Travel Trends with Dan Christian
#1 B2B Travel Podcast. If you are looking to stay ahead in the travel industry, this new podcast hits all the highlights! The Travel Trends Podcast is where industry leaders converge to share & shape the future. Whether you're an emerging entrepreneur, a seasoned industry executive, or a dedicated travel professional, you’ll be able to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Uncover valuable insights, innovative strategies, and meaningful connections that will elevate your travel business or career to new heights.
Travel Trends with Dan Christian
Destination Spotlight: Colombia with Juliana Medina (CEO) & Rodrigo Atuesta (Co-Founder), Impulse Travel
Discover Colombia like never before - a country where music, nature, and community transformation redefine travel. In this Destination Spotlight episode, Dan explores this vibrant destination with Impulse Travel and their inspiring local guides.
Our journey begins with Juliana Medina (CEO) and Rodrigo Atuesta (Co-Founder), the visionaries behind Impulse Travel, who are redefining tourism as a force for good. They’ll show you a Colombia that shatters outdated stereotypes – a country brimming with warmth, creativity, and breathtaking diversity, now one of the world’s most exciting travel destinations. Stroll Bogota’s colorful markets with Raul, uncover Medellin’s remarkable urban renewal with Carolina, and feel the soul of Cartagena through Oralis’ passion for Afro-Colombian culture and coastal beauty.
World-class food, culture, and experiences - all at incredible value. Ready to see Colombia in a whole new light? Connect with Impulse Travel and mention this episode for a complimentary day tour.
The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.
https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/
I would say music is so close to what we are as a nation for many different reasons. I think music embodies this tricultural blend of indigenous, european and black in many different kinds of rhythms. Also, music, I think, brings the country together. Colombia is a big, big powerhouse when it comes to international music, so music is so intertwined with what we are that I would say that it would be impossible to conceive Colombia as a nation taking music apart from it Hello everyone, and welcome to our very first Destination Spotlight episode of Travel Trends.
Speaker 3:This is your host, dan Christian, and today we're going to kick off this new series with a spotlight on Colombia, which is a country that is often misunderstood given its complex history, but it's one of the fastest growing and most exciting destinations in the world, and I can speak from experience about that because I recently traveled to Colombia with Impulse Travel. You're going to meet Rodrigo and Juliana today, who run Impulse Travel, as well as three of their guides, who they call ambassadors, all of which I had the privilege to meet while I was in Bogota, medellin and Cartagena, and I also wanted to make sure that this first destination spotlight was not only a destination I traveled to, but one that was really meaningful for me, and I think you'll understand as you hear this conversation, impulse Travel is very much a company that's aligned with my travel values. Their whole focus is creating positive, meaningful change in their communities. They are truly change makers that are committed to getting money into the hands of local people and giving them opportunities they wouldn't have if tourism didn't exist. So it's a really powerful story and one I'm very keen to share with you today, and, obviously, one of the big discoveries for me was just how remarkably safe Colombia was, how warm and welcoming their people were, how delicious the cuisine is that was a huge highlight. The diversity of their country and their scenery, from the mountains of Bogota to the streets of Medellin and the Caribbean vibes of Cartagena. There's literally never been a better time to visit Colombia as far as I'm concerned, and I cannot believe I waited this long, especially because the value of the dollar is so extraordinarily good.
Speaker 3:One of the additional benefits as well for all of our listeners if you will mention Travel Trends when booking with Impulse Travel, they will give you a free day tour, whether you're booking direct as a traveler or as a travel agent on behalf of one of your clients. Either way, they'll give you a free day tour, which could be the Breaking Borders tour in Bogota that I highly recommend everyone has to do. It could be Camino 13 in Medellin or the coffee tasting experience in Cartagena. You choose the tour you want to do and they will gladly include that. Just mentioned travel trends when you're booking with Impulse Travel.
Speaker 3:And now we're going to have the privilege to meet these two visionary leaders, as well as three of their extraordinary guides, but first we're going to hear from Rodrigo Atuesta, the co-founder, chief impact officer, who started this company over 15 years ago with a mission to transform tourism into a force for positive change. And you'll see, he has done that. But he's still only getting started. And you're going to meet Juliana Medina, the CEO, who joined about five years ago and has really helped guide Impulse to the forefront of sustainability and community-based travel experiences. She's joined me on stage a few times over this past year, including at ITB in Berlin. She's an extraordinary leader in the travel industry. And a few times over this past year, including at ITB in Berlin, she's an extraordinary leader in the travel industry and a remarkable CEO for this company. The two of them have an incredible dynamic. And then you'll meet three extraordinary guides that will give you an overview of Bogota, medellin and Cartagena.
Speaker 3:I'm so excited to bring this episode to you, so let's get started. Welcome Rodrigo, welcome Juliana. It's so great to have you on the Travel Trends podcast.
Speaker 1:Hey.
Speaker 3:Dan.
Speaker 1:It's great to be here.
Speaker 3:Awesome.
Speaker 3:As Rodrigo once said, it was love at first listen when you discovered the Travel Trends podcast and we got a chance to connect a few years ago.
Speaker 3:Obviously, our relationship has evolved significantly since then.
Speaker 3:Since we met in Montreal, I've joined your board and I'm a huge advocate for travel to Colombia, given the trip that my wife and I had last year, and so I was very keen to do this Destination Spotlight because, as most of our listeners have heard on our show, I feel like now is the time to travel to Colombia and, based on my extensive experience in the travel industry, working with brands like Lonely Planet and G Adventures and the Travel Corporation, there's certain times when a destination just meets the moment when it has so much to offer travelers and it's just at a time of its development where it's when should you go? Now, the sooner you can get to Columbia. I think you guys you certainly know this, you live there, you're a Colombian, and so I was really keen to bring this conversation to life so that all of our listeners can have a much better understanding of what an amazing destination in Colombia is and address a lot of the questions that I had of both of you before we traveled there. Like is it?
Speaker 1:safe.
Speaker 3:It's the question that keeps coming up and it's incredibly safe. So I have so many questions for you guys today, but let's start with a bit of an overview of each of you and your backgrounds. And, juliana, you're the CEO of this company. You've been on stage with me multiple times in the past year at ICB, at the ETC conference, so a lot of people have gotten to know you, but I want to make sure our entire audience does and those people that are just discovering travel trends by virtue of this Columbia Destination Spotlight. So tell everyone, juliana, first a little bit about your background in the travel industry.
Speaker 4:Yeah, thank you, dan. So yeah, I was born and raised in Cartagena, colombia, and I studied finance, but then I became a guide, a tour guide in my city, and I fell in love with it because I found the power that tourism has, like with being a guide make me answer and make me question myself, like who I am, and therefore, so I had my degree in finance and then mixing with being a guide and then making this into the company and then what it's impulse today.
Speaker 3:That's great. Thank you, juliana, and we'll get a bit more into impulse. But, rodrigo, you've been on this journey since the very beginning and you guys both have extensive background in tourism. Tell everyone a bit about how you got into the industry.
Speaker 1:It was a very similar story. Actually, as a lot of people in the travel industry, I didn't study formally anything related to hospitality. I went to university to study industrial engineering in Bogota, which is Colombia's capital and also my hometown, and when I was in university I also started teetotaling around being a tour guide. I think my first approach to hospitality was actually through couchsurfing, and that spirit of connecting with people from all over the world and hosting them in my house and learning about their experiences was also, for me, a way to travel the world without leaving Colombia, and then that evolved naturally into understanding their needs, understanding their perspectives about Colombia and also understanding the rich heritage, culture and nature that Colombia has and turning that into experiences for visitors coming to Colombia.
Speaker 3:I actually didn't realize that part about your background, Rodrigo. I didn't know you were an average couch surfer for many years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm still are. I mean, I don't host that much anymore, but I'm still part of a community and I have also actually recently in Africa, joined a couch surfer as a traveler and it was an amazing experience.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's interesting. And for those people who aren't familiar with that term, I came to understand it nearly 20 years ago when I was working at Lonely Planet and there was this concept of couchsurfing where people would literally just allow strangers effectively to stay on their couch and give them a place to stay, and it was sort of this element of goodwill right that you pay it forward and you have the opportunity to crash on someone else's couch because you give up your couch. And I still remember when Airbnb first launched and someone had said to me Vivek, actually one of my colleagues I was working with at Lonely Planet, he's like there's already couch surfing, why do we need Airbnb? And Airbnb basically just commercialized the concept of couch surfing and turned it into a multi-billion dollar business. So I love that.
Speaker 3:That was actually part of your story and it actually connects to me getting to know you, like I have over the last couple of years, that you are very giving and your intentions when it comes to travel. And this is a testament to you both. And part of the reason I wanted to have this spotlight on Columbia and have you both part of this conversation is because your intentions are very pure and very genuine and it's not about a profit motive so much as it is getting the money in the hands of the right people locally and lifting up communities. And that's very real and I experienced that firsthand. So tell everyone. Rodrigo, a little bit of an overview of Impulse Travel, so everyone kind of wrapped their head around this business that you and Juliana have created. Sure.
Speaker 1:So Impulse Travel is a Colombian DMC. That means destination management company, and we also mix the business model of a local tour operator. So what that means is that we come from the background of developing experiences ourselves, primarily by ourselves being guides. We both started about 15 years back as tour guides, and from being tour guides that evolved to understanding and putting a bit more intention and design into the experiences that we were delivering to the market. So we then migrated to be a local operator that came up with the most, let's say, unconventional experiences for other DMCs.
Speaker 1:Back then I didn't even know what a DMC was. It was just Colombian companies who were hiring us and bringing all these foreigners to have our experiences. Then we started to learn the business about being a DMC and a company from the United States gave us the opportunity to be a DMC for their group trips, and from there that was 2015,. You know all evolved and we started to focus on delivering amazing experiences for international travelers in Colombia that connect with what we believe is the most important asset of Colombia, which is the people.
Speaker 3:For sure, Juliana. What else would you add to that for people just becoming familiar with impulse travel as far as where the business here is in 2025?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's like I consider ourself a bridge between the international travelers and having the best connections here locally. So both of us have traveled the world and have lived in other countries, so we know the expectations of the international travels, but at the same time we know all the potentials and we have great friends and great connections to deliver and create itineraries and create travels and experience that are just unforgettable.
Speaker 3:That's great. No, I appreciate you sharing that, and this is where you know, having gotten to know each other so well, both in person traveling to Colombia, and obviously we've seen each other internationally at various events, I'm always amazed at how little people understand about Colombia, and that's really where I wanted to start the conversation together today, because I certainly had a number of questions, but I also hear you getting asked many of the same questions, and so, on this conversation today, I wanted to really bring Columbia to life for all of our listeners. And one interesting kind of side note story another one of my good friends, ian Michael Farkas, is Colombian. He lives in Miami. He and I have known each other for 10 or 15 years and he's a great friend of mine and I had him on episode or season one of travel trends and when we were doing season one for our listeners that have been joining us since the very beginning. Of course, we're in season five, preparing for season six Now we uh uh used to do trivia questions at the end of every episode.
Speaker 1:And you remember that? Yeah, do you have my Columbia trivia ready for me?
Speaker 3:This is going to be, I do a little bit Ready for me. This is going to be I do a little bit, this is going to be an easy one for you. But one of the questions I asked him was about what's unique about Columbia, and that Columbia is the only country in South America that has coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which, and so I, which, of course, geographically. That's why, as a good starting point, you guys are essentially the gateway. So I asked you he. Obviously he knew the answer to that question.
