Getting to Know Colombia

Since I have been in Colombia, I have not stopped traveling. The more I travel, the more I realize there is so much more to see! I’m always shocked when I think of all the beautiful places I have yet to visit.

On a friday, my roommates, my parcera, her friend and I decided to go to Rio (river) Pance. Caleños (people who live in Cali, Colombia) frequently visit Rio Pance during the weekends, so my parcera thought it was a spot that I had to go to. At first, I didn’t think it would that impressive given that it is only a river. I was shocked!

To get to Rio Pance, we stop a bus called “Recreativos,” which is a bus that takes you to fun places and that you can take at any point along it’s route. The Receativo took us to the town of Pance and from the town we hiked up to Rio Pance. We hiked for like two hours. (We later realized that the Recreativo could have taken us to a spot closer to Rio Pance) The hike up to a good spot to bathe in was beautiful. There were so many mini-waterfall, bridges, small towns, and scenic nature spots. When we finally got to Rio Pance, I was more impressed. The water was freezing but once you got in, you didn’t want to get out. I spent most of the time playing in the water and also laying down on rocks and admiring the sky and the view of the river. The water was so clear and it felt so refreshing to bathe in such a scenic area. The river looked straight out of movie!

Rio Pance

My roommates and I also got the chance to go another city in Colombia: Medellin. Since we didn’t have much time (only three days), we decided to do tours of the city, Guatape and La Piedra del Peñol to be able to see most of Medellin. During the city tour we got to see many parks and important places of the city. The places that stuck out to me the most were Plaza Botero, Pueblito Paisa and Comuna 13. Plaza Botero is a park where the statues of the famous artist and sculptor, Fernando Botero, displays his statues of fat people and shows them in a beautiful light. I really liked Plaza Botero because it made me think of the body positive movement. Fernando Botero was ahead of the game with this movement. I am also very glad that Botero decided to depict fat people as beautiful as they are to remove the sigma against them and show that they can be just as beautiful as someone who is skinny.

Plaza Botero

On the same city tour with Sercoltour, we got to see Pueblito Paisa. In Medellin, they say if you go to Medellin and you don’t visit Pueblito Paisa, then you haven’t been to Medellin. Pueblito Paisa is a small town on top of a hill. It is a very colorful and pretty pueblito. It is also filled with a lot of places to eat. I enjoyed Pueblito Paisa a lot!

Pueblito Paisa

Next, we went to la Comuna 13. La Comuna 13 used to be a very dangerous town that became a tourist attraction. This happened through massive transformation because la Comuna 13 used to be a very dangerous town. The town was full of drugs, violence and gang activity. It was such a dangerous town that even the cops refused to go there! After a two battle between the gang members in the community and the government, the gang members surrendered. They agreed to stop causing havoc on the civilians and in return became a very touristic spot. Comuna 13 is filled with many beautiful murals painted by famous Colombian and other international artists. These artists painted their murals to applaud the communities transformation and to help them continue to be a very touristic town. La Comuna 13 has a very good spot to get hand made crafts, naturally flavored ice creams. Doña Alba has tons of flavors and since I’m very brave I decided to try the cheese flavored- ice cream. To my surprise it tasted great! It tasted like sweet cheese with guava inside.

Comuna 13
Doña Alba

The next day we took a tour of Guatape and El Peñol. Guatape is a very colorful town in Medellin. It is right next to El Peñol. El Peñol is a gigantic rock that seems to just appeared near Guatape. It is a touristic place because people go to see the rock and climb its 740 steps. Trust me, I was just as worried of climbing that many steps to see the beautiful view from the top! But, I was way more determined than worried. I believed I could do it. While I was going up the steps, I quickly realized why not everyone climbs. You easily loose your breath and it is very straining to climb that many steps. I definitely used my water bottle! After a whole lot of sweat, drinking all the water in my water bottle and my trembling legs, I finally reached the top. The view was worth all those steps! I felt so accomplished and happy that I got to see such beauty first-hand.

El Peñol

So far, my favorite place so far has been Cristo Rey which is the second largest Christ of King statue in the world. I went at midday, so I was able to see it light up. I was also able to see the amazing view of Cali from Cristo Rey. I saw the sunset on the city. It was an indescribable view! The Cristo Rey area is also known for its delicious pizzas. I got to try the famous Cristo Rey pizzas. I tried a Samba (sweet plantain, corn and bacon) flavored pizza. I fell in love with that pizza flavor! I do

Lastly, I have enjoyed traveling around Colombia so much. I am surprised that there is still so much more to explore. I have made good friends here who want me to return. So, I can’t wait to return and explore more places in Colombia!

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