Colombia Or Bust! - The Movie

Time for the 8 week Jim-ba-Lin adventures to begin setting off with the grand plan to take Bogotá by Christmas storm in December. With the rains closing in on Honduras, there's no options left except surfing in Nicaragua, sunbathing in Costa Rica and sailing to Colombia.


JIMBALIN Youtube

First to San Juan Del Sur, the sun and surfing capital of Nicaragua. After a shady night in Managua (the capital where you eat restaurant food behind iron bars and get serenaded by old locals brilliant on guitars) we were glad to arrive for some surfing albeit the rain is still here. We past other tourists proclaiming it’s the 8th day of rain as they exit the. Not quite sure if these travel plans are thwarted yet, the next day is beautiful and ideal for surfing. It takes half an hour to reach surf points, and a sweet adventure on 4x4 jeeps with crazy local surf dudes also piled into the back of the truck (thanks Tony Montana, you won't be forgotten). The surf breaks after big around these parts, funnelling into nature coves. Its hard ass work to swim through the breaks, but the flip side surfing is amazing (providing you don't head plant). The days are sealed off with cocktails beach side back in the town and confusing the waiters with Spanglish.

A week later, it's time for to cross the border into Costa Rica. Walking across borders in the pouring rain with no clear direction where the entry post is with 100's of cargo trucks all around you can be a little confusing at times. I made my way down to Playa Del Coco, famous for shark diving... and shark diving. I ended up renting this amazing room in house owned by three brothers named Carlos (weird?) - it was great to enjoy someone's kitchen, lounge and sundeck cracking in a Hotels Wifi next door. Two Honduran ladies came to stay that dressed like whores (thinking it was attractive) and scared me with their sexual advances. I sent for two best mates Josh and Sarah to protect me in the house. Sarah, who arrived two days early to the capital to catch her flight home to the US eventually missed her flight as all three of us travelled up to San Jose. (I'd liked to point out this was all her own doing and nothing to do with Josh and me : Sarah - Do you know the way to San Jose?)

We left Sarah in San Jose (she didn't yet know her imminent bleak airplane future), and we (the new pod cast team inspired by Ricky G) travelled through to met up with the girls in Puerto Viejo for beach and reggae action. This place is excellent: beach bars, Rasta tunes everywhere and more surfing the order of the day. To top it off the girls had hired a classy SUV for the boys to be taxied around in. Apart from WOOP WOOP, thats da sound of the Police, there were no other dramas.

As we swooped over the border (walking over an old disused train bridge) to Bocos Del Toro and enjoying more beautiful beaches on the Islands, it was time for the next step. Pandaemonium City: the place to be for dream shopping, fantastic restaurants, cheap king size suites and boats to Colombia. Soaked in American history most notably because of the former ownership of the Canal. This place is awesome. If ever you had to be stuck in a City for a week, this is the city to be stuck in - our safe passage to Colombia by boat (bit dodgy by land), was in a week's time.

As you'll see in the movie, this isn't the hard up backpacker style, but a luxury 50 foot yacht 'The Roxy' cruising through the San Blas Islands in Panama to reach Cartègena Colombia. The slender of dolphins racing the boat, snorkelling around wrecks & tiny island reefs with lobster dinners for afters are simply some highlights. Buying baby turtles so the locals didn't eat them was a little bizarre. Arriving in Cartègena at 3am after a 34-hour continuous sail was awesome!!

For those of you who'd thought Colombia might be too dangerous to go to then think again. Although Colombia has had a chequered past with the Farc wanting independence and deeply involved in global drug trafficking, the tourist side is fantastic. The government and locals over the past few years have tried very hard to promote and protect tourism, trying to shake off its poor image from the outside world. Cartègena, one of the largest ports in South America has a strong established history prompted by the Spanish colonial empire. The old town and fort areas have been beautifully restored to their original form, and there's an excellent buzz of bars and shops under the tropical sunshine. Outside the old towns lies a very modern and affluent CBD district with amazing condos that stretch the oceanfront.

As for the national parks: spellbinding. After the obligatory stop and search by guards, you enter a world of deserted forests, rocks formations and beaches. Tramping along the park coastal regions was calming though energetic, and the day’s reward is beach side beers and food before turning into outside hammocks. I have seen many clear starry nights but out here was probably one of the best. Couldn't leave the North coast until some Scuba diving was had. The best place we found was on the Islands an hour out of Cartègena. Pristine coral reef walls with eels and spotted eagle rays for eye candy. The diving in Tyrona near the park was much colder but saw for the first time a black spotted eel regurgitate the remains of a complete fish skeleton. Sounds weird I know but this is quite rarity in the dive world.



The final stop before the long hauls to LA and New Zealand is beautiful Bogotá. Steeped in Catholic region, I have never seen so many Christmas trees, fairy lights and nativity villages (not scenes, villages!) in my life. Amazing to see especially when the main public spaces have been taken over. Bogotá is a massive city, sprawling out in all directions. Again there's a colonial feel down town and interesting places to visit. It was very sad to leave this place after such a wonderful adventure, but I know more are always around the corner. Feliz Navidad!