Speaker 3:People can go back and listen that episode, but I I learned, um, I would, I would get these trivia questions together based on the guest and their background. I ultimately stopped doing it because there was one lady I felt terrible. She got, I wasn't. I wanted everyone to get four or five out of five and she got zero out of five and I was like you know what, know what I'm like, I'm not making these too hard, but yes, let's talk a little bit about the geography of Colombia first, since you really are the gateway to South America from Panama, and so give everyone, if you wouldn't mind, a little bit of an overview of the landscape and geography of Colombia.
Speaker 1:Well, colombia is so diverse that we say that Colombia can be up to six countries in one. There's many reasons to that. As you already mentioned, we have coasts both in the Pacific part and also on the Caribbean side. That's actually the only South American country that has this feature. And also being the entrance to Latin America means a lot, not only nowadays in terms of the immigration that created what we know as Latin America today. Everything passed through Colombia and everything left its mark. So Colombia has like a tricultural background, because we are predominantly a native. So there was about 10 million indigenous people before Columbus arrived that's an estimate and over 80 different tribes that still live today, most of them, but also the fact that the Europeans came, and not only the Spanish, but also the Germans, the Italians, also a big migration from Arab countries and also the slave trade brought a lot of Africans into Colombia. So that kind of mixes geography and culture and makes Colombia so unique.
Speaker 3:Well, what's really interesting about that that I discovered traveling there last year is that I expected to experience one Columbia, and even in the first 24 hours, I quickly started to realize that there was going to be so many diverse aspects to the country. And what I wasn't prepared for either, and our listeners will have the opportunity in this episode, as we're going to travel from Bogota, where you guys are primarily based. Of course, juliana is from Cartagena, but the Impulse team is based out of Bogota. We're going to talk to one of your amazing guides in Bogota first, and I had the chance to meet while I was there. Then we're going to go to Medellin and then we're going to go to Cartagena in this episode. So we're going to take you on a tour of Colombia through this special episode and destination spotlight.
Speaker 3:But the one thing I was going to say is that I just didn't realize how unique each of those destinations were going to be, and so certainly Cartagena being on the Caribbean coast and, as you mentioned, the slave trade background, but just the waves of immigration to Colombia over the years and the different cultures and how they all blend together that infuse the music, the cuisine and even the activities that we know what you go out and do do in a night in Bogota is very different than what you go out and do for a night in Medellin. I got to experience Tejo for the first time in Bogota. Tell everyone what Tejo is. That's a really fascinating. I love Tejo. I wish the world needs more Tejo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm sure. Well, tejo is well to start off, tejo is our national sport and that's not a joke, it's actually on the constitution. So Tejo, it's a game. It's similar to Cornhole for those who know this traditional game from the US and North America but the difference is that it involves heavy pucks of metal, gunpowder and also beer as an important component of playing the whole thing. So it's about throwing these metal pucks to the other side, trying to explode these little sachets of gunpowder, and it's a very lively environment because you have a lot of joy and each of the explosions brings everyone to life and it's an environment and it's part of our heritage and so one of the things that we love sharing with our travelers.
Speaker 4:And don't forget the music, like playing in the back, like all the Colombian music and everybody partying and dancing while they're throwing the trejos. Oh, that's so much fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and what were we drinking again, remind me the uh well, primarily it's beer, but then it's aguardiente.
Speaker 1:Aguardiente is another.
Speaker 3:It's a desolated drink that comes from sugar cane and it is infused with anix and it's I would say that like the staple spirit in colombia yes, and I know after we would do a shot of it and you bring around a tray of um alcohol and beer and it was, and there was fruit and it was just like, oh my god, it overwhelmed the senses the first night and it was the shock of the gunpowder going off. It certainly adds another element and I said to Juliana and Rodrigo that I wish this existed in Toronto. I would go every weekend, but clearly that's not going to fly in most places but, given the gunpowder and alcohol combination, but that's one of the amazing things that you can do when you go to Bogota and it is incredibly safe. But it's very unique. And you mentioned DMO For anyone who's not familiar with that term like a destination management organization, and the DMO for Colombia is ProColombia and there's an important connection there and I do have a question for you on this topic too, rodrigo because obviously DMOs play an important role of encouraging more travel, investment and overall awareness of a destination.
Speaker 3:So the reason we actually connected in the first place, rodrigo was actually a listener to Travel Trends, so he already actually was familiar with the podcast and I was invited to be a speaker at a pro-Columbia conference in Montreal and I think most of our listeners know, I'm based in Toronto and I flew up to Montreal for this talk and we saw each other the first night, the welcoming night before my talk the next day, and made the connection that you listened to the show and so we struck up a friendship and you were part of the talk the next day and then we we kept in touch. We became great friends. You kindly asked me to join your board. I've obviously been very active and now I've traveled to Columbia. But when you think about how that all came about, there's a pro Columbia connection. There's a DMO facilitated that opportunity for you to travel to Montreal, for me to go to Montreal and speak and to make a connection kind of permanent between the two of us, and I think that highlights the importance of government and then private enterprise and the reason we're having this conversation today.
Speaker 3:I'm not a equity partner. I don't have any financial stake in impulse travel. What I do have is a great understanding now and passion for travel to Colombia and that's why I wanted to bring this episode together and I think very highly of the two of you and the company travel to Colombia and that's why I wanted to bring this episode together and I think very highly of the two of you and the company you've built, and obviously I want to see you guys continue to be successful. Because of the style of travel that you offer in Colombia, this whole idea of change makers, where you're really getting the money in the right hands I feel deeply connected to that philosophy and purpose, and so that's what I think drew us together and is one of the reasons I really wanted to kick off our Destination Spotlight series talking about Colombia and having you on.
Speaker 3:But when you think about that, rodrigo, yourself with ProColombia because I know, juliana, you've been to a lot of events that are funded by ProColombia, like ITB, and so it's such an important part of growing the tourism economy and giving people opportunities to get out of other industries, like narcotics, and you guys actually hire guides that have previously had to work in narcotic when they didn't have other opportunities, and now all of a sudden they do because they can work in tourism, and we're going to speak to one great example of that with Breaking Borders and one of the tours that you run in.
Speaker 3:So it's amazing how this all ties together. But just my direct question to you, rodrigo, is that when you think about the DMO and ProColumbia. I would like to know, beyond the marketing campaigns and I do love that as well, because the only risk is you won't want to leave, because I certainly felt that and I can't wait to come back again. And so what has the tourism boards done from your point of view to make travel to Colombia that much more interesting possible for other people? So what are some of the things that you've seen, beyond what I've mentioned, that have really helped lift Colombia up through ProColombia as an organization?
Speaker 1:Well, I think ProColombia has done a terrific job. We work very closely with them. We work very closely with them, and what they have done different to other DMOs, I think is the fact that they understood very early on the role that tourism had in the development of Colombia as a whole, not only as a travel destination, but also as a country and as a society. So they understood that and they have been bringing a spirit of unifying the travel industry. So one of the things that I love about the travel industry in Colombia I think it's very similar in other countries is the fact that there is a very big collaborative spirit among different DMCs. For example, we're very good friends with other DMCs who might be our competitors in some stages, but at the same time we're friends, and I think that has been infused by ProColombia.
Speaker 1:And also ProColombia has supported in a big way an association that is called ACOTUR, which is the Colombia's Responsible Tourism Association. They work very closely together. So it's been the effort of creating these spaces for people not only to connect with the world but also to connect among us, to create a very strong and united travel industry. And they have been very strategic and, I think, very, very smart in terms of the messaging, in terms of where to put the money. Actually, procolombia is one of the DMOs with the smallest budget compared to other DMOs like Peru or Costa Rica or Ecuador, and the work that they have done has been very efficient because I think also the quality of the people that work there is amazing.
Speaker 3:I appreciate you sharing that, and what I want to get into now is really what makes Colombia so special. I mean, I think everyone joining us that is new or unfamiliar with Columbia I'm sure there's actually people that are joining us that have been to Columbia as well and just want to hear more about the destination, and I think this is where you know there's so much for us to be able to discuss and cover, and in today's episode, obviously we're going to speak to three of the guides and then you'll hear again from Rodrigo and Juliana at the end of this conversation. But one of the things that really stood out to me traveling to Colombia was just how much it had to offer, like the biodiversity, the cuisine, the value for money. That was like, obviously, when a destination is rising up, as Colombia's and I had two other colleagues tell me that before I went it's just that going out for a fantastic dinner is so much more affordable in Columbia and this is where, being Canadian too, the weather was pretty spectacular, I would say as well. But the people I mean getting to know you guys, but the culture and the warmth there's so much that Columbia has to offer, and so I want to break that down for our listeners.
Speaker 3:So let's start with coffee, because actually, one of the things that I found really interesting and Juliana knows this story because when I was finishing the end of our trip, we were in Cartagena and we were doing like rum tasting and chocolate tasting and we did coffee tasting and one of the things I realized when you think about the cocoa bean and the cacao bean I asked one of the guys what came first, coffee or chocolate, and she wasn't sure, and I'm not trying to be critical of that, it was like I didn't know either, and so I went and did all this research and I play this game sometimes at parties when I like, my trivia question is what came first, coffee or chocolate. At parties, when I like little, my trivia question is what came first, coffee or chocolate, and where in the world did it come from? And almost everyone guesses that it's coffee from Columbia. That's like it seems to be the default answer. And the reality is coffee came from Africa and it came from Ethiopia and chocolate came from Mexico, and yet they've actually flipped. So most coffee production is now in South America, Most chocolate production is in Africa. So that's your fun trivia question when you're playing this game at parties, but coffee culture has become so synonymous with Colombia and when I was doing coffee tasting, it's like you guys have perfected coffee.
Speaker 3:And I'm not even a coffee drinker I'm a tea drinker. But I actually discovered that I love Colombian coffee because it's so pure and the taste is so flavorful and it doesn't have some of those bitter elements that I'm familiar with drinking coffee. So let's talk about coffee culture first. So what role does coffee play in the lives of Colombians and for someone looking to travel to Colombia, because I didn't get a chance to experience the coffee region? But tell us a little bit more about coffee specifically and how that ties to Colombia and makes it such a special destination.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I know. Coffee is so important in our culture so we drink coffee every day. We call it tinto, so that's also a fun fact. So when you come to Colombia, if you ask for Tinto, you're not asking for wine, you're asking for coffee. But at the same time is that the coffee industry in Colombia works with small families. So 500,000 families live out of coffee growing. So it's not like in other countries that big companies own all the land and everything it's done by machines. Here, every, every bean of coffee is handpicked, every bean of coffee has been selected, and also we have a coffee federation and it's something that we feel proud of, that, that we take care of. So also, even in the that I'm from Cartagena, and in the port they always taste the coffee, because every bean that comes that goes out of Colombia, every coffee bean has to be perfect, has to be good, because we have a brand and we have. We have a brand to preserve and a brand to protect. This association of good coffee and Colombia is something that we have been working on in a country for many years and we take care of. Also, something very interesting is that a coffee for us?
Speaker 4:We're not heavy coffee drinkers. Actually, the countries that drink the most coffee are located in North Europe. Here we drink more small cups of coffee, so we drink one in the morning and one after lunch, and it's about talking. It's about sharing. So we don't drink coffee to wake up and to get productive. We drink coffee to share with others. We drink coffee to have deeper conversations, to share with your family, to share with your friends, and that also what it's part of tourism. And also another thing is that there's a region that we call the coffee region, but you can find coffee and we grow coffee in almost every region of Colombia. So no matter if you go to Cartagena, actually you can visit coffee farms. Just look at it. There are two hours away from Cartagena. Many people don't know that.
