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.