Antioquia: Where Adventure and Culture Meet
My journey through Colombia starts in the beautiful Antioquia. I will take you along on my adventures and film everything along the way. The starting point is Medellín, but my next destination is quickly set: Rio Claro.
For this trip I asked my friend Natalia to come with me. She is just as passionate about filming as I am and immediately said ‘yes’. It is the perfect win-win situation: she gets a free holiday and I have someone who can translate and arrange everything for me. After some discussion we decided to go to Rio Claro, a place that looks breathtaking in the photos. Our goal? Rafting in the beautiful surroundings. The journey takes about four hours by bus.
The next day is the day. Towards the end of the morning we meet at the bus station in Medellín. It is my first time here and the station is big and busy, with many possibilities. Luckily Natalia knows exactly where we have to go. Buying the tickets is quick and now we wait for the bus to leave. We have about 20 minutes and I hope we are in a big, comfortable bus.
The bus leaves right on time and we get in. We ask the driver when we should get off and he promises to warn us when we are at the right stop. As agreed, he announces it, but to my surprise we stop in front of a restaurant, with nothing else around us. ‘What are we doing here?’ I wonder. Are we at the right place? Natalia reassures me and says that we are indeed at the right place. So we decide to eat something in the restaurant first.
After dinner we walk further along the road and discover a hotel not far from the restaurant. Since it is already getting dark, we decide to book a room there. However, at the reception we get bad news: there is no double room available. Natalia, creative as always, discusses some ideas with the staff and eventually we come to a solution. They have one room available for one night and they bring an extra mattress so that we can stay anyway.
After unpacking our stuff, we discover a beautiful river next to the hotel. We decide to take a refreshing dip right away.
The next morning we wake up early, because today is the day: we are going rafting! In front of the hotel there is an association where we can register. After we have registered, we wait until there are enough people for the trip. After about 20 minutes we leave with a small group towards the river, where the rafts are already waiting for us. We get instructions, but unfortunately I don’t understand anything. Fortunately, Natalia is there to help.
We are divided into two groups and the first part of the river is relatively calm. But soon the water becomes wilder and the rafting becomes a lot more exciting. The adventure is in full swing! At one point we come to a calm part of the river, where we can jump into the water and let ourselves be carried along by the current. It is a wonderful moment, surrounded by nature. Suddenly a snake swims past us. It was a bit of a shock, but fortunately it quickly passes.
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