Speaker 3:What I was just going to say to your, the reason I bring up coffee first, because when it was actually suggested to us as part of our itinerary, my initial reaction was, well, I've been to coffee plantations before, I'm not really a coffee drinker, and so for me it was actually almost like a hidden gem, like it was a highlight that I didn't expect to love coffee as much as I did in Columbia and we had coffee in multiple places and I was like I'm really enjoying coffee in Columbia. It just became a great part of my trip and experience. So for me I wanted to highlight that as what actually made my trip to Columbia special. But clearly there's so much more to Columbia than just coffee, and one of the things that certainly you guys know a lot more about is the arts and the music and dance. You guys know from seeing me in person that I dance like Elon Musk, so dancing- is not a strength of mine.
Speaker 1:I think you did way better than that.
Speaker 3:I don't really want to be compared to him otherwise, for sure, but.
Speaker 3:I just that was the awkwardness of my moves that were most similar to his. But tell us a little bit about music and culture, because I know this is big for you, rodrigo. Your wife is an artist, um, and you've got a lot of friends in this space. But tell us a little bit about how music, and dance in particular, is such an important part of colombia and what makes it special. And, if you wouldn't mind, give us a bit of an overview of what I I had a chance to experience that I hope many other people do as well. Sure, I would say.
Speaker 1:Music is so close to what we are as a nation for many different reasons. I think music embodies this tricultural blend of indigenous, european and black in many different kinds of rhythms. Also, music, I think, brings the country together. Colombia is a big, big powerhouse when it comes to international music. I think we all know about Shakira and now Karol G and all these big international music icons that have actually came out of Colombia and that is not taken for granted. I mean, that's not like that didn't happen overnight. Music industry in Colombia has been a leading music industry in the region for many generations. Actually a lot of, even a lot of the tangos from Argentina back in the day they came to record to Medellín and that's one of the reasons Medellín is also a very big tango city. So music is so intertwined with what we are that I would say that it would be impossible to conceive Colombia as a nation taking music apart from it.
Speaker 1:Music is something we don't listen to or we don't dance to only it's something that we live all through. So you would see when you come to Colombia, for any traveler, that even if you, everywhere you go, there's going to be music playing and, for example, in our, whenever we gather with friends and family, there's always a point in the night after dinner, if there's music, people are going to stand up and dance. I learned dancing with my mother, with my auntie, so that's also something that brings people together in a very warm and festive and also like physical way, because, as you know, colombians are very warm and we're very touchy and we like hugging each other and I think dance and this dance culture, not necessarily dance being part of a flirting thing, but I can, for example, dance with Juliana as my business partner, and that would be totally normal to have a Tazanza dance without any flirtatious element to it. So, yes, music is very important and we have brought a lot of this into life for travelers with a different set of experiences. So the one that we experienced together is Colombian Musical Journey that is co-created with Gregorio Uribe. He's a Latin Grammy-nominated musician. He's Colombian, amazingly talented, and he has become a good friend over the work that we have done together with Music and Tourism.
Speaker 1:That started creating a journey that is eight days long that is called Sounds of Colombia visiting the nest of the different rhythms in the north of Colombia, going to the communities, having experiences with these musicians that are amazing, a couple of them Latin Grammy winners, and they live in very small villages and they welcome us to their houses. And we decided to create a version of this because this was a great conduit to understand Colombia as a whole through music and through, because music is a language that everyone understands. You might not speak Spanish, but you understand music. It makes you feel something, a whole, through music and through, because music is a is a language that everyone understands. You might not speak spanish, but you understand music. It makes you feel something.
Speaker 1:It's what connects the interior journey with the outside journey. So music, we believe, is a great way to, to open the doors to everything that colombia is, and with gregorio, we created an experiences, an experience that is in his house, in his home studio, that is traveling through Colombia through different rhythms, and it's very interactive, very fun, and everyone can engage with music, even if you believe that you don't have any rhythm or that you can't dance, you can't sing. Whatever your mind limitations are don't matter in this experience, because we realize how music brings everyone together, and that's the Colombian experience.
Speaker 3:Well, it's so touching to me. He's going to someone's home, as we did. We got to meet his wife and his adorable young son that he's got a great song about him that he played while his son was there and it was so cute. His son was like I gave it a thumbs down after his dad sung this beautiful song so funny. But son was like I gave it a thumbs down after his dad sung this beautiful song so funny. But they served us snacks and it was such an amazing way to be welcomed to Columbia.
Speaker 3:So mention to everyone because Gregorio is such an extraordinary musician. You're obviously very fortunate to have someone like him to work with to lead some of these trips, because he's an outstanding musician. I actually found out when I was speaking to one of your guides in medellin that he was coming on tour and she was like so desperate to see him. And it was so, and I was like I was just at his house. I'm like how fortunate am I? Like I got a chance to meet him and you're just waiting to see him on stage and get a ticket to his concert and and it's like how special is that? But tell everyone how they can find out more of his music, because I actually have it on Spotify now and that's the song about his son. I posted about it on social media, so some of our listeners may have seen that. But yeah, tell everyone where they can find his music.
Speaker 1:So you can find it in any platform like Spotify, apple Music, I think also in YouTube, and you can search for Gregorio Uribe amazing, and I think he's been an ambassador to Colombian music worldwide and he has been also a bridge between Colombia and the rest of the world, using music as a conduit for that.
Speaker 3:That's great and, juliana, you clearly can dance as well, and I have seen the two of you guys dance together and I you know, and this is where, like, oh God, it's part of your culture, and you guys can sing, you can dance, you can play instruments. We played like I don't know 12 different instruments and you guys seem to excel at all of them. But tell us a little bit more about, I guess, some of those cultural traditions or even some of the festivals that it leads to, because I left not only with a love of coffee, but also a love of a cumbia, and I didn't even know what that was before.
Speaker 3:And now, all of a sudden, I like cumbia music which is like this, like from where you're from, like Cartagena is a beautiful blend, but it's but, yeah, tell us a little bit more from your point of view about the arts, the culture and some of the traditions of Colombia that people get to take part in when they travel there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, travel there. Yeah, something related to dancing before I started going to the festivities, is that something that I call? The ethics of dancing is that dance is a language, and language. People don't make fun of you when you're trying to talk, or when you talk and when you communicate, right? So the first thing, or one of the first rules that I give my travelers when they're dancing is that you don't apologize, you just dance, okay? So nobody wants to be talking with someone that is always correcting their mistakes when they're talking, right? No, nobody wants to talk with someone like that. So when you're dancing, you just go with the flow. You enjoy the music and we Colombians we enjoy when people dance. So don't be afraid, don't feel shame, go out and feel, move with the rhythm.
Speaker 4:We clums will celebrate, and then it's about the festivities. So, for example, we have the carnival in Barranquilla, which is the second largest carnival in the world, only after Rio. Many people don't know that, but it's millions of people who go there to celebrate our traditions, cumbia, for example, being part of it. Cumbia, it's a mix also of these three ethnics and all the heritage of Colombia and some people even from Mexico to Argentina, and each country made it their own. So actually, many Mexicans think that cumbia was born in Mexico, and many Argentinians and many Peruvians.
Speaker 4:You know, it has this thing that you belong to it, that it can also be yours, so that it is yours. So then, also, we have the music of the Pacific, then the marimbas, and then we have also the music of the llanos and the Andean music. You know it's that we even actually our DMO Pro Colombia, made a country campaign that was called Colombia, the country, the country of music and the land of sabrosura and the country of the 1,000 rhythms. So everywhere you go, you can also use music to blend into the culture. So we have music to cry, we have music to celebrate when you have heartbroken. Everything can be translated and used to music, and every city has a festival that is also very strongly related to it.
Speaker 3:Wow, it's powerful.
Speaker 3:I mean, you said music to cry One of the things that stood out to me in Cartagena when we went to do a cooking class which we'll talk about when we get into Cartagena but one of the parts that really struck me is that we were talking about the slave trade and the difficulty of bringing kids into that environment and that what they explained to us is that when their child was born, the first thing that he was, they cry and they grieve for them, for the hardship that they're going to experience in this world, and when they die, they have a celebration because they're going back to Africa and I was.
Speaker 3:It was like, wow, it was so powerful and this is, um, we'll we'll talk more about that when we get into Cartagena, but just as soon as you said that, that's one thing that just came right back to me Um, and just how powerful music is. It's like the most powerful way to uh, connect with people, because that we're wired that way. We're wired for storytelling, we're wired for music. It's how our brain so, so that's one of the things that I'm talking about appealing to all the senses. Like arriving in Bogota, Literally, we were singing, dancing, and then we were playing Tejo and it was all happening in the first 24 hours.
Speaker 3:But one of the things that I would love to get into a little bit too, when we think about what's so special is the biodiversity, and so we'll talk about that's so special is the biodiversity, and so we'll talk about that in Bogota, about the markets. But, rodrigo, how would you begin to describe that to people who've not been to Colombia before, as to one of the reasons that it is so special?
Speaker 1:So a couple of fun facts about Colombian biodiversity. So we are the second most biodiverse country on earth after Brazil, and the most biodiverse by square kilometer. Also, colombia is number one for bird species, so it means that we have more native bird species than any other country on Earth, and that equates with the intricate geography that we have the Andes and the two oceans and so many different kind of ecosystems that this geography creates and also for the fact that we are in the Ecuador. So, since Colombia's weather really depends on how high you are in the mountain, you can go to Cartagena, and it's going to be hot all year round, and you can go to bota or above, which is in the mountains, and it's going to be like more cold and fresh and chilly, and you can go all the way up to snow peaks. So all these geographical conditions create set the stage for us here kind of biodiversity to emerge.
Speaker 1:We actually own two biodiversity hotspots that have been cataloged as places, that where the biodiversity is so big that science has not even able to catalog all the different plant or amphibious or frog species that are there, and they keep doing expeditions and they keep finding out that there's more.
Speaker 1:So that has a lot to do with Colombia and also the fact that, since Colombia, in the years of development, let's say in the 20th century, where all these industries were being developed in other neighboring countries that were not going through an internal war that's what we call the green side of war so a lot of these lands have been kept pristine. All these forests and all these sea ecosystems, all these jungles have not been wiped to create, I don't know, oil fields or mining or anything like that. So we're at a moment of having all this pristine nature, and tourism, we believe, is the way to make the most out of it, to make a livelihood for the people who benefit and who inhabit these areas, and also to showcase the world the amazing richness that Colombia has in terms of nature.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm keen for everyone to hear about just the diversity of the fruits at the market, because I'm a huge fan of the market, so that was a huge highlight for me. But just the biodiversity? Juliana Guerrero, who has won the board as well, published a book on this topic, about the biodiversity of Colombia. I just didn't realize it just applied to I mean, there's more fruit, types of fruit in Colombia than anywhere else in the world. But it goes on and on and on. Like it's just like there's so many examples of where the biodiversity is so rich, um that, depending on what it is that you're into, he has a um, the first person I've met that has a cabinet of curiosities and he collects insects and, like I was, like he's a real renaissance man and I I adore, uh, him and his. We got a chance to go to his house and meet his family as well, but he was showing us all these insects he's collected over the years and it's remarkable and it's one of the things he loves about.
Speaker 3:Columbia is just that many people don't know. So biodiversity is obviously another big attraction. The one I want to make sure that we do talk about too is the food, the cuisine, and so, juliana, how would you describe Colombian cuisine? Because I can tell you I had not been to a Colombian restaurant before I traveled to Colombia, but I was looking for Colombian restaurants as soon as I got back and I took a picture of one and sent it to you guys and I'm like so describe Colombian food and the different types of variations of the dishes that are available.
Speaker 4:Oh, wow, that's a hard question because it's so rich and so diverse. Actually, that is one of the most common that we get. Is that I didn't expect the food in Colombia to be this good, so we're not well known for our food, but we are. It's so diverse and food is just what grows in the landscape. And since our landscapes are so rich, then you can get such a big variety of ingredients. Then you can blend to create incredible dishes. And also they change from region to region. They're changing from city to city.
