During your sustainable trip to Colombia, you may want to share a moment with its inhabitants. Take advantage of your travels to discover Colombians, their skills and their lifestyles through one of the activities in Colombia offered by Phima Voyages.
Discover a unique tradition: making bejuco baskets
In Filandia, 30 minutes from Salento, at the Centre of Interpretation of Bejuco Baskets you can discover this traditional craft.
You will be greeted by Wilmar who will show you around the small, very well organized museum. It presents the baskets according to their use during coffee production. This craft has existed for about 100 years. It is therefore now the sixth generation that is trying to continue making the baskets of natural fibers called “bejuco”.
The Center offers 3 types of tours:
1. The museum and a small demonstration of basket making (duration: 1h)
2. Making a small basket and visit the museum (duration: 2 hours)
3. A forest trip to see the bejuco plant, visit the museum and make a basket (duration: 4 hours)
There are still 30 artisans in Filandia who are trying to continue this unique tradition.
La Giralda, finca in the Eje Cafetero, great activities in Colombia
After admiring beautiful landscapes in the Eje Cafetero, spend a few days at la Giralda in the village of Cuchilla del Salado, a small coffee farm near Manizales. You will learn all about the production of Colombian black gold: coffee. This is one of our preferred activities in Colombia !
Duvier and Carmenza have always worked in coffee. They started as harvesters, then bought the “finca” in which they worked. Now and already for more than 2 years, they are happy and proud to introduce tourists to the coffee production process.
What strikes you from the first glance around is the harshness of the landscape: magnificent but so hostile to agricultural production. Indeed, the coffee trees are planted on extremely steep slopes which make the uninitiated dizzy. Between the inclination of the slopes, the heavy loads and the schedules, the production of coffee, entirely manual of course, is a real test of strength.
With a stroll among the coffee tree plantation, Duvier will teach you everything you need to know about growing coffee. He is a real well of science that never tires of sharing his passion with passing travellers.
If the afternoon is not too late yet, Duvier and Carmenza will show you around la Cuchilla del Salado. It is a typical little village built on the crest of a mountain by settlers from the Antioquia region.
In the evening, Carmenza will teach you how to make a typical dish of the region. You will end this day by playing a game of domino with the whole family.
Take a salsa class
Take advantage of your stop by the Caribbean Sea to practice salsa, another one of many traditionnal activities in Colombia.
This dance, which has its origins in Cuba, is now essential in the whole Caribbean, especially in Colombia. Colombian salsa mixes different influences and has been enriched thanks to local rhythms such as cumbia or vallenato.
The Crazy Salsa dance school is located in the center of Cartagena, a stone’s throw from the Clock Tower. You will meet your teacher Hanner who will teach you the 3 basic steps of salsa. After this hour of lesson, you will master this dance enough to be able to spend a pleasant evening in one of the many salsa bars in Cartagena.
La Comuna 13 in Medellin
The Comuna 13 was one of the most violent neighborhoods in Medellin. It has transformed in less than 20 years into an essential tourist place in the city.
The Comuna 13 was controlled by drug cartels during the 1980s. It was not appeased after the death of their leader Pablo Escobar in 1993. Until the early 2000s, paramilitaries, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the ELN (National Liberation Army) disputed zone control. The implementation of state, but also local initiatives, urbanization and new public spaces have greatly contributed to the transformation of the Comuna 13.
Street art, with graffiti in particular, has become a means of expression and liberation for the inhabitants. It allows them to show their joy, their history and their dreams through this mode of artistic expression.
The Comuna 13 is today an example of social success for the city of Medellin.
Guatape and the Piedra del Peñol
If you only have time to take one trip outside of Medellin, choose this one.
Just two hours from Medellin by bus or private transport, you will discover the magnificent city of Guatape. Its multicolored houses and its warm atmosphere will surely delight you.
It is one of the most beautiful places in Colombia. There is an even more majestic surprise: the monolith El Peñol. This huge rock over 200 meters high is accessible by a staircase built on the wall. Climbing is a must for any stay in the Antioquia region.
Stay in the Guajira Desert
In the Guajira desert you will admire its exceptional landscapes and discover the culture of the Wayuu, a native people of this territory. The Guajira is a wild and desert land that extends to the far north of South America.
You will be hosted by yourguide, Emilio. His family is from Punta Gallina, the most remote part of the Guajira desert. Far from the tourist paths, you will have a privileged contact with a Wayuu family. It will welcome you into their house. This is not only one of many activities in Colombia, but a whole life-changing experience.
This stay will make you discover the culture of the Wayuu natives and the magnificent beaches where the sand dunes flow into the Caribbean.
First, you will visit the salt marshes of Manaure and Uribia, the indigenous capital of the Guajira. You cross exceptional landscapes of the desert and set off for the largest sand dune in Latin America. And you spend the morning on a deserted Caribbean beach in the middle of the desert. Finally, you will see the lighthouse at Punta Gallina: the most northerly point in South America.
