Mundo Nuevo
Sunday, September 17
Our home base in Colombia was the city of Medellín, where we lived and worked for four weeks. Although we loved Medellín, we still wanted to see a few more places of Colombia and therefore took a week off work in September to travel. We booked a flight from Medellín to the city of Santa Marta which is located in the north of Colombia.
The first destination of our vacation was an amazing hostel in the middle of the Colombian jungle. We were recommended the place by a friend and would have never found this hostel on our own. To reach the hostel we had to take a taxi from Santa Marta airport over what felt like the most winding roads in the world to get to the city of Minca. Although the road quality was very good and our taxi driver was very considerate, this was one of the worst car rides in my entire life. I've never felt that sick on a journey before and it was truly a miracle that after an hour of driving I finally made it through the journey without throwing up! Despite severe nausea, the ride was beautiful in terms of scenery. The small town of Minca is located in the Colombian Sierra Nevada, the highest coastal mountain range in the world. Here you are somehow in the mountains, but at the same time you are also in the tropical jungle, which is a great mix in terms of landscape. There are many mountains, but they are all green and full of tropical plants, palm trees and banana trees.
When we arrived in Minca, we were picked up by a Jeep from the hostel and were driven to “Nuevo Mundo” hostel. We didn't realize at the time how far up in the jungle our hostel was, but in retrospect the very muddy jeep we had to change into should have been an indication that it was going to be a long, adventurous ride up the mountain. After a 30-minute, very bumpy ride in the jeep over small trails through the jungle, crossing two rivers and getting stuck in the mud we finally arrived at our hostel shaken and a little confused.
After check-in, the tour of the site made it clear to us that the difficult and long journey to the hostel was so worth it though! This place in the middle of the jungle and with its beautiful view of the surrounding jungle mountains was truly unique. The following days we enjoyed the incredible landscape, went swimming in the pool with probably the best view in the world and of course I documented this special place with a sketch in my sketchbook!