Speaker 4:So my recommendation is that you have to come and test and try. So, for example, in the Andes, the variety of potatoes and the soups that are made with it, and then the stews, and then the fruits, of course, that also are used in the cooking, and then you go to the coast, then the fishes and all the seafood that we blend with coconut oh my God, I just skinned my mouth out of a full of water just thinking of the nice things that we have. And also the cool thing about the Colombian cuisine is that it's changing and it's evolving in front of our eyes, and that's also a very tricky thing. There's so many new restaurants that are opening like almost every day. So actually, if you look on TripAdvisor and you look what it's online, you're probably not going to get the best options and what the best that actually is out there, because they're just based on the history and what used to be good, like 10 years ago, and those for us and at least in my experience, are not the best hidden gems in terms of food.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a generation of Colombian chefs that have had the opportunity to travel abroad, work in other countries and then come back to Colombia and put all their learnings about techniques and different ways to prepare food about techniques and different ways to prepare food, but blending that with this diversity of Colombian ingredients. So the result of that is a gastronomic experience that is second to none. Very affordable as well, as you already mentioned. Compared to going for fine dining in cities like San Francisco or New York, you can get that for a fifth of the cost here in Colombia and probably much better quality.
Speaker 3:Well, that's exactly what I experienced in Medellin and we'll talk about that when we come to. This is where, like Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena, all three of those we'll summarize them at the end because it's really difficult to pick any one over another because you want to go back, I want to go back to all of them, and for different reasons. But medellin was where we went out for an extraordinary like was it? 17 course meal from this colombian slash american chef that has restaurants in miami and washington, and that experience would have been a thousand dollars anywhere else, but it was like for the two of us it was two hundred dollars and it was absolutely like, worth much more than that. Like we had so many different types of wine and spirits and like the cuisine was extraordinary.
Speaker 3:Like, so, yeah, but yeah, you brought up an interesting point there that would really stood out to me, even though I had been briefed, to know that Columbia was affordable. Let's talk a little bit about that. So, when someone's, you know, booking a trip with a company like Impulse, as far as the value for money they're going to be able to realize, or even just traveling to Colombia as a destination independently, give us a bit more context to the affordability. I also know seeing Juliana travel other places just get sticker shock when you're traveling from a place like Colombia to Germany or to the USA, and that's an important realization. When you're traveling from a place like Columbia to Germany or to the USA, because when you know you and that's an important realization I think that most travelers need to also keep in mind when they're traveling to a place like Columbia. So it's incredibly affordable and you see backpackers I mean it's a huge community.
Speaker 1:It's an issue right that you guys know in certain places, that you know people are coming and spending six months living there and they're driving up the prices for locals because it is so affordable. But yeah, take us a little bit through the economics if you wouldn't mind. Yeah, I think it's all down to the exchange rate, because Colombian peso is not a very strong currency. So if you compare it with the US dollar, with the euro or even with the Canadian dollar the Canadian dollar, colombia's currency, and so you get four for one, or three for one, or with the British pound, I think it's five for one. So I think that helps a lot for Colombia being an affordable destination.
Speaker 1:Also, at Impulse, one of the things that we have realized is that it's about selecting what is really value for money, because there has also been a tendency to overcharge, since there's this surge of people coming from other countries and there's a lot of smart people who are taking advantage of that and putting very high prices on things that are average quality. So, from the standpoint of Vimpulse is also being on the ground and understanding what really keeps this value for money and people who are doing the things for the love of their craft. Of course we support them to make a living out of it, but not for just making a business opportunity out of this affordability that Colombia has. So it's not by default. You really have to know to move around and for that we recommend either us or any other local friend or partner to travel with.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I appreciate giving us that context. Sorry, Juliana, are we going to add to?
Speaker 4:that. Yeah, I just wanted to give a few data to that. For example, an itinerary in Colombia. It's around 30 to 40 percent more affordable than Costa Rica, for example that it's another country here in the region. So also something that I wanted to add is that coming to Colombia, it's also very easy in terms of connectivity. We'd also reduce the price and reduce the hassles to come. So, for example, we're the best connected airport in South America. And then all that also reduced the price, reduced the friction of making a 19-hour here.
Speaker 3:No very good points, and again, those are the things like the infrastructure, getting from the airport and getting picked up by a guy Again, some of the things you just didn't expect or know exactly how they were going to play out, but certainly the affordability. I found, you know, certainly refreshing to be able to go to a destination and and just see how far your money can go and the things you can do, because there's no reason why you're not going to do those optional activities or go out for dinners or like you're not going to have to be as cost conscious because of the, the exchange rate, as you highlighted, ruriko. But one thing I'm sure people are getting a sense of from the conversation is the people. I mean you.
Speaker 3:You guys are, you know, you're so incredibly proficient in English and so and this is where obviously we're, you know, we're connected as humans, for sure, but you guys, it's always impressive to me when people can speak multiple languages. Juliana can also speak German. It's so impressive to see you guys operate in Spanish with locals, with your team, and so the people of Colombia are certainly very special. That's the clear and the warmth, as I had mentioned before. But how would you guys describe yourselves and when you're trying to convey to people who haven't been to Colombia before what the experience is going to be like for them when it comes to actually meeting locals or connecting with everyday Colombians.
Speaker 1:In one word, I would say we are Colombia's changemakers when we speak about Impulse as a core team and also as a community with all the people we work with, and that means that changemakers are people who care about the transformation process that Colombia is going through and that are conscious of the impact that their work has in their context and who want to make this impact meaningful and who want to make things better for the livelihood of future generations in Colombia.
Speaker 1:So there is a big component, and I think our generation is setting the standards for what the travel industry will look like in the years to come, and we are very fortunate to be surrounded by amazing people who are very warm, who are very approachable, who are also very excited about welcoming travelers, since Colombia had been close to tourism for so many years. For us, contrary to what happens in many countries in Europe or even in Asia right now, people coming to Colombia will always get a welcome to Colombia everywhere they go, and not a gringo go home graffiti in the back of the hotel, you know. So I think people is a central component to not only to Colombia, but also to Impulse as a brand.
Speaker 3:Juliana, what else would you say about the people of Colombia? That people can come to, that should be prepared to expect.
Speaker 4:No, we're just welcoming. We love to have visitors, we love to tell our stories, we love to talk. So, yes, we are one of the most diverse countries in the world and we have the oldest diversity, but it's still the best that Colombia has is our people.
Speaker 3:Awesome, that's great guys. I want to talk a little bit more about Impulse, and then we'll go on to the regions, but before we do, is there anything else that I've missed? Because those are some of the things that stood out to me, that were so special about Colombia. Is there anything that I haven't highlighted already? That is another reason why people should consider traveling to Colombia, or just knowing more about the people in the region.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say that for people considering travel to Colombia or travel professionals, travel advisors, tour operators considering Colombia as a next destination, you should know that there's a Colombia for everyone. So the diversity of things happening, not only in the things that we already touched on, like music, astronomy and so on, but also in terms of literature, also in terms of education, affinity groups, because there's always a lens to see Colombia through this huge diversity, so we can map a Colombia for everyone and make this match with the stories and with the people that are going to contribute to your interests.
Speaker 3:That's really interesting. It's a good way to put it too. I guess that you know thinking about all the different types of people that might be listening to. This affinity group certainly could be one of them.
Speaker 3:So, and the education one of the things that I've discovered, you know, when I was in medellin, is that, uh, that the commitment to building libraries and to help, you know, giving people education and opportunity, um, is an important part of your society and it's like that, uh, which, of course, and it's very encouraging to see that, given some of the, the troubled past and the opportunities they're trying to give to people that live in the poorer communities. So, education is important, even health care, I mean, I remember asking the two of you I mean, being a Canadian is always like a source of pride that we have a national health care system, despite its challenges, and both of you are highlighting to me just how amazing the health care system is in Colombia. Hopefully, that's not something that a traveler ever needs to worry about or utilize, but it is, for an older traveler, something that they have to be conscientious of. That like what if I fall sick in a destination, or what if I have an accident? And it's like.
Speaker 3:Actually, colombia's got an amazing healthcare system that everyone seems to rave about and benefit from. So, anyway, that was one other thing that stood out to me. Is there anything else, juliana, that we haven't covered? That makes Columbia special, and otherwise, I'm keen to talk about how Impulse brings it all together.
Speaker 4:No, yeah, let's go, let's continue.
Speaker 3:All right, cool, all right. So we had the privilege of doing you know it was my wife and I. Unfortunately, our kids weren't able to join us on this particular trip. I you know it was sort of two parts for us. I mean, we had our board meeting and we had a couple of days where we were doing activities together as a board and that was sort of our group. And then my wife joined because it was our anniversary and we had, you know, five or six days exploring Columbia and you guys helped put together an itinerary and you know we had the most incredible time. But I wanted to help all of our listeners understand when it comes to impulse and how you actually bring these trips together, offering guided tours or independent, like private tours. Tell us a little bit about the types of trips that you guys offer and how you're trying to bring the story of Columbia to life, like we've been discussing in our conversation so far.
Speaker 1:Well, as you are already familiar, impulse is a Colombian DMC, so that means that we are a bridge between all these diverse, intricate Colombian offer in terms of experiences, in terms of people, in terms of restaurants, in terms of transportation, hotels, venues and so on and the rest of the world.
Speaker 1:So we like to work with people who plan trips either for themselves, their families or third parties, or their clients or their groups, and and who want to do this with intention.
Speaker 1:So the way we approach our process, it always starts with a deep understanding of the need and the traveler what do they like, what are they used to, what are they afraid of, what expectations they have about the destination, also, what stereotypes we have to deal with, and we create a cohesive storytelling by adding either, well, first, with the selection of the destinations that make more sense for this group, and second, the set of experiences that will bring Colombia to life and speak to the needs of this group.
Speaker 1:And then we also a very important part of it is the selection of hotels that we will put for this group. So the way we approach it is putting first the customer and their needs and then to build everything from there, and we have the capacity, and one of the things that we take proud of is we have a great system that we built ourselves. We have a technology tool that can bring a balance between all these complex diversity of supply and also the speed in which we know that we have to deliver these proposals and also to iterate on them to get to the perfect itinerary.
Speaker 3:Thanks for that, rodrigo. Certainly, one of the things that stood out to me was the interaction with local communities, and I know that's a big part of what travelers are looking for today. And so, juliana, when you think about developing these trips, how do you incorporate local communities, and how important is that to the experiences that Impulse brings to life?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so think that you are traveling with the friend of a friend and that is going to introduce you their friends that you said, oh my God, you need to know these people Like you're going to love them. I see the both of you You're going to get along very well. That's actually what we do. So we see, okay, I know you and I know someone that you need to meet I don't know if you ever had and that ends up to be an amazing encounter and that's what we feel proud and that we are excited about doing all the time. And since we're Colombians and we love to go into our communities, we love to find and to find those change makers that are so proud and that are so passionate about their stories. So, and then it's how we think it's so powerful and the impact it's done Because when you travel, many of the travelers just keep in the same things and the tourist traps, and then it's all about taking the picture and all that.
Speaker 4:But for us it's that, ok, we're going to take you, just maybe it's sometimes it's just even a street further, and there's where you're going to get the story and the story that you're going to tell your friends when you go back home, you won't believe who I met and who I talked to and the story that they tell us. So also, at the same time, because we in Colombia, we're so optimist, like I feel like right now, now that I travel a lot and I go to all this like travel events, that I feel so hopeless in the world, like people are worried about things, like people feel sad and all that, and then coming to Colombia is to find a country that is so optimist of the future, that thinks that every year is better than the one before, and that is that we used to be. Like Rodrigo said, we used to be the problem country. Now we are the solution country. So I feel like coming to Colombia is also recovering this hope that we all Colombians can tell, and also putting the money in the right places and also putting the money in the right places.
