incredible way to end an epic day!

Note: People do die on this road every year.  Both on bicycle and by car.  It seems that a lot of these accidents can be avoided by riding to your own ability (it’s not a race!), following the instruction of your guide, and making sure you go with a reputable company.  Gravity was recommended to me by a friend who biked down Death Road a few months before I went. She had a great experience with them and I trusted her opinion. Gravity is probably one of the more expensive companies to go with, but if you’re biking down a road nicknamed the “Deadliest Road in the World” it’s really not a time to skimp.  By the time we actually got to the start of the road I felt really confident in the journey we were about to take thanks to the detailed and through instruction from our guide.  He made the ride really fun but also took it very seriously.  You could tell the difference between the people in our group and the people in the other groups. Long story short - go with Gravity! 

What is something you’re afraid of that you’d like to try?

Pictures courtesy Gravity & my dear friend William Wade

Travel Journal: Colorful Valparaiso

The trip to Valparaiso, Chile wasn’t a part of the initial itinerary when planning the three week three country trip with my friends but I’m so glad we ended up adding it because it ended up being one of my favorite cities I’ve been to! 

This colorful city is settled on the coast only an hour and a half away from Santiago making it a popular side trip for people heading to Chile’s capital.  We were supposed to spend a few days in Santiago, but ended up deciding to go to Valparaiso first, and then liked it so much we pretty much skipped Santiago altogether.

Valparaiso is not a huge city but it’s definitely unique and has a lot of charm.  It’s very hilly and there are stairs everywhere.  In fact, some of hills are so high and staircases so steep, that they have elevators that you can take to get up and down. The houses and buildings that cover the hillsides are all different colors.  As you roam through the maze-like streets, you will see huge murals and beautiful graffiti covering most of the walls. All three of us fell in love with this port city’s charm and we were sad to leave when we finally had to go.

Hostel:

We stayed at Casa Volante Hostel.  It was a bit noisy, but had a nice common area to hang out and was in a great location! 

Where to Eat/ Drink:

While we were on a backpacking budget, the one thing we did constantly splurge on was good food. Food is such a huge part of getting to know a culture and the we always ended up finding amazing places to eat, so it was worth the expense! Since we were by the sea I definitely wanted seafood.  While wondering around looking for a place, I half jokingly whined to my friend Chris, “All I want is to find a place with great seafood and to sit outside on a terrace that’s overlooking the ocean.”  Literally a minute later we stumbled upon Cafe Turri that had everything I had asked for and more.  This was definitely our favorite restaurant we went to in Valparaiso - we went there twice! I definitely recommend the salmon ceviche (best ceviche I’ve EVER had!) and the pisco sour! 

Normally when visiting a country you want to try the local cuisine, but if you’re craving something a little different, go for Thai!  Samsara had amazing curries and Pad Thai and the meal included desert! Passion fruit sorbet and lychee cheese cake… need I say more?

Another great restaurant we ate at was Pasta e Vino.  This place was probably the most expensive place we went to, but with things like Salmon Curry Ravioli on the menu it’s definitely worth it!

If you’re looking for a fun place to go out, our favorite spot was Brecon’s Valparaiso! We ended up there every night we were in town and made friends with the owner Willy.  He even taught me how to make a Pisco Sour! The walls are covered with signatures and sayings and if you look around you’ll find a little Lauren Taylor Creates original! :)

While in Chile you have to try Chorrillana.  It’s a local favorite that is basically a huge pile of french fries covered in meat, cheese, eggs, veggies, etc.  It’s the perfect hangover meal after a night out at Beacon’s! 

Things to Do:

Take a free walking tour - On our first full day we joined the Tour 4 Tips free walking tour.  I’ve done a lot of walking tours and this was by far the best one I’ve ever been on.  This walking tour goes above and beyond normal walking tours by stopping for a local treat, taking both an elevator ride and historic trolly ride and ending the tour with a surprise - all included in the free-fifty-free price! If you want to check out the street art and learn a bit about Valparaiso, it’s definitely something I would recommend doing! For more information click HERE! 

Tour Pablo Neruda’s Home - La Sebastiana is the name of Pablo Neruda’s Valparaiso home. He was one of Chile’s most famous poets as well as a diplomat and national hero.  His home sits on the top of one of Valparaiso’s infamous hills.  The tour is an interesting way to learn not only about Neruda, but also what Chile was like during his time! Plus, the panoramic views from his home are incredible! For more information click HERE! 

Take a boat ride - We ran out of time, but something we would have liked to do was take a boat ride around the bay.  If you go down to the docks you will see a number of boats offering tours!