Roaming South America

Visiting Valledupar, Colombia

February 1, 2021

Visiting Valledupar in northern Colombia

This week I am in the small city of Valledupar in northern Colombia. Valledupar is a city of about half-million people in the greater metropolitan area. It sits between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Venezuela border. The city appears nice enough but my personal experience so far is that the people are not quite a friendly as in other cities and towns in Colombia. And I've been told over and over again to not go out walking alone because it's dangerous here. Well, I'm not going to sit in the hotel room all day every day simply because somebody says it dangerous.

I go out and walk all over the city every day and have no problems at all. It was the same in Barranquilla. Seven and a half years in Barranquilla and never any problems with anyone, not even at 2am walking across the city. I did that a few times, never any problems. I've been told "well one of these days your luck is going to run out", really? my luck? Seriously. You can't live your life locked inside your room/house/hotel/etc in fear of what might happen. That's not living, it's simply surviving.

Valledupar has the Guatapur? river flowing alongside it. There is a river park that is quite popular with picnickers and swimmers. There's also a long history about a mermaid in the river. Valledupar is also the home of the Colombian Vallenato music style. And back in the 1980's the city suffered a lot from the narcotrafficers and the Colombian Armed Conflict. All of that is behind the city now, though, so that is not a concern anymore. And, Valledupar is classified as the hottest place in Colombia. The average high temp is 35-36?ree;C (96-97?ree;F), and average low temp of 24?ree;C (75?ree;F).

This area was first conquered in 1532 by the German governor of Venezuela. The city was founded in 1550 by the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Santana, who gave it its name.

I'm here with Carolina because she (and her mother) have a house here that they rent and there are some renovations being done but she needs to crack the whip with the workers. She has a new renter wanting to move into the house very soon so the work has to be completed very soon, as in the next few days.

Our plan is to return to Armenia on Saturday, by bus. Traveling by bus allows one to see the countryside up close, but the trips are much longer than flying. On the plus side is the fact that traveling by bus is a bit less than half the cost of flying. And since we're in particular hurry to get anywhere, the bus trip will be interesting. Oh, and there are far fewer people on the buses these days than in the planes, so as far as safety from Covid is concerned, traveling by bus might be the better choice.

Be sure to check out the photo album at the link at the top of this page.