Speaker 4:Also, something a fun fact is that, since we're a late player in the industry so in tourism industry, I mean, is that so our industry have been built in around the last 20, 30 years is that 85% of the hotels in Colombia has less than 25 rooms. So actually, colombia, we are not positioning ourselves as an all-inclusive destination, for example. It's actually hard to find. There are a few, but there's not a destination for you and go and lay and don't do nothing is that we have envisioned our country to be a place where you go and experience and you talk and you live and you transform yourself through the things and experience that you do and you transform yourself through the things and the experience that you do so and that you do that, the hotels that you stay, the guides that you meet, and that's also one of the things that we do at.
Speaker 3:Impulse is very great. Yeah, I can't thank you guys enough for our friendship, our partnership, our continued collaboration. I think the world of you both and I'm such a big advocate for Impulse and for travel to Columbia, and I look forward to everything that's going to come from this conversation and for the future, in 2025 and beyond. So thank you again for making the time for this and I look forward to seeing you guys again here there or somewhere around the world. Now I have the pleasure to speak to someone that I had the privilege to meet and get to know when I was in Colombia. Raul is an extraordinary guide with Impulse Travel, but he also has a really amazing backstory and I wanted to bring him into the conversation first for that exact reason, because not only is he an amazing guide, he's got a really interesting story to be able to tell and, of course, bogota is where most people are going to start their journey. So, raul, it's great to have you on Travel Trends and this special destination on Spotlight. Welcome to Travel Trends.
Speaker 7:Thank you, dan, it's great to see you again. Great to be here.
Speaker 3:Likewise, you made so many memories and our trip so special when we were in Bogota, and one of the things I just wanted to comment as we have this conversation together is that you know, it's one thing to learn about a place before you visit and it's obviously something entirely different once you've been and get a chance to meet the people.
Speaker 3:And I still remember seeing Juliana showing a picture, as all of our listeners just heard. They got to hear from Rodrigo and Juliana, and I still remember seeing a picture of one of the bombings that had occurred and then what Bogota looks like now. And then, when we were on our tour and you showed that picture, it just took on a totally different dimension and meaning when you're actually physically there in Bogota. And so but we'll get to that in a minute I think all of our listeners would benefit from understanding a bit of your backstory, raoul, because I was so intrigued when we met that you lived in Australia. You have Australian citizenship, but tell us a little bit about your backstory, raoul, because I was so intrigued when we met that you lived in Australia.
Speaker 7:You have Australian citizenship, but tell us a little bit about your backstory and how you got into travel and tourism. Yeah, australia, what a fantastic place. So I went to Australia in 2002 to develop my or to start my professional photography career. My professional photography career and I became a biology enthusiast with marine biology and the natural potential that wildlife years in Australia and during my time there, I noticed how they are involved with tourism, how tourist guides really are so passionate about their nature, their wildlife, and how most of the Australian kids, especially, are very familiar with venomous spiders, venomous snakes, and the education that is given to them since they're young really had an impact on me. Like I noticed that there's so much work to do all over the world, very similar to what Australia has been doing. They are really a role model on educating people on how to behave when they encounter wildlife and so on, to behave when they encounter wildlife and so on. So that was an inspiration for me as a starting point when I decided to come back to Australia, from Australia back to Colombia was in 2018. So, after 16 years there, I came back for many reasons, but one of the reasons was that Colombia was going through a really remarkable social transformation change politically, economically, culturally. That was inspiring. And when I started to work at Impulse it was a fluke really I was catching up with an old friend having a few beers after years of not seeing him and he was or I think he still works with Impulse every now and then a tour guide at Impulse and he said you know what? These guys are really cool, you should contact them and see how it goes.
Speaker 7:I never thought of becoming a tour guide, so I gave it a go and all of a sudden I realized that well, it's quite enjoyable, it's fun and you learn heaps Every day. Every client was different and every destination that I started to explore was a challenge for me because I had to, in brackets, go back to high school and relearn things from history, from geography, from biology, and it was very exciting. So then it became very automatic. I got certified and then one thing led to the next. Photography was also like a really important part of my wanting to be a tour guide, because I was going to visit national parks and go to other cities and do the wildlife that I always crave shooting. So that's a very short version of how I got into tourism in 20 years pretty much, but that's yeah, well, you're clearly a natural.
Speaker 3:That's what stood out to me, raul, and the part about the connection with Australia you clearly just mentioned. One of the things that people quickly come to know about Australia is a lot of things that can kill you, and there's a lot of things not that they're out to kill you, but there's a lot of things that can kill you in Australia, and so it is important. Think that wait a second, I'm going to come up against venomous snakes or venomous spiders and the reality is everyone lives happily in Australia and rarely ever do these things. But it's amazing what the media does to even, you know, to scare you about visiting a destination, and it's funny because that there's a bit of a similarity there. I would assume that when people going to Colombia we talked about that with Rodrigo and Juliana it always comes up about safety and especially a city like Bogota. It's a big city and it's the first place people are going to visit, and if they already have concerns about their security or their well being, it's clearly going to be manifested that much more in a place like Bogota when they're overwhelmed arriving in a place like Colombia.
Speaker 3:But the part I loved about your story, as you were just highlighting there is that you know you came back to Australia after 16 years because you recognize what was happening after 2016, when the peace agreement was reached, and the fact that you're moving back from a very mature tourism market, both inbound and outbound, in Australia.
Speaker 3:You know it's a big country, small population, but very well developed for tourism and going back to your home country to realize this opportunity where the country is rebuilding and creating opportunities for people within tourism. So obviously I'm thrilled that it worked out the way it did for you and the Impulse team, that you guys get to work together, and so I want to for our listeners now walk through a little bit about Bogota, especially for the people that have never been, which is the majority of people listening to this. I'm sure there are some people listening that have been to Colombia and are just intrigued to learn what they should do on their next trip to Colombia, or just love it so much, like I do, that they just want to hear various voices. But I think most of the people listening to this have not been to Colombia, and so I want to make sure that we address everyone, that's, the uninitiated.
Speaker 7:And so give us, if you wouldn't mind, just very briefly, a bit of an overview of Bogota as a city, as you would describe it to someone visiting for the first time. Yeah, Bogota is an insane city. It's a capital city. It's reaching 10 million people. I think it has over 9 million, 9.5 million people, and you can think that back in the 50s Bogota had 600,000 people in the city. So the escalation of population is really dramatic. It always like a big capital city. I like to compare it to other examples like New York or even Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires. It has this eclectic vibe.
Speaker 7:One of the reasons why it's so vibrant and so diverse is because the majority of the people in Bogota at some stage were not from Bogota. So they migrated. They came to the big capital for other opportunities, because they have a friend of a friend or a relative that is already living here. So they call each other and say, yeah, come over, we can squish you in and there's, I can talk to my friend, to my boss, and you can find a job. And why did this happen is because of the violence that was in the rural areas of the country. But this doesn't only happen in Bogota, it happens in Cali, Medellin and Cartena and other cities, capital cities in Colombia. But because Bogota is the capital, obviously there's more demand for work, there's more opportunities. It's a tough city, but it's an incredible eclectic city. I think that it's kind of like a double-edged sword. All that increasing population makes it obviously noisy, rude, polluted. When it's rainy season, like we are now, it's gray and cold and wet.
Speaker 3:So that is kind of like that sort of premise of Bogota similar to anyone else that would travel with impulse, picked up by a driver at the airport. We got our bags, we got on the road. The roads were great. The first thing we did is we went for a meal at a restaurant and it was fantastic. Obviously, the food was great, but even just the whole environment. And I even said to Juliana and Rodrigo, who then had joined us, can I leave my bag in the car? And they're like, yeah, that's fine. I'm like, do you not do that back home? And like, yeah, that's fine. I'm like, do you not do that back home? And I'm like, actually, no, I'm very careful about leaving a bag exposed on a seat. And so they're like, no, no, it's fine.
Speaker 3:And so we had this amazing meal. Then we got back in the car. We drove to a musician's home that people heard a little bit about and the next thing, you know, we're playing music. And then, next thing, you know, we're back in the car again and playing tejo on this, uh, and having drinks. And I mean this is this epic first evening in bogota, completely different than what I imagined and even some of the things you just described there about it being kind of a big city and like overwhelming. I found it quite accessible and um and then for me it actually really set the tone for the rest of the trip. It kind of put me at ease and I thought, if I can handle bogota, or if we, and if this is bogota, I'm like like what's the rest of Columbia going to be like? But it's really interesting.
Speaker 3:You mentioned a really important part about the history, and why Bogota is as populated as it is today is because so many people moved into the city to escape the violence in the countryside, and I do remember that was something that you'd highlighted on our tour. But if we look at Bogota someone thinking about traveling there for the first time, take us through some of the things that you would recommend people do in Bogota for their first visit. What are some of the the must see places in Bogota? And even, if you wouldn't mind to a couple of the hidden gems that people may not be as familiar with. But what are the big highlights as to why someone would want to go to Bogota? Or, if they're flying into Colombia, why should they spend a couple of days in Bogota at the beginning of their trip?
Speaker 7:Yeah, it's. You mentioned that um the city because it has received a lot of people from all over the country, makes it very diverse. No, so the restaurants. The restaurant offer is huge. Perhaps the best restaurants in the country are here in Bogota. But also the history Going through the city center of Candelaria, the eclectic university government residential hub of the city, is perhaps the most fun and most underappreciated I guess you can call it or underestimated experience.
Speaker 7:You're going to see a lot of urban art and graffiti and movement culture and diversity. Perhaps one of the best things about Bogotá is the outskirts of the city and the highland mountains, what we called, or what we like to call, the water factory of the region. The national parks and nature reserves around the city are extraordinary. But also I think that people are surprised and usually what happens? People arrive to Bogota, they stay one or two nights and then they leave to continue their journey.
Speaker 7:Like what you said, it's kind of like I was not expecting Bogota to be so much fun and this fun has developed in the last 20 years or so because Bogota wasn't like this. People are changing and they are starting to appreciate and appropriate their city. So people are friendlier, people are driving slower, people are giving you way, people are saying hello, giving you directions and so on. That wasn't the case back when I left, for example, to Australia in the early 2000s. I remember that Bogota that I mentioned before the cold, rainy, rude, aggressive Bogota, and I've seen the transition into a much more friendly, more hospitable, even though still there's big traffic jams, every time there's a big rain pour and the traffic collapses.
Speaker 7:For some reason, everything just goes upside down. But I ask myself sometimes and I say, like, what is it about Bogota that makes it so special? And I think is the people that layer under the crust. You know the the rough crust of the big city. You peel that layer out and then you see a very friendly city. So I was mentioning restaurants, the national, the bird watching experience. There's coffee farms nearby Bogota and people always go like, oh, the coffee region? Well, the coffee region? Yes, of course, but we drive 20 kilometers north, south, east or west of Bogota. We are going to have climate change or weather change, because we're going to be going down the Andes Mountains and it's going to get warmer and there's different towns and different region around Bogota. The region around Bogota is beautiful.
Speaker 3:Museum, art, concerts is everything that you want in a big city. Bogota has. And again, this is where, like from the outside looking in, I had a very different perception of Bogota, just reading about it and hearing about it, until I went there for myself and really found it accessible, welcoming, exactly as you described, and clearly we had an opportunity not only to get time together but to do a walking tour through the city. And not every city is well positioned.
