Preparing for Colombia

After months of indecision, we finally purchased tickets for our summer adventure. We are going to Colombia for three weeks. This was an agonizing process for me this year and I went round and round in my head and with friends about where to go.

Champagne problems indeed.





I write this post from my beautiful backyard hesitantly thinking that it's so nice right here! Why go anywhere? Why go through all the time, energy, and money to slog around Colombia for three weeks? Maybe I will know the answer to that when we get there.

Am I growing out of the need to travel? Is what I wanted for my life as a twenty something completely different from what I want for my life as a forty something? That really freaks me out because I have built a lifestyle and career around the concept of taking my family on mega international trips every summer. Why do I feel content to listen to the birds and admire my hydrangeas?

One theory I have is that by this time of the school year I am completely burned out and all I ever want to do is stare into space and veg out. A mistake I made this year was waiting until the last minute to decide. As the school year went on I became less and less interested in doing anything, especially mustering up all my senses to backpack. My son wanted to go back to the idyllic beaches of the DR, and I almost agreed....but I felt like that would be wimping out. Plus Luis said we hadn't been to enough places yet to start back tracking.

We wanted to go to Colombia last summer, after meeting people in Peru that said how great it was. But the kids were adamant that we go someplace relaxing, a place that wasn't like "work" as they said. And Peru was hard. The bus trips were epic and nauseous. City streets were crowded. I suspect Colombia won't be much different.

We have a route planned that will keep us away from big cities. We fly into Cartagena from Myrtle Beach. The tickets, including paying for carry on bags on Spirit Airlines, were 725 usd each. Not cheap at all, but definitely the best I found anywhere.

We made our first night hostel reservation at Hotel La Magdalena in Cartagena paying 41 usd. The next day we will head out on our loop to Minca, Valledupar, Mompos, and Tolu. I haven't decided if we will go to Minca or Tolu first though. On the back end of the trip in Cartagena we will certainly splurge on a room with a pool like we did last year.

So there you have it. Tickets purchased for Colombia!

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