Excitement was high, I’m returning to the North Coast of Colombia for the second time. It’s been the base of a co-worker of mine for some years now. He’s a proper expat there and knows the place, language and culture very well. I wanted to dive into that and experience the local experience.
But first things first. My final destination is Minca. To reach that from my previous stop in Lima, Peru. I had to take a flight to Medellín, then another to Santa Marta, and then head up into the mountains to the small village where my co-worker lives. As I always do. I don’t take direct connecting flights, but stay a week or two at my layover destinations. So, the first stop after Lima was Medellín.
Medellín, Colombia
It’s my 2nd time in Medellín. I’m enjoying the city vibe, so many green areas in and around buildings, a bigger park is easily reachable in not much time from everywhere in the city. Also, the way the city is laid out in the valley is quite interesting. So it can be quite steep at times, and this means you can have a nice view over the city. The public transportation also adapted to that; while there’s a metro line down in the valley, cable cars connect the station and bring you up the mountain where people live.
I’m staying in Medellín for just a week and am not in the mood to go exploring. I’ve been to many places, and I just wanted to enjoy the vibes. It was the rainy season, and it always rained at night and sometimes also during the day for a bit. I stayed in close proximity to a wework co-working space, which I stayed at the last time. So I worked focused, and during my time off, I continued writing content about my trips.
I had a cosy Airbnb with a big curved TV. I’m usually not a series guy, but since there was sometimes some rainy weather, I started watching Pablo Escobar for a bit. Isn’t there a better place to watch that series other than when travelling to Medellín? I’m always travelling with a Google Chromecast, which I can connect to a TV and have my apps and setup right on the screen. It’s also great to secure your Netflix and YouTube/Google accounts.
From my last stay in the city, I had some friends, and I let them know I was around. Out of them, only one friend was free and able to meet. It was fun to grab food together and catch up on what had happened since we last met. Other than that, there was a community meetup scheduled, where only the host and I showed up. It was fun anyway, and we could talk a little in depth about certain topics.
That was it, already about my week in Medellín. Nothing crazy, but still productive and happy me. On a Monday morning, I took the airport bus from the city centre and arrived at the airport. They’re amazing, actually, and it works very well. Also, things were super smooth at the airport, and I was so quick at the gate. So I had time to grab a drink and some food at a cafe and work for a while. Travel/productivity vibes on 100%. I love working at airports when the infrastructure is great, and things run smoothly without stress.
Santa Marta, Colombia
A quick domestic flight to Santa Marta, from where I grabbed a local taxi to the city centre, where I booked an Airbnb for a week. It was located directly at the main square (Parque de los Novios) of the old town. So the best location to grab food, though it can be a bit loud depending on the exact location and the neighbouring bar/club/restaurant. My Airbnb was great. On the backside of the street, and therefore not super loud, big and with a stylish interior.
I know the historical area of Santa Marta quite well because I lived there for a month before. So I had my favourite coffees to go and work from. One evening, my coworker came down from the mountains with some friends I’ve known from my last visit, and we had some nice sushi on the main street. It was a nice reunion and welcome. At the same time, they delivered the motorbike to me, which I can use for the next few months to get around easily and explore the area.
El Rodadero, Colombia
One evening after work, I was meeting the new digital nomad friend I had met in Medellín just a week earlier. He spontaneously decided to check out the North Coast as well and ended up in Santa Marta. So we met in the evening and went to the long sandy beach on the other side of the mountains to enjoy the sunset and grab a drink. It was peaceful, and we continued the interesting conversations we had back in Medellín.
Minca, Colombia
Then the moving day came. Since I already got my motorbike delivered, I just packed my big 20kg backpack, strapped it on my back and jumped on the motorbike. On the way, I met my Swiss friend who guided me up to the village in the mountains – his home. He was just down in the city to buy meat for the barbecue in the evening, to which I got invited.
So we arrived at my friend’s house, pretty much in the centre of the village. There I placed my luggage, and we went to a restaurant where they were celebrating a friend’s birthday. We brought the grill and meat. Many locals came, and I got to know half of the village’s expats and local friends. It was a great start, so I was familiar with many faces in the village from then on. They all know who I am, and I have had many nice experiences later on, which have made me feel like a part of this community. We moved from the restaurant to a nearby bar, and it got late, so I crashed in my friend’s guest room.
Arriving at my bamboo jungle house
The initial plan was to go to my bamboo house, which I booked for a month, but going there at night with all the luggage wasn’t a good idea. So we postponed this for the next day. The next day, it rained, so we took it slow in the morning. Then it stopped, and we took the chance to drive there. The way went out of the village, a bit up, and then the road started to be narrower and narrower. 5 min out of town, on the footpath just before a hostel in the jungle, we had to park our motorbikes. The path got too narrow to drive safely. From that hostel, we continued with food. I stayed at that hostel last time on a weekend trip, but I never explored the path further in the jungle from there. Now I did. After about a 10-min walk, we saw two bamboo houses above us. We took the steep path up to the house and entered. Arrived at my new home for a week. While the place was definitely super special, it was also very basic and almost completely open. I wasn’t sure how much I would like staying out in the middle of the jungle alone, knowing what venomous animals exist here in the jungle in Colombia.
