Otavalo is a very touristy town with a proud indigenous culture. The main attractions in the town are the markets, which sell anything from traditional handicrafts to knock-off imports and fresh fruits and vegetables to live animals.
When traveling between Colombia and Ecuador by bus, you’ll probably have to stop in the border town of Tulcán. It may not seem very exciting at first glance, but it’s worth stopping for an hour to check out a very interesting cemetery.
Riosucio is a town known for its biennial carnival, the Carnival of the Devil (Carnaval del Diablo). It’s one of the most popular and important carnivals in all of Colombia and takes place every January of odd-numbered years. Some rural areas of Riosucio are included in the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia.
The small town of Pueblo Rico, located about three hours from Pereira, has almost nothing to offer. I visited on a short trip with my girlfriend Marisol and spent about an hour there.
Several Colombian friends had suggested I visit the town of Quimbaya, about 40 minutes from Armenia. I decided to take their advice and visit. Some rural parts of Quimbaya are located in the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia.
A good place to visit while in Medellín is Pueblito Paisa. It’s a a small replica Antioquian village on top of Nutibara Hill (Cerro Nutibara), a small hill in the middle of the city.
On the morning of the second day of our tour to La Guajira, Pedro woke us up at 5am to start the journey to Punta Gallinas. We were taken from Cabo de la Vela to nearby Puerto Bolívar, an industrial area used for shipping. There really isn’t any reason to be there other than for the boats to Punta Gallinas.
Midway through the first day of our trip to the peninsula of La Guajira, we were taken down a very bumpy road through the desert. The path would lead us to the small village of Cabo de la Vela. This village made up of mostly simple huts is famous for kitesurfing and can be quite difficult to get to.
Our tour of La Guajira began when our guide, Pedro, picked us up in our hotel in Santa Marta at 4:45AM. We were driven a few hours away to Riohacha, the gateway to and capital of La Guajira. We had breakfast and changed vehicles to a large pickup truck with our Wayúu driver.
In my one day in Barranquilla, I found almost nothing worthy of a detour to this industrial city. For example, Barranquilla has been called “the Cleveland of Colombia“. That’s an insult to Cleveland.