Alternative to San Andres&Santa Marta

[Cali vet]

If you want to take your Cali novia to a hotel on the beach for a few days check out Bahia Solano on the Pacific coast in Choco. Most Cali travel agents sell rd trip air and hotel packages. It's a 45 minute flight from Cali. There are several coastal towns and a national park (Parque Utria where there is supposed to be great whale watching from park cabins on the bay from June-October) within an hours jeep taxi ride from the airstrip at Bahia Solano. We went to the hotel El Valle in El Valle. Ten minute walk to the beach. The package included rd trip air on Sateana, 6 nights hotel with three meals a day (always fresh ocean fish don't look for steak!) and the price for the two of us was $381. The beach is grey sand, not white and the ocean is warm with great waves at high tide. There are rock tidepools at low tide with colorfull tropical fish. We hiked a great jungle trail after crossing the river mouth in a dugout canoe (no aluminum or fiberglass here!) On the trail we saw toucans and blue headed parrots as well as some small monkys. Bahia Solano is fairly modern, has a bank, telephones in private homes etc. El Valle is somewhat...primitive. But I loved it and will go back though probobly with a different girl. I'll never go to San Andres.

[Hoda]

... in response to Alternative to San Andres&Santa Mart..., posted by Cali vet on Jul 3, 2001

Yo C-Vet...

I like that tip on the airport hotel. Like El-D, those early morning AA flights suck! Will definitely check out the airport hotel during my next trip. Anyway, me & Stivalis are planning to visit her family (father's side) in Tomaco. Tomaco is also on the Pacific coast, far from the guerilla action. We're looking at a couple of days in Tomaco & 5 days at an island resort off Tomaco called "Boca Grande". We'll be flying Avianca or Sateana into Tomaco. That vacation package you mentioned sounded serious. By some strange coincidence, Stivalis mentioned a combination of meeting the family & taking in the resort. Knowing my lady as I do, she'll find a similar package in that price range.....

Thanks again.....Hoda

[Doug Y]

... in response to Alternative to San Andres&Santa Mart..., posted by Cali vet on Jul 3, 2001

 My wife and her family are from Bahia Solano!!  Many are still there. That's all they ever talk about is how beautiful it is.  Your description (in English) really makes it come to life.

 They aren't sure though about whether I would be safe there or not.  At least as safe as compared to Cali, Bogota, or C/gena.

 Their description of the current political situation made it seem like it was a highly strategic town that is something of a "garrison" set-up that is strongly fortified with Colombian army troops.  I also understand that it is THE place to be for the chic Medellin beach crowd.  

 My wife said that she saw a gringo and a Calena on her Cali/Bahia Solano flight two months ago, and it gave me hope.  Now I want to go even more!!!!!!!!!!!

 Were there any other gringos/euros there?  Did you see any surfers there?  Do you think I could get a small board on that flight?

Regards,
Doug

   

[Cali vet]

... in response to Re: Alternative to San Andres&Santa ..., posted by Doug Y on Jul 3, 2001

I guess neither foreigners or Colombians are ever really safe anywhere in the country these days. Maybe I was just a naive gringo but I felt 0k there however when any one asks where I'm from I always say canadiense. There's a German mechanic whose been living in El Valle for about 15 years and a Duthman owns the hotel Mr Gerrys. Didn't meet him but the locals say he showed up on his yaht smoking pot 20 years ago and just stayed. I don't think the waves are big enough for surfing.

[Doug Y]

... in response to Re: Re: Alternative to San Andres&Sa..., posted by Cali vet on Jul 3, 2001

 thx for the info CV.  I wasn't implying naivete at all, only attempting to quantify risk LOL.  Just got off the phone with my wife (she arrives Friday afternoon), and she confirmed my earlier belief.  According to her family that live there, the guerillas and the paras are CLOSE AND ACTIVE, but the Colombian military prescence is comparatively bigger.  

 The same advice still rings true, stay in the city (no matter how big or small).  Don't know how safe I would feel venturing out into the beautiful parks, jungles, rivers, isolated beaches, etc.  Wonder if there are services that provide armed military escorts??

 There have been various reports of questionable reliability regarding huge, perfect, empty waves outside the bay on the open coast.  Don't know whether I'm prepared to scuffle w/ AUC, FARC, ELN etc. to enjoy them.

Doug

[Cali vet]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Alternative to San Andres&am..., posted by Doug Y on Jul 4, 2001

Thats good to know. Your wife's family is certainly going to have the up to date info. I received mine from a travel agent and the hotel hostess. Obviosly its in their interest to play down the risk so they can sell me tickets and rooms. There is no question that as far as the war goes the safest place to be is in the cities and the safest city is B/quilla. However the guerrilla can show up anywhere. I had lunch at one of those restaurants up at kilometer 18 out side Cali just one month before the ELN carried out that kidnapping. If they ever decide to target Chipichape or Unicentro we gringos are in big truoble. Regarding the coast I guess if you can swim faster than they can you'll be OK.

[Patrick]

... in response to Alternative to San Andres&Santa Mart..., posted by Cali vet on Jul 3, 2001

Any guerilla activity around there that you heard about?

We may take a vacation to Colombia again this year but it will probably be to Cartegena since we know it's safe as well as beautiful and has many interesting things to see (we went there in 1997).  I prefer the rural areas, but I once encountered guerillas while hiking down from a mountain in Quindio.  Nothing happened, but it was a lesson learned.  I'd be very hesitant to take my family out to the countryside unless I was pretty sure there were no guerillas in the area.

[Cali vet]

... in response to What do the locals (Colombians) say abou..., posted by Patrick on Jul 3, 2001

No there has been no guerilla or paramilitary activity in the area and you pass through an army base if you walk from the airport to Bahia Solano. I felt very secure. This place is on the edge of the world in Colombia's poorest department. There's really nothing for them. There are no actual roads from the interior. Transport is by air or sea. Only problem I had was on the way to the airport from El Valle some bastard in the back of the jeep opened my girlfriends bag and took her coin purse with about seven dollars in it.
By the way there are places more upscale than where I stayed such as El Almejal that has nice cabanas fronting the beach about a twenty minute walk from the town away from the all night Champeta music blaring from the disco.
They have a site: www.almejal.com.co