14 Hours of Travel Hell - Getting to Sapzurro, Colombia

Riding 12 hours from Delhi to Jammu and missing both my bus and my stop was really bad. Also being delayed 3 hours to miss a flight and was rerouted to Qatar then to Delhi, eventually losing my luggage and my friends who were to meet up with me was not fun either. 3 days on a Greyhound bus from California to Virginia would have been a nightmare as well if I was not traveling with a good friend. Yet, yesterday? Oh yeah!!! It was bad. How bad do you say? Well I would have to say it was the only time that I felt that it would have been better off wanting to die that to be on the travel. How did it start off you ask? It started off while traveling in Colombia. The first hour was easy, the rest not so great.

So for my birthday I had decided to travel to Colombia again. This time it was to be with my girlfriend. We were to meet up in here hometown of Bogotá. This part of the travel was not bad. Two days pass by and it is time to head off to our next destination. We are going to head off to the lonely lazy and secluded area of Capurgana and Sapzurro. We fly on Avianca from Bogotá to Medellín. That was a simple flight and for $35 it was way better than the seats and comfort than the one I had on American Airlines. We take an hour and half taxi ride from the Airport to the Bus Terminal in Medellin were there was craziness going on. You see this week is Semana Santos, which is equivalent to USA’s spring break. This is one of the largest travel weeks in Colombia. Everyone is trying to get a bus out of Medellin. Unfortunately, so are we.

The buses are just about full, and the last option to take is the ugliest and cheapest bus. The good thing is that it was cheap. The bad thing is that there was little leg room and the seats did not recline. Not only that but my chair had a metal bar that was a support for my seat that stuck into my butt and my girlfriend’s seat cushion detached itself. The whole ride my girlfriend was mad at me so she wasnt talking to me, which meant that the long 9 hour ride was longer and the guy behind me was kept jabbing his knee in my back through my chair.

9 hours have gone by and we are still in the bus. The bus is behind schedule and not is late getting us to Turbo. Turbo is where were are supposed to be buy our tickets at 7:00 am before the boat left at 8:30 am. The bus finally lands us at the stop at 8:20 am. We scurried to the docks where it was humid and crowded with people. There was nothing but chaos. Finally boarding our boat after trying to figure out who sat where I was sitting in the front. My girlfriend a row behind me. We head out and on the 2 1/2 hour boat ride where we are too get to Capurgana, the stop before we head to Sapzurro. So I thought 2 1/2 hours wouldnt bad compared to the last 11 hours. Oh was I wrong. I read that if you do not sit in the rear of the boat the boat ride would be bumpy. Little did I know what they meant by bumpy that you would get bruised up and wish to die from motion sickness, having your butt bruised, and getting with water the whole time. The guy sitting behind my girlfriend apparently almost started to break down crying. The kids behind us were the whole time.

After finally arriving to Capurgana, we imediatly hop into another boat, still shaking from the past boat. The rain had started coming down and we are starting to get soaked. The 15 minute ride was not too bad as we sat in the back this time, but both needed to vomit. Good thing we did not have time for breakfast otherwise we surely would have. That 15 minutes was fast compared to the rest of the trip. We get off the boat to find out luggage drenched. After all that it was very rewarding in the long run. I was able to see how and why Sapzurro is a sought out place to visit by Colombians. It is like being on a deserted Island… But not really. The view is gorgeous.

Things learned? Book your bus before hand, online if possible. It is not always possible, so try to book it at the ticket office before hand.

If you can, take a flight from Medellin to Capurgana. It is worth not wanting to get sick the whole ride. If you can get to the boat early and make sure to get a rear seat. Lastly I learned to just enjoy the trip. See the good in it, despite the weirdness that might happen.