Six Things I Learnt in Colombia
Colombia is one of my favorite countries of all time!
I first visited Colombia in 2014 and quickly fell in love with the lush landscape, fun people, crazy parties and masterful frog games (more on that later). I’ve been desperate to get back to South America for a while now and in January 2019 I thought ‘Fuck it’ and booked a flight to Medellin…
The plan was to spend a few days here before slowly making my way to Peru where I would embark on an epic journey through the Andean Mountains. I quickly found myself really enjoying the city of Medellin and with other friends staying in the city as well, it made sense to stick around.
One tends to miss such scenes.
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The next ten weeks in Colombia passed in obscurity. Finally, I left Medellin and headed to the Caribbean coast where I spent a few weeks exploring Santa Marta, Minca and Tayrona.
Even though I spent months backpacking in Colombia in 2014 and 2015, this huge country still had a lot to teach me, read below for seven things I learned in Colombia!
- Frog is the greatest game ever!
Welcome to the Frog Temple. Call me Señor de la Rana.
Rana (frog) or sapo (toad) is the greatest game of all time… it involves throwing a metal disc into the mouth of a metal frog. It’s almost impossible. In thirty plus hours of gameplay, I only succeeded in doing this twice. Fortunately, there are other goals you can aim for. Different holes on the board all have different scores. I fell so incredibly in love with this giant game that I brought a specially made one to Bali. It now lives in my garden and I play a few games of frog every week with some drinks with my friends. I’m happy to report that Tribal Pereran (my first tribal hostel in Bali) will have its own on-site frog game! - Colombians love good gin…
I only drink gin, soda and lime. When I headed to Colombia I assumed I wouldn’t drink much for months. How wrong I was… you can find good quality gin (Hendricks) all over Colombia and I found a ton of specialty gin bars. Win for Jean! - It is illegal to be outside of Colombia without your passport
This was something that almost got me into big trouble. You see, Colombian cops are often corrupt and they like to target foreigners like me in hopes of getting a bribe. I had this unfortunate night experience while returning to the hostel after one night.
Literally, ten seconds later we were stopped by two cops. There was no one else on the street; It was almost two in the morning. The police patted us down and insisted on checking our pockets. Phil, perhaps overconfident and not a fan of cops at the best of times, can be a bit overzealous in his loud declarations of ‘I’ve got nothing bro, you can search me all night’.
Using this smooth money-launderer.
The cops didn’t like it and so they went to Plan B. They want to see our passports. We explained that our passports were back in our hostel dorm. I mean, why on earth would we be walking around the streets with our passports – that was asking for trouble! The police lit up like two rather vicious Cheshire cats. Of course we knew it was illegal not to have documents with us – we should at least have photocopies of our passports.
This is when my good friend the art witch appeared and saved the day. After he recognized us, he jumped into action and got us out of the situation gracefully with his flawless Spanish. Of course, after that I had to hire him and thus, Art became my apprentice.
As it turns out though, you must have a photocopy of your passport or you risk being frisked by the police! I recommend keeping the photocopy in your money belt so you can easily access it if needed. - Medellin is the digital nomad center of South America
Some people are working in Medellin…
If you want to take a break and work in South America, Medellin seems to be the popular backpacking city! I’ve met a great crowd of digital nomads and online entrepreneurs working out of Medellin, and while I haven’t been able to do it long-term myself (too much distraction), it’s a solid place with good food, co-working spots and reliable wifi where you can take a break and do some work. can complete - Colombia is a country of many climates…
Okay, so I already knew this but I’m just throwing it out here for your convenience. Colombia is big! If you’re planning a trip here and doing quite a bit of walking around, know that you’ll want warm clothes and summer clothes all in one trip! Colombia’s landscape ranges from wet to dry, sparkling to frigid, a land of lush jungles, scorching beaches and sunny cities – be prepared.
A sea of forest surrounded by greenery. - Colombia is quite safe
You probably already know this but Colombia is pretty safe. Avoid walking alone late at night – take an Uber instead, they’re cheap and plentiful! It’s definitely worth arming yourself with decent travel insurance, but besides that, don’t worry about any bad thoughts you may have about Colombia – they’re almost twenty years old, it’s a mostly safe, cool place full of awesome people.
