The road to San Gil was a Colombian adventure in itself, or at least that’s how it was for me. Therefore I decided to share this trip in a particular article.
We left at 10 pm, (an hour late) from the Cartagena bus terminal. It was the first time the police checked our hand bags before we got on the bus. Then, the travel agency employee recorded all the passengers on video, while they were sitting in their respective seats. At the beginning of the video, they stated that this was for security reasons, which worried us a bit. After the video, the driver was photographed outside the bus, holding a sheet with the trip details such as the number of passengers, the itinerary, the driver, etc. We did two bus trips before, Bogota–Pereira, 9 and a half hours, and Pereira–Medellin, 7 hours, and nothing like this happened to us. However, seeing that all the other passengers seemed calm, we decided to continue our journey, but we were alert.
The bus would take us to Santa Marta, for us to leave early in the morning for Bucaramanga. We had booked a hotel just 2 km from the airport. Since the bus would pass through that area, we asked the driver to stop us near the airport so that we could take a taxi to the hotel. The driver was surprised by our request and informed us that at 2:30 in the morning, when we would arrive, the airport and the surrounding area would be closed. And he was right: the small airport of Santa Marta closed at 22:00. For this reason, we decided to stop at the bus terminal, where there would be taxis.
Upon arrival, a crowd of taxi drivers surrounded us to negotiate. The situation was so fast and chaotic that we almost forgot to take our luggages from the bus. After arranging a drive, we headed to the hotel. The road to the hotel ran mostly outside the city and was in total darkness. Even the hotel had its lights off and the outer door closed. The taxi waited until the receptionist opened the door for us. We greatly appreciated that, given the entire journey we had made to get there. After closing the door behind us, we checked in. Near the reception desk was a notice in a frame, which said that they do not support child prostitution and any suspicions would be reported to the authorities. It had never occurred to me in my life that there would be a need for such a notice anywhere in the world.
The room was simple, but sufficient for a few hours of sleep. Early in the morning, my “brilliant” mind suggested that we walk to the airport, since it was daytime, the road passed by the sea and the distance was only 2 km. This turned out to be a big mistake. The road was by the sea, but the sun was scorching and there was no shade. From time to time, the road seemed uncertain. It was taking us a long time, while we had to catch the fight. We arrived at a point with no entrance, so we had to circle to get inside the airport.
Fortunately, we weren’t too late at the security check and the flight took a little more than an hour. Upon arriving in Bucaramanga, we found the terminal to get a mini-bus for San Gil. We had a snack and left. This journey took over four hours and was exhausting, but the landscape along the way was stunning. We passed hills covered in cactus, a semi-desert that gradually transformed into a tropical lush greenery. We reached town just before dusk, ending a journey that started almost 24 hours earlier.
In the next article, I will write about the reasons why this whole adventure was completely worth it. With this story, I want to encourage the adventurous spirit in everyone and show that things do not always go according to plan or imagination. But it is precisely these moments that grow us as people and make us more complete.
