Jan 13-20: Trip to Colombia

Before it was time to take off on some much-needed vacation, the first 3 days of the week were spent in my Peace Corps community. There, I finalized my diagnostic report of the community to turn into Peace Corps. As I’ve alluded to in other blogs, I will soon be placed in a new homestay. I’m still not 100 percent clear with who or where I’ll be moving, but I also spent a lot of time packing in preparation for the forthcoming move. I also had to run some errands like setting up my banking, SINPE (Costa Rican venmo), and DIMEX (temporary residence). 

However, the second half of the week was much more exciting. On Thursday, I took off for Colombia! This is a country that’s been on my list for a very long time. While studying International Relations and Conflict Resolution in grad school, Colombia was often a country we read about as a successful case study in post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation. It’s also a country I researched during my time at the United States Institute of Peace. Colombia had a tough reputation for many decades, so I wanted to see its transformation firsthand. (It helps that it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Costa Rica!

Because I’m operating on a tight budget as a Peace Corps Volunteer, my flight time out of Costa Rica was extremely early in the morning. After a quick layover in Panama City, I arrived in Medellín, Colombia. Unfortunately, my welcome to Colombia was spent in a line in immigration that lasted right at three hours (evidence of Colombia’s growing tourism). This was a bit of a bummer because my time in-country was so limited, but the rest of my experience was so great that it was quickly forgotten. After surviving the airport, I eventually took a bus into Medellin and subsequently took Medellín’s world-class metro system to my hostel. I quickly checked in at my hostel and fortunately squeezed in time at the Museo de Antioquia and Plaza Botero which hosts artwork from Colombia’s most famous artist, Fernando Botero.

Friday was a great day in Medellín. That morning, I took a tour of Comuna 13. This is a neighborhood in the past whose reputation was connected to narcotrafficking and violence. However, it’s been completely revitalized in recent decades and now is known for its graffiti art, rap and reggaeton music, and for having some of the best views in the city. This barrio has become a beautiful and high-energy part of the city and going there was honestly one of my favorite things I did in Colombia. To get there, you can take a combination of metro, bus, cable cars - a public transit flex from Medellín. After the tour, I took a tram to a different part of the city that’s a little more off the beaten path. I grabbed Colombia’s national dish, bandeja paisa for lunch and then headed to the Museo Casa de la Memoria. This free museum memorializes Colombia’s violent history and subsequent peace process and was something that I felt like was really important to see. Medellín famously is the home of Pablo Escobar. Many people who visit Medellín take tours or go to a museum dedicated to him which is run by his family. However, he was very much a terrorist in the eyes of most Colombians. Research I’d done and people I’d talked to said that visiting Comuna 13 and the Museo Casa de la Memoria would be much more appropriate ways to learn about Medellin’s past, so I avoided any Escobar-focused activities. 

That night, my fun “flashpacker” hostel offered a Colombian party bus activity for just $11 USD. I’m not always the biggest partier, but Medellín is known for its reggaeton and nightlife, so this was an experience I felt I had to do. This was a really fun way to see a different side of the city and to meet people as a solo traveler and I’m really glad I did it. However, it did add to the mounting sleep debt I’d been accruing. 

After making it back to the hostel at like 3:30 in the morning, I was able to get a couple hours of sleeping before braving a tour to the town of Guatapé at 6:30. This town features a large rock called the Piedra del Peñol that you can climb up in about 700 steps. The rest of the town is painted in bright colors and looks straight out of the set of the movie Encanto. The tour also included a boat tour in which we rode past Pablo Escobar’s La Manuela compound which had been bombed by a paramilitary group. Guatapé was a pretty touristy area, particularly on a Saturday, but I enjoyed leaving the city for the day and seeing a much smaller and beautiful Colombian town. Upon making it back to Medellin, I enjoyed golden hour at my hostel's rooftop pool and joined a couple people in my dorm for drinks and to observe a reggaeton dance lesson the hostel hosted. (Highly recommend Los Patios Hostel if you’re traveling to Medellín on a budget.)

On Sunday morning, I flew to Bogotá, Colombia’s capital. I dropped my bags off at the hostel before taking a cable car up Monserrate, which is a mountain overlooking the city with a church and market at the top. I later spent the rest of the day exploring Bogotá’s colonial center, particularly the stunning Plaza Bolívar. I ate dinner at the oldest restaurant in Bogotá, La Puerta Falsa, where I sampled Ajiaco, a chicken stew traditional to the city. 

Monday, I took a walking tour of the city focused on Colombia’s war and peace history. The Colombian story is extremely complex, but this was a great way to learn more about its political evolution and peace transition. After getting a boost from some great Colombian coffee over lunch, I went and saw more Botero artwork at Museo Botero, which was a free gallery. Unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part, I missed some of the other notable museums in the city because they were closed on Monday. I then grabbed a pint at Bogota Beer Company before dining at my hostel in preparation for another early morning flight back to Costa Rica.

I had an absolute blast traveling around Colombia. Several of you reading this may have grown up in an era where Colombia had a very different reputation and was in the news for all the wrong reasons. Personally, I never once felt unsafe there. Colombia in 2025 is bursting with energy and culture and is super cheap and hospitable - I cannot recommend it enough as a travel destination. Tourists are already starting to discover it, so I’d get there ASAP!