In 50 days around the South America! Route 1

The story I will tell you is the great South American Adventure of Kiymet, her beloved husband Onur, and their 8-year-old son Atlas, who challenge themselves and follow their dreams. While listening; An experience that inspires envy, curiosity, and the desire to get to know different cultures and nature far away. Now let's listen to the story of the Geziverdik family's impressions in their own words.

In one of the geography magazines I read when I was 15, I saw travel stories about South America that made me dream. Ruins on top of the mountains, Aztecs and colorfully dressed women, streets and salsa! Yes, all these were impressions from a curious, passionate and enthusiastic culture. After those years, a list had already been formed in my mind: places to be discovered and places to be seen before I die, respectively. It did not remain a dream, we discovered different geographies one by one with our backpacks! Until I finally crossed South America, a distant continent that seemed inaccessible at the top of this list, in 50 days in the summer of 2023... This was my gift to my family who supported me and to myself who kept my word.

Our preparation process started months in advance, as usual. Transportation tickets, routes... However, this preparation process was a mental process for us, probably due to the confidence we gained from having been traveling for a long time. The list of requirements for the suitcase and bag we were going to take was only enough for a few days, and that's exactly what happened. I will give the details in the tips section…

The first stop of our trip is Sofia, yes, because it was the only route we could find the most affordable flight ticket to take us to Bogota. For this, we spent 2 days in Sofia at the house of a friend from Couchsurfing. We went from Izmir to Hasköy and from there to Sofia in 17 hours, changing two buses.

We went to Bogota with a nice flight departing from Sofia with a connection in Frankfurt. When we chose local accommodation, Couchsurfing, which gave us the opportunity to mingle with different cultures, allowed us to get to know David and his nephew Emanuel. We also gained a good friend for Atlas. Since David was working, we met up with his friend Andrea, who wanted to spend time with us, and went out to explore Bogota. We went to restaurants where local dishes were served. Bogota, as the first city we came to, recorded memories where we were not surprised to see very lively, colorful and abundant graffiti houses and people dancing on the streets, and the sounds of live music rising everywhere. Our most enjoyable tour was a long journey by cable car to watch the view from the highest point of the city known as Monserrati. Although it was quite interesting to be able to go to the high districts of the city with this air transportation vehicle, it was also visually enjoyable.

After Bogota, our second stop was Medellin and we arrived with a night bus. Since, like Bogota, the cable car is a means of transportation for the city, we reached Santa Domingo, a high district, by cable car. Plaza de Botero is like an open-air museum park for all tourists like us. There are many interesting artistic sculptures.

The Guatepe El-fenol rock, which we were eagerly waiting for, was worth it. As we walked 750 steps upwards, Atlas at the front, me and Onur at the back, we had exhausted our physical energy to the fullest. This rock, which is 2 hours away from the center of Medellin, is 65 million years old and was worth the tiredness for its view.

Mauricio, whom we met from Couchsurfing, guided us to visit Comuna-13, the gangsters' forbidden area until a few years ago. Now it seems to be a safe place where you can go on a touristic trip. Comuna-13 is like a street gallery; Colorful graffiti paintings decorate the walls of the houses!

We completed the visits on our list by going from Medellin to Peru and then to Ecuador, and according to our plans, we returned to Colombia in August 2023. We walked across the Rumi Saka Bridge from the equator with our bags on our backs and entered Ipiales, the border city of Colombia. We didn't plan to stay here, our next destination was Cali.

Well, we have come to the most adrenaline-inducing part of the story... When we arrived at the bus terminal to go to Cali, they told us that we would not be able to find a ticket and that it would not be right for us to set off. The highway was barricaded in certain places by the villagers. We also learned that the road, which is only 100 km, took up to 5 hours and that the protesters caused security problems. After evaluating the situation among ourselves for a while, we managed to buy the remaining tickets for the last bus and set off. We believed that like an arrow shot into uncertainty, our heart that embraces adventure would pass through this and reach its target. We couldn't go from the highway and the bus transferred us to the small transporter. We were stopped a few times on the road and they asked for money from the driver. In the end, we managed to come to Cali in good health and pleasure…

Do you like cats? If yes, we are now in a park decorated with cat statues of different colors, sizes and breeds. Even though we were far from our home, we really enjoyed encountering a Turkish restaurant near the park. Its location and name is Parque De los Gatos, Cali Valle is a park... Onur became an angel of goodness by showing heroism here and saving a bird whose wing was stuck on a branch in the park.

The symbol of Cali must be the capital of Salsa. You see people dancing Salsa in every street and every cafe. They even invited us to a Salsa lesson during a museum visit, but unfortunately we couldn't attend because we didn't have time.

We are in Salento, another most interesting geography of Colombia! Very few people can say no to a coffee that smells delicious, right? This place is primarily a coffee paradise and tropical bananas are exported to the whole world from here. We came to Salento and did not leave without trying the local taste of its famous coffee.

Salento Cocora Valley, palm trees up to 60 meters tall, located on small hills in the lap of a lush green nature! Now I felt like we were in such a distant geography with a different habitat area. They are protected due to their national values.

A man sitting cross-legged on the grass, selling and producing various types of colorful jewelry in front of him, caught our attention. The ones in front of him were decorated jewelry with local motifs and colors. When I gave him a peacock feather that I kept and found in a park in the equator and asked him to make an earring, a wonderful earring specially created for me in a short time...

After 3 transfers and a 26-hour drive, we arrived at the shores of the Caribbean Sea. We are in the city of Cartagena. If Cartagena were a postcard; I would choose the coastal city on the Caribbean Sea with its colorful houses, streets and friendly people, and Afro women with their colorful local clothes selling fruit. Is it possible to come here and not swim in the Caribbean? We put a tick on this dream by swimming at Playa Blanca en isla Baru beach on Baru Island.

Participating in the boat tour of Hale Sargın, a traveler, an extraordinary woman and one of us who expanded her borders to South America, left a sincere and heartfelt meeting with unique memories. It was nice to meet someone who now organizes tours to places he's lived like Mexico, Peru and Colombia. In the words of travel guru Bahar Akıncı about Hale Sargın; “He buys a one-way ticket to Brazil, travels around Latin America by bike, hitchhiking and bus, and learns Spanish like fluently. He comes across all kinds of stories, but he always meets nice people. He crosses the Atacan Desert by bicycle..."

One delicious note on the boat tour: “The locals on the tiny local boats open the middle of the pineapple and make you a wonderful cocktail and Atlas loved it too. Delicious alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are waiting for you on the sea with just a pineapple peeler! “And as we approach the end, we would like to end the story of the Colombia route here, leaving Cartagena behind after 3 days, by being thankful for every surprising difference we see, touch and taste on each route. See you again soon for Peru and Ecuador…

To my beloved family, friends, friends and everyone we crossed paths with, who came with me to Colombia, Peru and Ecuador to make my dreams come true, who accompanied me all over the world and who held my hand tightly and never let go.

I'm glad to have you!