Speaker 3:I would say a lot of American cities don't really work for walking tours because most American cities, you know, were gutted in the 1960s and 70s and became very suburban. So many downtown cores in the US, you know, are just not well suited to walking tours because just the infrastructure is not, whereas a city like Bogota has maintained these beautiful squares and this, you know, this Spanish architecture. So let's walk us through, if you wouldn't mind, one of the tours you do, and I would love if you wouldn't mind taking us through the square and some of the history there, because that was one of the standout highlights for me, because I'm a huge history buff, and then when you were showing us pictures of what it looked like at various points in history and then looking around, that to me really brought Bogota to life.
Speaker 3:So tell us a little bit about a typical walking tour that you would do, or a tour that you would take people on an impulse trip, and what are some of those stop points? Because the other thing I want you to make sure that you mention is the cocoa drink that I so thoroughly enjoyed. And we stopped for that. But yeah, tell us a little bit about a day in the life of traveling around with you in Bogota.
Speaker 7:Oh, buckle up. Look, one of the best things about Bogota is that it has the financial district pretty close, relatively close or next door to the historic center. So we can walk 20 block radius in three to four hours and in this walk, well, you experience the flea markets, outdoor markets. One of the beauties about Bogotá's public space is that there's no restriction for vendors. Back a couple of years ago, everything was forbidden, forbid, forbid, forbid. So there were no vendors allowed. The police would come and take people away, get their merchandise, so they were not able to make their buck for the day. So they were not able to make their buck for the day. But now you see a lot of fruit offers and a lot of fried goods, typical snacks, and people selling secondhand clothes, and it's kind of like a flea market seven days a week, pretty much. So you walk along the historic center. When you are walking along the historic center, you reach or you walk past many before and after watching these colonial and Republican what we call Republican architecture in the late 19th century, beautiful French buildings. They were all burned down in 1948 because of the revolution that was pretty much kicking off revolution that was pretty much kicking off. So then they rebuilt in the 1950s and 60s with this pseudo-brutalist architecture along the main street. So when you're walking around and you're seeing this eclectic architecture, you see in one corner, colonial and in the next one Bauhaus, and in the next one Art De, the cathedral, the congress, the courts of law.
Speaker 7:Back in 1985, this really incredible moment happened when the guerrilla took over the courts of law, or the Palace of Justice as it was known, and Pablo Escobar whistleblowed and the army arrived and all this. So we go there and we talk. I've had people interrupt me, going like oh man, I'm getting goosebumps here with what you're saying, because it's pretty, pretty brutal that we're standing on places where history took place and we're talking about recent history place. And we're talking about recent history. Every 20 years, colombia has a moment or a pin in the timeline that it's worth talking about, and this is back in 1985.
Speaker 7:We move forward to 2016, where the peace agreement was held and the plebiscite was voted, and people coming to demonstrate their passion, whether they're against or in favor of something, they always reach the Plaza Bolivar. So, going there, even though I go there, sometimes even three times a week, every time I go I go. Yeah, oh yeah, this is kind of like the heart of the city of the country. You know, not only the city, of course, but the country. Yes, it's quite amazing.
Speaker 3:The other things I want to make sure that you bring to life. So, actually, well, it's the, the image itself, with the bombing photo, because, again, this is one I'd seen before and then, like I'd seen an image and I think it actually was something that Juliana presented on stage, but nevertheless I'd seen the image and it stuck with me. But just describe that scene for a moment, because that was actually before we got to the square and you held that up when we were, I guess, in the financial district. Just describe what that represented, because obviously it's beautiful now, but there was terrible bombings that occurred back during that difficult time.
Speaker 7:So just give us a quick overview of that one that people may have seen it Well in this intersection, which is perhaps the busiest or most popular intersection in the city center, the liberal leader was assassinated point blank by a hitman just outside his office. Assassinated point blank by a hitman just outside his office and it was almost lunchtime and he created this massive riot that half of the city was partially destroyed and burned.
Speaker 7:So we go into this intersection. There's a series of photographs of these days. It's known as El Bogotazo and Bogotazo meaning like a big bang, an implosion that happened in the city. So if you google Bogotazo you will see these amazing photojournalists that went over to document what was happening, the riots that were happening that lasted for over two weeks. The tram was burned, buildings were on fire, people were being shot at with sniper rifles and the majority of the people that rioted that day came from the upper Candelaria neighborhood known as Egipto, which we go there on a social transformation tour as well.
Speaker 7:So it's remarkable connections that we do here with these sort of inner city tours. And then I show, we go on, we stand on this intersection, we look at the city how it looks today and I show there was a trend a couple of years ago with showing the melancholy of analog photography and going back to the same place and comparing it with a photograph that was taken years ago. So I show that photograph and it's kind of overpost is that the right word Layered with the background and you can see the destruction in the photograph contrasting with what it looks today and it's really powering. It's a black and white high contrast image and you can see the modern rebuilt city part of the city today.
Speaker 3:And I think what it highlights and part of the reason I wanted to ask you about that, because I found it so profound to be there in person and to see that juxtaposition, especially from preparing to be there and then actually being there and I think that's part of the appeal of certainly traveling to a destination for yourself is that you have an idea in your mind and you've seen some of those images, especially for older generation that would have been more familiar with that history and the images they would have seen at the time. It's amazing. It's how difficult it is to white people's memories of that, because that's what they associate with Columbia, because that may be 20 or 30 years ago, but so it's amazing to see when you see that image and be like wow is like you can see, um, how traumatic that would have been for the people at the time. And then you see what it is today and life goes on and it's peaceful and it's like you know, it's a beautiful city, um, but the other one I really want you to highlight as well, because you were the one that kindly gave me the uh, the cocoa drink and I was like I was thrilled to try it, but I also discovered on that trip that, um, that actually I know it's often, uh, people drink it for altitude sickness and it has all sorts of various medicinal benefits and, um, I have to say, uh, it certainly works for me.
Speaker 3:I like I found that, like it's like your digestion, like you know all the things and whether so, tell us a little bit about some of the things you might experience, like I had the good fortune to do, as you're, wandering around Bogota and taking people into, because we went into some different coffee shops and, like you know, like that, but yeah, tell us about that experience in particular, because that was very memorable for me.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I think Bogota. Well, I think it's around 9,000 feet, it's 2,600 meters over sea level and because it's so lush and green it's deceiving. You are not expecting the altitude sickness to hit you, and sometimes it does, and sometimes it gets people really, really hard. The thing about coca in Colombia, coca leaf, the power of coca in Colombia is that it has a very different connotation to when we're talking about it in Bolivia or even Peru. When we talk about it in Peru, oh yes, in Machu Picchu I had it, it was beautiful, it's very nice. But when we talk about coca here in Colombia, it has a completely different ring to it. It's obviously related with cocaine and narcotics and trafficking and the drug lords and whatnot. So in society, in Colombian society, even still today, people have taboo about coca and they go like no, I don't do that because that's bad for you.
Speaker 7:But I think that the trend is changing. People are, for example, I replace coffee for coca, so I now drink one cup of coffee a week and I drink daily coca. And every time I go hiking or I go outdoors and I'm expecting to walk for more than four hours, I always take my little bag with coca leaves for my walk and what it does is it stimulates you in a very mild but powerful way, if that makes sense. For example, coffee is very powerful stimulant as well, but sometimes you feel this energy kick very strongly. I don't know if that makes sense for all you coffee drinkers, but it happened to me and one of the reasons why I changed coffee was because it was giving me anxiety and I was feeling a bit with. My heartbeat was very fast when I drink coffee. And then I changed into coca and all of a sudden I'm going like I feel much better. The stimulus is still there, the and, and it's not diuretic, which is a very big plus.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was just going to say there's a stigma associated with it. Even when I mentioned to people, they're like oh, columbia, and, and these are one of the, that's one of the c words that people associate with it. But it's so misplaced because, you know, as I did some research before arriving and then also just understanding because I watched the series narcos I'm sure many of our listeners did and if you go back and watch the first couple of episodes of narcos and understand the history about how it was actually brought into columbia and then the whole process of actually making cocaine is, you know it involves much more gasoline than it does. Coca leaves Like, it's like and so, but people just connect the two and so coca itself is something that, uh, as you described as an alternative. It's not a psychoactive, uh, drug either, and it's like it is more of a stimulant, as you said and you know. So this is where I definitely encouraging everyone who goes to Colombia to try coca when you're there.
Speaker 3:It's, you know, it's available multiple places and certainly for the altitude is one factor of why it'd be beneficial, because it was our second day and we had the, and then I just discovered there was something great to have over the course of the trip as we were doing hikes, and so, yeah, I just wanted, I wanted to call that out specifically. But the one thing that that came from was this taste of change tour, and it's one of the things when I was even reading the itinerary before we, uh, went on this trip, I thought the names were clever, like the we don't talk about pablo tour, that we'll get into in medellin in a moment. But you know, the taste of change, it's a double entendre, right, like. It's like the taste of change, the taste and then the changes that have occurred in this society and like so tell us a little bit about that specific tour, because obviously I've pulled out one aspect of what made the taste of change tour, uh, really interesting and special for me.
Speaker 7:But tell us a few more highlights of what people would experience on the taste of change tour well, the taste of change is uh, change was designed with the purpose or the intention of making it tangible. We can do a lecture and talk, do a city tour about history and the peace and conflict and corruption and government and all these social changes, but it will probably just stay just hanging over your head. But when we make things tangible, everything changes. So the taste of change provides that opportunity to actually understand a little bit more what is the change that we're talking about. So we're talking about substitution of illegal coca crops for the production of cocaine for something like cacao or coffee, or an incredible list of fruits, endemic fruits to farm, instead of farming coca for the production of cocaine. So we go visit, like you say. We visit a number of shops that offer this opportunity, for example, coffee, coffee, we know Colombian coffee is one of the best ones in the world and one of the reasons it's one of the best ones is because, well, first, the climate, but also the small batches for harvest that the farmers are producing. Farms are not massively producing only coffee, they are also growing not only coffee, but bananas, chontaduro, arasá, and look. The list of fruits possible to do at the same time as you're growing coffee is enormous. So Colombia is taking advantage of that and we go visit an ice creamery and we go and have ice cream and we talk about this change and there's 20 different flavors of ice cream, of exotic fruits that you probably never tasted before, but they also include vanilla and chocolate, amongst other incredible flavors. Then we go visit a shop that they sell Bikis or cookies with flavors of different farms and projects that have emerged. We go and taste one of the best chocolates in the city with flavors like pepper and ginger, that everything is being harvested from previously illegal coca plantations, previously illegal coca plantations. So when we mention and we show statistics and we say today we have 250,000 hectares, it's very confusing and it's very difficult to picture it in your mind that all this coca, illegal coca is being replaced.
Speaker 7:There's no proof. A lot of people say there's no proof for that. Well, the proof is right here in an ice cream cone, in a coffee cup, in a chocolate truffle, in a beer. We visit a brewery. That is the perfect example of commitment to peace and for us, ad Impulse makes it very, very valuable, because I think that the best way to have a discussion about whether it's politics or art or a film that you just watched or a city that you just visited, is having a drink, and they also sell non-alcoholic drinks there. But a brewery is the perfect example of people having a bottle, having an IPA or an amber Ale or something that prolongs, extends the communication that we're having, the message that is coming across.
Speaker 3:So I think that the taste of change really is valuable because it's a tangible experience of what peace in this country really means Very well said, and you took me right back there with some of those highlights and also reminded me of how much I can't wait to get back to Colombia and spend more time in Bogota, specifically because that was an extraordinary day, like full stop. It was highlight after highlight.
