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After 6 fun filled nights in Bogota I headed on the night bus to Cali, near the Pacific Coast of Colombia. Having read about the extreme cold on the long distance buses I was dressed for the journey with jeans, a sweater, a light jacket, a beanie hat, gloves and a light travel blanket – and still I was freakin’ freezing. Like many of the buses in Latin America the air-conditioning does not have the capacity to regulate temperature so it is either always on at max or off. When on, at night and in the mountains the temperature can quickly plummet into the low 50s and this night was as cold as I had seen it. In addition, the 2 lane highway between Bogota’ and Cali is very mountainous, with constant banking turns and changes in elevation. In order to increase safety the government requires buses to install a passenger compartment speedometer so those on board can see the current speed and the drivers will be encouraged to stay within safety limits; unfortunately most drivers disable these boxes while on the highways so they do little good. They must get paid the same for driving no matter how much time the trip takes them and thus they are incentivized to drive like a bat outta hell to get to their destination faster and thus effectively increase their hourly pay. The problem with this of course is that at night, on mountainous roads with sharp curves, cliff drop-offs with very limited guard rails and fog fast driving is exceptionally dangerous. Add to this the passing techniques of Colombians to pass on blind curves and rises and it makes for a harrowing journey. I have taken many buses in my travels with enthusiastic drivers but in 2008 the last time I had taken a bus where I felt imminently in peril my bus ended up rolling over in the mountains of Kenya in the middle of the night. As this was the first harrowing trip I had taken since then I had the same sinking feeling as the bus tipped back and forth in the turns as I did just prior to that crash and thus between the cold and the fear of death I did not sleep so well.

I arrived in Bogota late at night at around 9PM on June 3rd, 2010. Normally I do not pre-book a room since it is nice to see the place and it is much easier to bargain on the price, but when getting into a city at night when security can be an issue (really any big city in the world) I do not really want to be wandering the streets looking for a place to stay and become a huge target for trouble. Thus I had pre-booked a private room in the hostel (many which have both dorm and private rooms) and I arrived there easily without getting too ripped off by the taxi driver (Bogota has fixed prices to/from the Airport to deter the normal shady practices of drivers the world over).

With a likely top role in a new high profile gaming startup in Canada pushed back until August I decided to jump at the chance to get in some travel, even if I am putting my eggs into one basket. If and when it pays off it will all have been worth it and I will not have been just waiting around for nothing to happen the next few months. As a long time travel junkie I always have three or four trips loosely planned in the back of my head for when the opportunity arises and base the final decision on the season, climate, length of travel and flight cost.

For this trip, with about two months free my top choice had been a trip from Morocco to Senegal Mali and maybe Burkina Faso in West Africa. But as my return would have put me right smack in the European Summer (where most countries have 5-8 weeks off from work) the prices of European and North African travel were crazy high (USD$2200+) and all the frequent flier seats were long ago booked. A close second in my mental bank of destinations was Colombia as I have met a few dozen travelers who have raved about it the past year or two. After a quick check of flights I was instantly sold on a RT  ticket from SFO for $590 (I paid nearly double that to fly to Panama last Christmas) and leaving within 5 days (almost faster than I could get organized to leave).

So my very loose plan for this trip is to hit the main cities (Bogota, Cali and Medellin) and then travel along the coast from Capurgana in the West to Punta Gallinas at the very Northeast tip of Colombia/South America and with perhaps a side trip to the Amazon down to Manaus, Brazil or up to Iquitos, Peru. I am sure I will find new places to explore along the way. I will also update these text travelogues with photos in the future but have some technical issues preventing me from posting a lot on the blog en route. Facebook friends can view the photos more immediately.

So I invite you to follow along with me on my trip. And feel free to comment or sign the guest book.

Interactive Map
Here is my actual travel route that I will continually update:

Once I realized that I had a 3 week break after the end of my Contract and before the start of a contract renewal or another round of interviews I quickly jumped at the chance to travel abroad and salvage some adventure from what little was left of a semi-disappointing 2009. The question was where to go that was not too far away, too expensive and with tolerable weather. As a long time traveler I always have 5 or 6 trips floating around in my head and when given the opportunity I make a last minute decision on which to take based on length of travel, the latitude/geography/season and cost. For this time of year Russia was out, and Morocco was way too expensive and far so I opted for Central America. Since I have traveled through every country there but Panama I had my sights set on seeing it but the costs of a direct flight to Panama City at Christmas were prohibitive and so I ended up with a $450 cheaper flight to Costa Rica and had a mental plan to make my way down overland to Panama. Although Costa Rica is not my favorite destination in Central America due to it being very touristy and expensive in the most popular destinations I felt the savings were more than worth it and I could spend my Christmas in Manuel Antionio which I had not visited on my previous visit two years ago.