The bamboo house I rented for a month is part of a construction project of two expats who bought a big area of pure jungle to build their home out in the peaceful nature. It’s completely off-grid. Water is coming from the top of the mountain. On the roof, they have solar panels that charge the battery for the night, a natural toilet with leaves for composting, and they installed one Starlink, which provides WiFi for both bungalows. So I had everything I needed. Even better than in the village, since there are regular power outages.
The house is very simple. Standing on some pillars on the steep hill. To the front, it’s completely open, so better not trip and fall. To the back, there’s a simple wooden separation/wall. But different animals won’t have a hard time crossing it. Spoiler: Over the month, I could spot an iguana, a cat-looking creature and a poisonous scorpion. Luckily, no snake or spider exists around the jungle, of which many exist. I was a bit jealous of my neighbour. His place is way more comfortable and closed. He really built his dream house and enjoys the peace of nature. The upper part of the house was the living room, kitchen and toilet, and the lower floor was the bedroom.
I settled in, unpacked my stuff, cooked myself pasta for dinner, and then dawn already started very soon. The sunset was very colourful. I was watching some tutorials on my laptop while swinging in the hammock. I noticed the mosquitoes and flies are going really crazy because of my bright screen. I regularly had something flying into my face. At some point, I got up and put on the main light in the room so it would not be the main source of light. It helped, but it brought even more, bigger flying creatures I’d never seen before. I learned I’m a jungle man now and have to adjust to nature. Meaning I go to bed when it gets dark and get up early when it gets bright.
The first night was quite strange. I was scared and woke up with every sound. Everything was new for me. I pulled my blanket below me so nothing can crawl under it. But luckily, I got used to the noises over time and felt more comfortable. I also never had an animal enclosure down in my bedroom. Since the front was completely open, the view was amazing, especially early in the morning when the sun was setting. The red colours are stunning, and I didn’t even have to get up to see them. Usually, I woke up, saw it and fell back asleep. Sometimes in the morning, I woke up to some loud bird noises. After a few days, I knew what bird it was by its call. I saw the famous bird of the area a couple of times, and their voice is very particular, the Toucan.
The week passed. I had a good routine. Woke up quite early, had breakfast, and worked. Then, for lunch, I usually went out in the village to grab food with my co-worker. Sometimes I stayed at his place to co-work or returned. The evening was sometimes spent back in the village, sometimes pasta in the jungle.
Weekend trip to Palomino
Over the weekend, I went on some trips. There’s so much to do around Santa Marta. Especially with my motorbike, it was easy to get around and reach places. The first weekend, I headed East. To a village I’ve already spent a weekend on my last visit to the Caribbean coast. Palomino is a touristy place famous for surfing and its beach. It’s already located in the next department (La Guajira). First, I went down to Santa Marta, where I spent a night in a hotel. On the way down, it started to pour rain like crazy. The street got completely flooded, and the water rose quite high. At times, I was scared that the water would go into my exhaust. Luckily, all went well, but it was an adventure. I definitely arrived completely soaked. Arriving in Santa Marta, I went out for dinner with a friend. We went to my favourite Arepa place in town, it has been a long time since I ate that Colombian/Venezuelan dish.
The next day, I continued on the highway towards the East. It’s around a 2-hour drive (80 kilometres). I took it slow and enjoyed the ride as I passed by the national park and the coast. On the way, I stopped at a cute cafe to have some food. I arrived in Palomino just before it started pouring rain again. A heavy thunderstorm led to a power outage. My accommodation didn’t have a generator, and I decided to drive into the centre with many restaurants and coffee to grab some food and use my laptop. Very cozy vibes.
Same as when I was in Medellín, I was also writing on my travel reviews this weekend. I enjoyed the chill vibes in Palomino in the cafes and by the beach. The place is very hip and alternative. I made good progress and felt happy. Such weekends are gold for me. Going with the flow, doing what I want and staying in a great atmosphere with good food.
On Sunday afternoon, I returned to my base in Minca. My co-worker had already prepared a nice barbecue, which I joined. He really made himself a name as the grill master in town. We started the evening with 5 people and ended up with around 12-15 people in the house, enjoying the food. No leftovers.
A regular work week started again. My co-worker was really focused at work and had a fixed routine, which pushed me into that routine as well. I usually don’t really have a regular schedule, which sometimes eats away at my motivation. So I try to build routines a lot, but while travelling, this isn’t easy. So, depending on others helps a lot since routines take time to take shape.
