Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [153]
For information on shipping a motorcycle or vehicle around the Darién Gap, check out shipping company Horn Linie (www.hornlinie.com).
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Information
Banco de Bogotá(Calle101 No 12-131) ATM.
Turbo Internet.com ( 827 5100; Carrera 13 No 00-00; per hr COP$2000; 10am-8pm Mon-Fri, to 9pm Sat-Sun) Internet cafe.
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Sleeping & Eating
Residencias Florida ( 827 3531; Carrera 13 No 99A-56; s/d with fan COP$15,000/25,000; ) It doesn’t look like much (and it’s not), but this simple spot on Turbo’s loud Parque Principal is the best choice available for foreigners. The extremely friendly and helpful owner can fill you in on everything you need to know about organizing a boat to Capurganá. It’s walking distance from the bus terminals and the docks.
Hotel Saussa ( 827 2022; Calle 13 No 99A-28; s/d/tr COP$20,000/30,000/50,000) A small step up from Florida and a good second option. It’s right next door to Florida and there’s a Chinese restaurant attached.
Mana (Carrera 13; set meals COP$5000; breakfast, lunch & dinner to 8pm) No street number, no sign, and, in all reality, no name (we had to pry Mana out of them, but it also goes by Inezita) – just homey comida corriente. It has a red awning and is across the street from Hotel Saussa.
An interesting spot for a drink is the new outdoor bar built in the shape of a boat in Parque Principal. Here you’ll find 7-year-olds leading 5-year-olds on donkey rides, a mechanical bull, 9-year-olds driving mini-ATVs and moto raffles – you know, the usual.
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Getting There & Away
From Cartagena, you must catch a bus to Montería (COP$35,000, 4½ hours) and switch at the shiny new central bus station for the bus to Turbo (COP$25,000 to COP$35,000, five hours). Three companies make the trip with trucks, 4WDs or busetas (you know, the ones where they honk and yell the entire journey in an effort to pick up passengers), as the road is largely unpaved in long stretches and very bumpy. Sotracor ( 784 9023), Gomez Hernandez ( 784 9010) and Coointur ( 784 9008) depart more or less every half hour to hour from 7am to 5pm between the three companies. In Turbo, there is no central bus station but most of the companies of concern are located on Calle 101. Returns to Montería run from 4:30am to 4pm. Sotrauraba ( 827 2039) heads to Medellín hourly from 5am to 10pm (COP$51,000, eight hours) from Turbo.
Boats to Capurganá (COP$49,000, 2½ hours) leave daily from the port from 6am in high season and once at 8:30am in low season. Boats can fill up quickly with locals – arrive at least an hour early. It can be a wet and bumpy journey, so throw your luggage in a trash bag (vendors sell them for COP$1000), and try not to get stuck in the Gringo Seat – locals will try and force you to sit in the front, where the ride is the most miserable.
For continuing on to Panama, see the boxed text.
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CAPURGANÁ & SAPZURRO
4 / pop 2000
The somewhat isolated resort towns of Capurganá and Sapzurro, minutes from the Panamanian border, have done well to stay off the gringo grid. These two idyllic, laid-back villages and the surrounding beaches are the only ones between here and Punta Gallinas on the Guajira Peninsula that truly live up to their Caribbean bloodline. But much like Punta Gallinas, access has been both their savior and crutch. Being that these two paradisiacal destinations are only accessible by those willing to put up with the lengthy boat trip from Turbo, or those that can afford to fly, Capurganá and Sapzurro have remained Colombia’s least overrun Caribbean jewels. Not to mention that 90% of the tourism here has been homegrown, due to access and security issues in the past (it is on the border, after all). That’s all changing now, too; there is at least one foreign-owned hostel and a few more on the way.
Capurgan