After having reached our northern most point in Cartagena, we were now heading south along the coast towards the popular beach resorts around Tolú.
Es wurde Zeit, langsam gen Süden aufzubrechen. Wir beschlossen entlang der Küste zu fahren, um noch ein wenig vom Pazifik zu geniessen.
Our route took us from Cartagena to Turbaco, then on to San Onofre, Toluviego to the resort Tolú. We found a nice spot at Camping Casa del Mar, right across the southern beach where it is quieter than in town.
Across the camping site we could observe a school class receiving environmental education, it seemed the Colombians enjoy the nature they are endowed with.
The area teemed with Colibris, Pelicans, Cormorants and Frigate birds. Pelicans fish here by diving similar to gannets and boobies.
Every day a number of fishermen plied their trade catching fish and prawns.
The town had a special vibe -“tranquilo” as one would have expected. The day is laid-back -in the evening life starts.
For supper we strolled into town, selected a seafood restaurant and took a bicycle taxi, equipped with lively music, back.
Finally the day arrived of us continuing south, our travel companions Bernd & Marion going back north to Cartagena, from where they shipped their vehicle back to Hamburg.
Karin and I first continued along the coast to Coveñas, then on to Monteria, Planeta Rica, Caucasio to Taraza, where we stayed next to a Texaco truckstop in a hostal with aircon and proper showers -a welcome luxury at temperatures of 38 deg C. Conveniently an open air restaurant served a good meal next door.
On the following day we proceeded via Yarumal on a very scenic mountain road and where the road runs parallel to the Rio Cauca river.
There were many truck lavanderos, so we decided to have the vehicle washed. It was an extremely thorough cleanup-never before was our cruiser hand washed from the underside by 4 people!
The day ended when we reached Medellin again where we drove through Santa Rosa to stay at Albosque camping, run by the brothers David and Daniel.
They arranged for the competent refrigeration technician Rafael to finally diagnose the problem that we had with our fridge. We could confirm that the problem was the compressor on our National Luna fridge-but these spares were not available in South America -so we ordered one to be flown to Ecuador and hopefully it would arrive there without too much delay. It was rainy and cold and Dieter spent some time with Barna Tanko photographing clouds. Barna is a professional travel photographer (www.barnatanko.com) who spent an extensive time at Albosque taking pictures of the area around Medellin.
Our route from here was via Penalisa to Ruta60, then to Hispania and Andes until we reached the town Jardin, which Barna had mentioned to be worth visiting. Again the trees and landscapes in Colombia fascinated us.
We find a nice little camping spot at Hostal Selva y Café run by Alexandra, ably assisted at the time by Anja from Germany who had arrived here by bicycle a moth earlier and with whom we explored the town over the next few days.
This post covers 21st-28th October 2016.
Colombia is really fascinating!
Yes, Colombia was a highlight – the most friendly people, warm and welcoming to visitors. Cartagena is a city with a special vibe.