Visiting Nueva Venecia
We had this upcoming weekend in mind for a while and finally pulled it off. My co-worker and his girlfriend also never visited, so it was time. We headed southwest with two motorbikes and 4 people. Before our first stopover for the night, we visited a natural hot spring. Very quiet and local, I enjoyed a bath and a coconut. Then we continued to “Ciénaga”, where we checked into our overnight stay. In the city, we had some friends, whom we met, hung out with for dinner/drinks and went to an amusement park together. Great fun for the young and the less young.
The next day, we managed to find a private boat service that would take us to a very special place. A floating village in a vast marshland within the Magdalena River delta, separated from the Caribbean Sea by a narrow barrier where the highway towards Barranquilla is built on. We boarded the slim boat and drove across the full delta in approximately 1.5 hours. At some point, we approached a strip of mangroves and trees, where we took a path to cross to the next bay. The nature was beautiful, so many birds and no one around. Absolutely peaceful. After leaving the small passage, we crossed a floating village called “Buenavista”. We continued for another 20 minutes to reach our final destination called “Nueva Venecia”.
Our boat driver dropped us at a floating house, which is one of the few places to stay in the village. I was very happy to have a companion who spoke Spanish. The place isn’t really touristy. Sometimes, they have some people from a river cruise coming by to visit, but that’s it. It’s a very small community, and we felt part of it right away. The people were super friendly. While we were basically stuck on that one floating house our driver dropped us off at, the locals took us around the village, showed us the church, ambulance service, the school, and everything a village needs. Also about their culture and history.
Later, we were able to see the sunset while going around in the wooden boat. The place is exceptional, I’ve never seen something like this. The lake isn’t very deep, maybe 1 to 1.5 meters. Some dogs or even pigs sometimes cross to the next island, which is quite funny to see. We spent the night in a small room of the homestay. The next morning, we grabbed breakfast and then the father of a friend we met the day before in Ciénaga picked us up to show us around again. He’s living in the village, next to his daughter and her family. I love such random, local occurrences; they make already special places even more unique.
Then the time arrived, we agreed with our driver to pick us up and leave the floating village again. It was a short time, but super educational and inspiring. We headed back on the 1.5-hour boat drive to Ciénaga. The sun was beating down, and we had to make sure we were properly protected with long shirts and sun cream.
A week working from the coast
While driving to Palomino on a weekend trip before, I discovered a hidden beach with a few beach houses. It looked beautiful, and I went there. I saw that they have rooms to rent and, most importantly, Starlink for internet. I returned there for a couple of days to work because the infrastructure suited me. The guy running the place was very friendly.
Sadly, I seemed to have caught a cold in the days before at my jungle house, since there was always a breeze blowing (with no walls or windows). I felt something strange in my throat for days and had to cough a lot. The drive down to the beachside gave it the ultimate kick. I started to get fever and could hardly swallow. I went to the pharmacy where they gave me some painkillers, which were pretty useless in my case. I looked for an emergency place where they could check what was actually wrong. I was around an hour’s drive away from the next city with such a facility. The next day, I left the beachside and headed to an emergency point, where I met a local friend who joined me to help translate and assist me. I was very weak and felt absolutely bad. In such cases, when I get sick, I’m alone and have to figure out everything by myself, even if I’m not really able to do things, but I have to. So I was very grateful to have somebody to help me manage. I chose to book another place in the city for the following week, where I could stay and be close to proper facilities.
At the emergency, after some wait, they checked me, and it was clear pretty fast – “tonsillitis”. The doctor gave me antibiotics and also ordered a shot in my ass to boost my system. He said it was very infected. I kept feeling bad the next few days and couldn’t really eat. But it didn’t get worse, which was a positive sign.
Staying in Santa Marta
I was happy I decided not to go back to my jungle house and instead stayed down in the city, where I had easy access to everything. I also knew people in Santa Marta, and a friend of mine came by to prepare food for me and do the grocery shopping. This was such a relief for me. I was completely locked in for 2 days after the doctor’s visit. I was sleeping a lot and watching TV, and I had no energy.
On the weekend, once I’d regained some energy, I felt ready to drive up to Minca again. I already stayed there for a month and had to check out of the “jungle house”. I extended my stay in the city until my flight to have a proper base, and I felt comfortable with the current situation. So I went to the cottage to grab all my things. My co-worker invited me to a delicious soup (I still could only eat soft things). While there, we watched the final of the ice hockey world championship, where Switzerland was playing. Not a sport people in Colombia were familiar with, but since we’re both Swiss, we had to watch. After the game finished and Switzerland sadly lost, I grabbed my backpack and headed to the bus station. I delivered the motorbike back to my friend and went back down using public transportation.
I stayed two more nights in my apartment in Santa Marta, working from home before heading to the airport and leaving Colombia after a bit more than a month.