Speaker 7:We did have a very good day. It was perfectly sunny and it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it was glorious. And this is the difference because you know when someone goes to a destination. Because I'm going to ask you what would be one of your tips, but I'm going to share mine just with all of our listeners, Because for me, when I see travelers that are trying to do what I remember as a Lonely Planet inspired traveler, where you guidebook and you're trying to do it on your own and ride on local buses and a lot of that's very well intentioned but I did notice and this always happens when you've got a great guide is that other people come over and just start to listen and stand around and kind of hang around because they're like there's something special happening here. This sounds really interesting and one of the things that I would suggest to all of our listeners. You know that you definitely want to have an amazing guide, like Raul, whether you book a trip with Impulse or you take a trip on your own, no matter how you experience Columbia, the fact is you're going to get so much more out of any day in any of these beautiful cities by having an amazing guide to really unpack and help really understand what is in that destination. So it's great to be able to walk around spontaneously on your own and you still will have time to do that, but I you know it was for us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the weather was great. Obviously, the guide was fantastic, but it was just highlight after highlight and I never would have packed that all into one day, and that's something that I found over the course of the trip that it was just highlight after highlight and I never would have packed that all into one day, and that's something that I found over the course of the trip. That it was like you know, there were so many highlights on the trip each day, but Bogota really set the tone for the rest of the trip. So, Raul, first of all, I can't thank you enough again for what a special experience that was. It's so great to reconnect with you after you know these these past few months. Hopefully, I'll see you again on the next trip, but I'd like you to leave everyone, if you wouldn't mind, with what would be your suggestion or one of your main tips for someone visiting Bogota.
Speaker 7:Well, thank you, dan. For me, it's great fun to be a guide in such a complex but colorful tour. It's one of my favorites, for sure. I think one of the things that I like is that every tour ends up taking a different path because of the questions that are asked during the tour. It's not like I press record and I start rambling on the same things over and over again. The tour, the clients take me on a different tour every time and it's because they come with some sort of previous knowledge, whether it's watching Narcos, like you mentioned, which I've seen it or reading a book, or being up to date with the news, or even a contemporary history, if you may.
Speaker 7:But a little bit of information is very important to be here. It's not like a spoiler, but it's to more or less understand a little bit, like to read the synopsis of a film. Sometimes you'll be surprised. You end up buying a ticket for a film and you've never seen or heard this film, and you may be overwhelmed and shocked by the film. And you've never seen or heard this film and you may be overwhelmed and shocked by the best film you've seen. But it's always better to go somewhere anywhere in the world. With a previous previous knowledge, you know it doesn't have to be a prof like extensive, but just enough for you to to ask interesting questions and make the tour a little bit more engaging. Yeah.
Speaker 3:No, and I'm going to just add one other thing, because this was a profound discovery for me, having enjoyed watching Narcos not for the reasons that you might otherwise think, I just found it fascinating to learn a bit about that history. But then what I really was intrigued by is just how inaccurate some of the things were Like when I was in Medellin, I was like actually none of the first two seasons were ever shot in Medellin, it wasn't even shot in the Destination. But the one that really made me laugh and I'm sure you can appreciate this is the character that played Pablo Escobar Wagner Mora, the actor.
Speaker 3:He's Brazilian not Colombian, and he's a Portuguese speaker, not a Spanish speaker, and I guess you guys were all telling me just how much you guys couldn't stand listening to him, because his Spanish was terrible and for you know, for an English speaker that's just reading subtitles, we wouldn't know Right.
Speaker 7:But like I just I guess he's, so that's why, like, you've watched it yeah, I guess he's a fantastic actor. No, so that's why you've watched him. I guess he's a fantastic actor. I mean, he did an awesome job trying to put a Paisa accent on top of his Portuguese native tongue.
Speaker 7:But yeah, I mean Narcos was like so that we don't extend talking too much about this it's a fictional Netflix show based on true events. So you know, at the end of the day, you end up feeling for the characters and feeling empathy for Pablo Escobar or the DEA agent or the police officer who is a corrupted official, whatever. But the truth is that, in a way, that's how it was. It's true that there is a lot of corruption layers. It's true that there is a lot of secrecy.
Speaker 7:It's true that for many years in Colombia, we didn't talk about what was actually happening in front of our face, and it's not up until 20 years ago that the country started to change all this and that's the transformation that we're going through. If we compare it to Australia, people talk about the poisonous snakes, the venomous snakes and the poisonous frogs and whatever. But people talk about it and they educate themselves about it and they learn what to do and what not to do, but we in Colombia, we're not talking about any of these things that we're talking about today, and that's perhaps the most important element of the transformation that Colombia is going through being able to talk about the pain and the suffering that not only my generation, but the ones before us went through. All this healing is happening, and it's happening slowly. This transformation is not just about pretty streets and awesome graffiti. It's about healing the wounds from the past, and that's amazing what is happening in Colombia. That's why it motivates me to work like this, to work with this.
Speaker 3:That's amazing, very inspiring, and I think the big takeaway there is you have to go and experience it for yourself. If you've seen the show and have a certain perception, to go and experience it for yourself. If you've seen the show and have a certain perception, go and experience columbia, if you're at all intrigued. If you haven't, you don't even need to watch the show. Just go to columbia and hopefully you'll have a chance to meet raul for yourself and be able to experience the all the incredible highlights of bogota that we've been talking about here on the podcast and get a chance to meet him, because he's just a wonderful person. So thank you again, raul, for joining us for this and say I really look forward to seeing you again in person soon.
Speaker 7:Thank you, Dan. You make me blush, but it's true. Just can't wait for to continue making the little bit, putting the little grain of sand in the change, making progress here in the country.
Speaker 3:All right, I now have the great pleasure to introduce all of our listeners to Carolina, who is based in Medellin. We had the most extraordinary time traveling around Medellin together and learning so much about this incredible history, so I'm thrilled that she could join us for this conversation. Carolina, welcome to Travel Trends. Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 5:No, thank you so much for inviting me. I'm very, very happy to be here, to be able to share once again with you, and also thrilled to start talking about my city.
Speaker 3:Well, we certainly had the most extraordinary time together. I learned so much and hopefully we can impart that to many of our listeners. Certainly, one of the things that I needed to get right from the beginning was how to pronounce this city, which, as you highlighted to me. I asked you, and it really made me laugh when I said can you really tell who the tourists are? And you're looking at me like, of course I can. The first thing I noticed is that all the locals wear jeans, so, like, if you're wearing jeans that's when you told me that actually that's one way to remember how to pronounce Medellin as if everyone wears jeans.
Speaker 5:Yeah, exactly Medellin.
Speaker 3:So tell us about your history and connection to this amazing city and what got you into the travel and tourism space.
Speaker 5:Well, I started working in tourism 10 years ago. I have been a tour guide, a tour leader. At the very beginning I have to be honest with you I never thought that I was going to work as a guide Originally. I'm an industrial designer. When I finished beginning, I have to be honest with you, I never thought that I was going to work as a guide Originally. I'm an industrial designer.
Speaker 5:When I finished university, I wanted to learn badly English, so I lived in the States for like about a year and a half and when I came back I started looking for a job. But I'm a little bit hyperactive and talkative and I wanted to work in something that I was feeling, that would go with my personality, that I was not feeling like trapped in an office every single day. And I ended up working as a tour guide. But at the very beginning I never thought that it was going to be something that I was going to do for, hopefully, the rest of my life.
Speaker 5:I at at the beginning was like talking. When I started being a guide, I started talking about my city, I started talking about downtown Medellín, growing up, and well, later on I understood that life kind of like connects, because when I did my thesis degree in design was creating ideas of like how locals we could visit the city and how we could see it with the eyes of a tourist. It was like designing experiences. But yeah, it was not something that I looked for. It was something that ended up in my life and today I love it.
Speaker 3:Well, that's certainly clear to me. I think it's amazing how we spoke to Raul just before this and Raul was telling us about his journey with photography and living in Australia and then coming back to Colombia to get involved in tourism, and really just how serendipitous it was that he ended up connecting with impulse travel and starting this journey. And he's an extraordinary guide, as are you, and I think it's really interesting just to hear your backstory and understand how it came to be that you've taken on this role and how you work with impulse. So tell us, if you wouldn't mind, because I don't know that. I know this part of the story. I know you and Rodrigo are very good friends, but how did you actually come to know Impulse and start working with them?
Speaker 5:I started working with Impulse I would say probably like four years ago more or less. There was a moment after COVID that everything here was like closed Borders were closed People that were working with tourism. We struggled for a little bit and after everything started opening, I was even in a point in my life was when I was deciding OK, what am I going to keep doing? Do I want to keep working in tourism or not? And then I met Rodrigo and for me it was something amazing because he kind of like remind me that definitely, tourism is something that I like to do. He invited me at the very beginning to participate in a summit, to create a tour for this sustainable tourism summit. In that moment the tour was had a name. It was called Pablo, who Today it's known as we Don't Talk About Pablo.
Speaker 5:And for me it was also quite interesting because it was like starting talking about what happened in the city, the history of Medellín, the violence of Medellín. But for me it's also something very personal. When I started working as a guide, people were asking me like Caro, how was growing up in Medellin, and I realized that I forgot a lot about my childhood. I normally was answering like, oh, perfect, like nothing happened here, and then I started like really trying to remember. So when I was designing this tour, it was also thinking more about my childhood and thinking more about all these periods of violence.
Speaker 5:I'm 37 years old, so I can tell you that I have lived like different periods of managing. One thing was the city of my like when I was born. Then when I was a teenager, I not always lived here. I also had to live in Bogota and it was all for violence. So for me, like when I started working with Impulse, was the ability also to start like connecting the history of Medellin, connecting it with my personal story and also trying to talk about this, and I think that it has been also kind of like healing me.
Speaker 3:That's really powerful and I certainly sense that when we had that day together and the journey that you took us on, especially the we Don't Talk About Pablo tour, even the context of that, because I didn't quite understand the title of the tour, certainly I got the Encanto Connection, which is obviously a great Disney film about Columbia and it's a great musical, and so I got the reference, which is very clever musical, and so I got the reference, which is very clever. However, even the concept of we don't talk about Pablo, because clearly on the tour we talk a lot about Pablo, but it is this very misunderstood concept that I you know goes back to when I actually met Rodrigo about Narcos and Pablo Escobar, because unfortunately, that history overshadows a lot of what is so special and unique about Columbia, but yet it is such an important part to understand the history and clearly you've been personally affected by it and a number of people that I had the privilege to meet and get to know in Colombia certainly had experienced or been in places where there had been bombings or there had been violence and it's like. So you know, clearly you've been impacted by that and you know you're able to take people on these tours and obviously that likely is part of the healing process, because you walked us around what used to be Pablo Escobar's palace in his house that you can. You know people would have seen in the Narcos film, or at least a resemblance of that, and I want to tell it to all of our listeners today. About what's there today, because I found it one of the most powerful memorials, very similar to like 9-11. But in many ways it's completely unique to the history of Colombia. So I want to come to that.
Speaker 3:Before we do, let's just give everyone an overview of Medellin itself, because when I arrived in the city, the part that really stood out to me as I was making my way from the airport into the downtown core is that you know it exists in a valley, so you get these beautiful views coming into town. And then there's so many different features, geographic features to the city, there's so many different neighborhoods and it's all very hilly and it's got lots of character. And then there's also the part that really amazed me and you took us on this journey was the cable cars. I've never seen a city that has cable cars designed for people to be able to get to and from work, and obviously one of the things I'll just share with our listeners, but I'm clear, I'm keen for you to be the one to lead us on this journey.
Speaker 3:But one of the things I found, you know, really profound is that the cable cars at the top, because the whole idea is that the people that are living in poor conditions are living higher up on the mountainside, and so that's where they have less access to resources and transportation, being one of them.
