3 weeks in Colombia and Peru What's the verdict

Our 3 weeks have come to an end. It was a colourful and beautiful trip. These type of trips require planning. On purpose we had left some flexibility around Cartagena and the jungle in Peru. The only real hiccups were some cancellations from accommodations 2 weeks before Lima but also 1 day before we arrived to Cartagena.

Would we have designed this trip differently with what we now know? Not much. The only difference is we would skip Barranquilla, fly from Medellin to Santa Martha and after a couple days there go to Cartagena perhaps including a trip to Bernandino or Rosario islands.

Colombia was so colourful and great to walk about. Did we face any danger? Absolutely not. We walked everywhere and although the centre of Bogota is not the most welcoming in the night due to all the lively places having closed it does not feel dangerous. Medellin felt one of the safest cities we have been but admittedly Poblado where we stayed and where we walked in the evening is quite upmarket. Communa 13 is a bit of touristy area nowadays although it was still pleasant to go there, contemplate how it used to be, and watch the world from high up. It is very safe to visit alone in the daytime although you might miss some of the inside information that guided tours give.

The food in Colombia was great and very reasonably priced even in well known spots. It varies with the area as everywhere in the world.

Peru, we did not really have enough time to enjoy the variety of the country but we have still been to three great places. The experience in Machu Picchu and the Puerto Maldonado, part of the Amazon rainforest, were both amazing. Food in Peru, particularly in Lima, is nice but it was more difficult to find random good everyday places to eat, unlike Colombia, without paying quite a bit.

People in both countries were very helpful to guide you, give you directions, recommendations, or even taking you where you wanted to go. Drivers in Colombia's big cities were definitely more considerate to pedestrians than in Peru and some times the smiles of everyday people looked more unforced in Colombia. Sorry for the generalisation.

We met great people in this trip. The daughter of the coffee farmer in Salento, the bus driver from Salento to Medellin, the nurse taxi driver in Cartagena, Ephraim the guide in Tambopata River, Marcos the optimistic guide we met on the plane, the cook with both Japanese and Peruvian roots in Surquillo 2 market.

We talked more Spanish than we ever thought we could. People open their hearts and are prepared to understand if you make an effort. You learn a lot from them and surpringly much from their lifes, dreams and struggles.

These are welcoming countries that invite you to go.

As Bourdain said "Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”

Take care, adios.