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Cocora Valley (Colombia): 5h30 walk in the middle of the Wax Palms
After visiting a coffee farm the day before, we leave today for the Cocora Valley, 30 minutes by Jeep from Salento. Always in company of Philippe, the father of JB. Part 1: Travel Diary Part2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary We take a Jeep from the main square of the village. 8000COP/person round trip. We plan to take the one at 8:30 am but as it is already full at 8:15 am, the car leaves right away. Philippe and I are sitting next to the driver so we have a little more room than those sitting in the back (or JB who has to be standing during the whole…
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Timetables & Bus Fares (2020) Airport Pereira – Salento. Transport Salento – Cocora Valley / Boquia / Armenia
Pereira and Armenia have the two closest airports to Salento. We decided to land in Pereira because the flights Bogota – Pereira are cheaper than Bogota – Armenia. Fares and schedules are as of September 2019. In this article, I will show you how to go, very easily, from Pereira airport to Salento. To do so, you need : Step 1: go from Pereira airport to the bus terminal (Pereira transport terminal) Step 2: From the bus terminal, take the bus of the company Expreso Alcalá to Salento Step 1: Pereira Airport => Pereira Transport Terminal Schedules: Monday to Friday: from 4:30 am to 10:45 pmSaturday: from 6:00 am to…
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Three days in Salento (Colombia): a Small Village in the Coffee Region
From Bogotá, we continue our road trip to Salento, with Philippe, JB’s father, who is currently on vacation in Colombia. Part 1: Travel Diary Part2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary How to get to Salento from Bogotá? We have the choice between a bus that takes almost the whole day, or a 45-minute flight. The airplane option was voted unanimously. Very wise decision because the view from my porthole is breathtaking. I think that after the beautiful landscapes seen from the porthole in Colombia, it is advisable to pay an extra fee to choose a place near the porthole (we had not paid the option to choose our place,…
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Where to buy an emerald in Bogotá (Colombia): Our Experience
During our mini roadtrip with JB’s father (Philippe), we were brought to look for an emerald in Bogotá because Philippe absolutely wanted to bring back a pendant from his trip in Colombia. Colombian emeralds are the most beautiful in the world, because apart from a few mines in Brazil, it is mainly in Colombia that natural emeralds are found. With its characteristic green color, and its inlays specific to the mine from which they are extracted. We have researched online to find a trusted seller. Philippe was also able to get information from his jeweler in France. This jeweler is used to go to Colombia to buy emeralds. According to…
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A day in Bogotá (Colombia): Gold Museum, Monserrate, la Candelaria
For his two weeks of annual vacation, Philippe (JB’s dad) decided to spend them with us, in Colombia! Our road trip is composed of 8 complete days of visit (the rest of the time, Philippe has to manage by himself because we work, eh yes). Follow our adventures on the blog! Part 1: Travel Diary Part2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary How do I get to Bogotá from Medellín? We could have gone there by bus (9h of journey) but considering the limited time that Philippe has in Colombia (and that we have outside working time!), we opt for a late departure in the evening by plane. The airplane…
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Attend a soccer match in Medellin – Tickets, Rates & Tips (Colombia)
After Lisbon, Seville, Turin, Istanbul, Montreal and Buenos Aires, I continue my soccer world tour in Medellin, Colombia. The passion for soccer in South America is in no way comparable with what we know in Europe, I have already had the opportunity to see this in Argentina. Colombian soccer is less famous but the atmosphere is at least as electric. There are two professional clubs in Medellin, Atlético Nacional and Corporación Deportiva Independiente Medellín (DIM). Both clubs had their heyday at the end of the 1980s, when they benefited greatly from Pablo Escobar’s drug money laundering scheme. Both clubs play in the same stadium, the Atanasio-Girardot Stadium, which can accommodate…
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Being Digital Nomad in Medellin (Colombia)
That’s it, after 4 months of emptying our bank account in Canada and the United States, we finally arrived in Colombia, a less hostile land for our wallet. As we arrive very late and we are tired by 2 weeks of road trip in Florida, we decide to spend 2 quiet days in a great hotel in the South of Medellín (pronunciation: MIDDLE JUNE) before taking place in our Airbnb (we call it the “vacations after the vacations”). Finally, we missed the computer too much and we had a lot to tell you. Instead of resting, we are chaining article after article for the blog, vlog after vlog for YouTube…
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[Travel Guide] Transport from Medellín José María Córdova Airport to the City Center: Taxi, Bus, Metro…
How do you get from Medellin airport to the city center (or to the El Poblado neighborhood, where most tourists stay), and vice versa? Here are the main means of transportation, we have tested almost all of them. The airport is about 20 km from the city (about 45 minutes by car because of the uphill). By Taxi As soon as you leave the airport, you will immediately see the cab fares clearly indicated here. The fare for Medellin, whether it is the city center or El Poblado (our neighborhood) is 75000COP. The other fares you see on the sign are the suburban neighborhoods. For this, you can take a…
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Test & Review of Bestonwardticket: a service for \”renting\” an exit ticket
When you travel in the classic way, you usually have a return ticket. When we travel around the world or adopt a nomadic life like ours, it is less obvious and we regularly enter a country without knowing what our next step will be. Some countries, however, require proof of exit in order to allow us to enter their territory. More precisely, they delegate this task to the airlines when checking in at the airport. They can do this with a certain zeal since in case of a problem, the “expulsion” of the traveler will be at their expense. In Hong Kong, the employee had even chased us because she…
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[story time] My Experience as an Apprentice Seamstress in Vietnam
Today, we continue the series [story time]. In the previous episode, I was on an exchange semester in Australia, in Sydney in 2009. At the end of this semester, I could no longer stay in Australia, not having found a job, nor could I return to France (no longer having a visa). So I went back to Vietnam in 2010, at my parents’ home in Hà Nội. Completely confused, not knowing what to do with my life. A Vietnamese girlfriend was in the same case as me, she who dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. And for that, she wanted to take sewing classes first and suggested that I go…