August 2016
At more than 2850 m above sea level, Ecuador’s capital is situated on the slopes of Pichincha, an active volcano in the Andes Mountains. Though less colorful than Cartagena we enjoyed from the very first step this calm city with its excellently preserved historic center which, along with Krakow, were the first World Cultural Heritage […]
Heading down to Ecuador, we made a short stop in Ipiales, just before the border with Ecuador. We arrived in the early morning just when the sun was going up and took a taxi to the only attraction in the town: Santuario de las Lajas, a 100 years old cathedral spectacularly built on a bridge […]
Being known as the salsa capital of the world, with many famous dancers, salsa schools, discos, museums, there is not much else about Cali. The city itself is quite grey, with very old and unmaintained buildings, market streets surrounding the city center and a bad reputation in terms of safety. We were somehow lucky to […]
After a long night bus from Bogota we reached Salento just when the sun was going up, flooding the small, sleepy Salento with warm light. No one was on the streets as we were heading to our lodge, leaving us the opportunity to enjoy the fresh air and the beautifully colored houses without any interruption: […]
Amazing sea life : dolphins, manta rays, loots of (my favorites) porcupine fish, lion fish, water snakes, lobsters, moray eels …did I say dolphins? Beautiful relief of colorful corals: small hills, pyramids, plains, caves and underwater tunnels, hills again… Excellent spots with boat wrecks, statues, parts of crashed planes. Perfect conditions: 25-30 m of visibility, […]
I read a lot about Bogota before visiting it and I was actually expecting more from a capital that is actually compared by some with San Francisco, Washington DC or Berlin. Yes, it is big! And yes, the idea of a city at more than 2500 m above sea level, spread on hills and mountains […]
Colors! Colors! Many colors!!! Different colors from house to house, small, narrow streets, beautiful pastel-colored paintings found on the lower half of nearly every building, laid-back, peaceful, smiling people, incredible coffee smell…welcome to Guatape, an amazing small town surrounded by Antioquia’s green hills and fresh water lakes. We felt in love at first sight! Just […]
Imagine a city that lies on more than 380 km2 in a valley between 2 majestic mountain ranges, with houses stoke one to another and people wandering around like in a swarm. Beautiful and scary at the same time, this is Medellin, considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world in the 90s. […]
Colors, music, people singing and/ or dancing, sun, good food, no English…this is what Cartagena is all about…completely different from what we’ve seen so far in Asia or USA and of course much closer to Spain or Italy. Cartagena was the first Spanish colony on the American continent and one of the first sanctuaries of […]
Our American adventure culminated with a new road-trip with The Cats, a weekend full of friendship, love, casinos, country music and stunning sceneries between California and Nevada! We reached Reno late at night and checked-in at a casino-hotel. We did not play, but just walked around. I actually found it sad: mostly older people, alone, […]