Speaker 3:But to give them opportunity, the city has built these cable cars to get people into town for their jobs, and the infrastructure when it comes to public transport in Medellin is extraordinary. Like you took us on the subway, we rode on a bus, we like took the cable cars and I was like, wow, this is like. This is not what I was expecting at all. But the one thing that was really special, carolina, as part of our time together, was actually experiencing a local library that's at the base of one of the cable cars at the top to help educate the local community, and it's still one of the things that I want to be able to do is to send a box of books, some Canadian books for kids and so, but that was sort of my first impressions of one of the highlights for me with Medellin, but give all of our listeners, from your vantage point, an overview of this incredible city.
Speaker 5:Okay, so Medellin is a city that, as you are saying, is very green. It's one of the things that I like the most about my city that when you start coming, you first exit from a tunnel, coming from the airport almost five mile tunnel and the first thing that you see it's a valley that is very, very green. You start walking in the city and you start seeing flowers everywhere. This is one of the reasons why we have a beautiful nickname Medellin, the city of the eternal spring, even though I have to say that now it's like beginning of summer for global warming, but the weather here is perfect all year long for global warming, but the weather here is perfect all year long. We, the people from Medellín, we call ourselves paisas, and paisas, we are also very welcoming. I will say that one of the main things that people like to, or one of the main reasons why people like to come to Medellín, it's also the people. We're very friendly, we're very welcoming, and I think that this was something that you were able to experience when we were doing the tours. Now, the city, as you're saying, has different elements that have been created in the last 20, 25 years as part of all this process of changing, of transformation of the city. One thing is that we have been investing a lot in urbanism, how we give public space to people, how we have areas for people to leave the city, to encounter, to be able to walk around. We have been also investing a lot in education, also in technology, and this was something that you saw in the libraries that we have in the neighborhoods. Unfortunately, not everybody has the resources to buy books, to buy a computer, so this is something that people in the neighborhoods of Medellín are able to go and to see, and I'm also very thankful for your idea of bringing books to these kids, also very thankful for your idea of bringing books to these kids, because this is one of the first places where they can go to study, to do homework.
Speaker 5:And transportation is also one of the key elements of our change. Medellín was actually elected in 2013 as the most innovative city in the world. This was a contest where we were competing with Tel Aviv and New York, and the main reason was the cable car. These cable cars were created in 2004. Today, you can find five of them that are part of the public transportation system, and the idea is that we like these hills are very steep, like just the idea of how are we going to give access to the economy to the people? How are we going to be able to build roads? It was very hard because there was not a lot of public space, so there was a moment that we decided to do it through air. And you're saying that before cable cars were used in fancy resorts for skiing and today it's the way that people have to get to at any point of the city.
Speaker 5:We have here a metro system that includes train, tram, buses, that they have their own lane, and these cable cars. They're all integrated. The metro started in 1995. And it's something that we have been little by little improving. But I believe that the most important thing is what you're mentioning. It's like we go to the areas of the city that has the lower index of life quality and in this way people are able to get a job and participate into the economy. But also it's unbelievable how thankful people is, also because they started feeling okay, the city is investing in us, the budget of the city is also going to us, and this is also part of something that we started doing a few years ago, where the communities were able to participate in. What do we want for our neighborhood? How can we change it? What is important for us to have here? And we noticed that transportation, education, public space, sports were something very important to include in all this change, and I would say that that's kind of like the key of the change.
Speaker 3:Well, I love that you highlighted what the city actually means, like the eternal spring, I think one of the things that you mentioned about being green and like that, you know it has a very different feel. I mean, medellin is the second largest city in Colombia and yet it feels so mellow by comparison after being in Bogota, and I felt like that was actually a great segue after being in Bogota and the capital and then heading to Medellin is that Medellin is a big city with lots to do, but at the same time it feels way more mellow and it also attracts a lot as you highlighted to me a lot of global nomads, and so it was kind of I mean, it has to be surreal for you, given the history, just to see how many international travelers are living in Medellin and hanging out at the restaurants and the cafes, and like it was surreal to me to see that and I want to touch on that as well, because I know there's positives to having that tourism dollars, but also when people come and stay an extended period of time, it drives up the cost of living for locals, which is another challenge. So you really opened my eyes to so many things and I want to try and touch on as many of them as possible in our conversation. The one other thing I'm really keen to get your overview of is that we don't talk about Pablo tour just because it is so powerful. And really I want people to to go to Medellin to have a chance to, to meet you, because when we traveled around, the first thing we did is we jumped into a taxi and because we had to get to the other side of the city and you seem to know everybody, so we jumped in a taxi and it was a friend of yours, actually.
Speaker 3:I think we jumped in a second one and it was someone you hadn't seen in a number of years and it was just great to be able to navigate the city with you, with someone that clearly is an expert and also has all the connections. So we traveled from one end of the city to the other and then we started getting on public transport and seeing more of the city that way. But one of the things that was so powerful was that we don't talk about Pablo tours. Give us an overview of the tour that you designed, because that's certainly one of the reasons that people travel to Medellin or have known about Medellin and there's clearly so much more that the city has to offer. But I think it's important to get through that history and that past as you did with us. That then it sort of opened us up to see the city from a new perspective. But tell us a little bit about those tour that you design and what the experience is traveling around the city with you on the we Don't Talk About Pablo tour.
Speaker 5:When Rodrigo came to us to tell me about the idea that he had with the tour, it was something very interesting because I used to say, oh, I can do all sorts of tours in Medellin, but personally I don't do Pablo Escobar tours period. But personally I don't do Pablo Escobar tours period. Even other agencies were also inviting me to do these tours because, unfortunately, for everything that happened here for the Syrians, there were like narcos. There were many people that were coming to the city looking to know the story about this man and normally the tours were mostly like glorifying his image. People sometimes wanted to know how much money did he have, all the things that he did, and that was something that I was like no, I'm not going to participate.
Speaker 5:But when this idea of creating the tour of we Don't Talk About Pablo was more about, ok, let's talk about it, but let's try to teach. So we start talking about how the history of not just managing, but also the history in the country and the history in the world started all creating that kind of like perfect moment for the whole business to start the business of drugs in this case and also how it started impactful in our lives and also how it has started to be impactful in our lives. We start talking about all of this, but we talk about the history through the voice of the victims, which is the most important part and it's, for me, the key of this tour.
Speaker 3:The one thing that really shocked my wife and I when we were in Medellin together was the fact that people are selling shirts with Pablo Escobar on them, and we were both shocked to see it. One of the things I also learned after we left there was that I guess they started putting fines in place for businesses that were selling these items to discourage that activity. But this is the difficulty with tourism is that if people are coming and asking for these types of tours, I think the the the way that you've approached it, which is that there's a demand and an interest, but you find a way to channel that into a positive future change for the future. So it's acknowledging what happened, but absolutely not glorifying it. If anything, it's actually making it very real and humanizing all of the terrible consequences of that conflict in that period of time. So, yeah, continue to tell us again about the tour itself and, specifically, I would love to know about the monument to all the people that died over that time.
Speaker 5:In this place where before used to be the house of Pablo Escobar, that was called a Monaco building, edificio Monaco, we decided in the city to create a monument that is called. It's a park, it's called the, the city hall. There was the idea of, like, let's do not talk about Pablo Escobar, but unfortunately the word of mouth on people that were coming to the city were really interested in knowing about him. They were really interested in the stories that they were listening and the problem when we were not talking about all of these was that most of the stories that people were listening and the problem when we were not talking about all of these was that most of the stories that people were listening were not accurate. A lot of these stories were glorifying his image. You are mentioning how in some places, for example, they sell a lot of or shirts, or magnets, things with his image, and unfortunately, this is something that is still sold in the city, because you ask a vendor and he's going to tell you he's like this is what I'm selling the most. I'm not going to stop selling it. So unfortunately, they don't even think about the harm that he did to Medellin. They just only think about the moment, about how much money they would make that day.
Speaker 5:But I think that it's important that we start telling the reality. Are there people that like him? Yeah, probably they are, and usually you're going to find that he's a very young person or maybe someone that in those days was benefited by him, and usually the money that they got was not something that it was going to make lives easy, or they were working by him or for him, helping with all this war, working maybe as hitmen. So what is important is that we start talking about the reality, but in a very unbiased way. There were more than 48,000 people that were victims here of the violence between 1984 and 1993. And this is something that we are showing.
Speaker 5:We unfortunately cannot make a perfect list and tell you all the names because we don't know exactly our history.
Speaker 5:We are not even teaching it completely at schools. So how important it is to educate about the past, about what happened here, but also about real facts and also what was for us, for locals, to live in a city where it was very common to have bombs, people killed or even kidnaps. So what we do in the tour is that, with respect, we start addressing both sides and we start trying to explain, okay, why a person is going to like him, but why a person still today doesn't want to talk about him. Because they have their wounds open, because for them was very painful to grow up during all these years. I believe that my generation it's a generation that kind of like started by first time talking about everything that happened here, but we have to understand that today there are still people alive that were victims of him and for them it's painful to talk about the topic, and you can imagine also how painful it is for locals to see, for example, a foreigner wearing his shirt.
Speaker 3:Well, one of the things just to exactly your point that I found so powerful is that when we walked around that monument and the lights that emit from that at nighttime to represent the 45,000 people that were killed during that time, and as you walk your way around this monument, you can see when these bombings took place and you can see clusters where it's by year and by month and all of a sudden there was a couple of years where there was bombings almost daily and I know one of the board members of Impulse Travel, julian Guerrero, was telling me when we were there that he had actually left one of the clubs only a few minutes before it exploded and he ran back to try and help people and just to think about what he experienced and what he saw, and certainly your childhood and many other people that were affected.
Speaker 3:It was powerful to be able to share that story in such a way that is deeply meaningful and also to highlight the police and other organizations that were affected by this, because you know the police officers that were killed, so there's a tribute to them there as well from this period of time.
Speaker 3:But clearly I want to make sure that everyone that is going to Medellin and is interested in this gets a much better understanding by speaking to Carolina and going on this particular tour. But clearly there's so much more to this incredible city and I want to move past that now and get back to where our conversation started, which is all the amazing things you can do and experience in Medellin. So you know, go on that journey. Definitely don't buy a shirt and definitely educate yourself, because it'll give you a whole new perspective on this city. But moving past that difficult period and then looking at the city that's transformed around you now, carolina, tell us about some of the other great attributes of Medellin and what are some of the other big highlights that you would recommend travelers to experience while they're there, visit neighborhoods that are really pretty, like Poblado Laureles, places that are areas where high-income people live.
Speaker 5:But it's very important that you also go and see the reality of the city. 80% of our neighborhoods are not necessarily high-income areas. So being able to go over there to see places that they may look humble but where you're not going to see this sense of community in like no, or like you go to these places and you, you could see the sense of community, you could see people that they build their neighborhoods themselves that are very pretty, very organized, that people they really take care of their areas. So for me, this will be one of the highlights like really experience different areas of managing and also get to talk with people. We're very welcoming to tourists, people.
Speaker 5:Unfortunately, not everybody speaks English, but even if they don't speak English, they are very happy to come to say hello to you. We use here a lot the word gringo, not as something negative or pejorative. We refer to gringo almost to all foreigners. So how you're passing by and they start like saying hi to you, hello, gringo. Or sometimes they even start talking and I have to quickly try to translate in order to really help, help you to communicate with locals. For me that's one of the highlights. Like that you really experience the city, going to different parts of medellin, even some neighborhoods that are not necessarily touristic or that are not necessarily like in the top of the activities to do just like random neighborhoods for the industry, let's say.
Speaker 3:Well, in one particular neighborhood, I want to call out to your point about getting to experience the local communities and getting to understand the people. The one area that many people will try to see, if they've done some research before going, is Comuna 13. Now, comuna 13, obviously the Spanish word Comuna. There's 16 districts within Medellin and Comuna 13 is one of them, and I'd like you to take us on a brief journey through that, because you know, I know it's San Javier is, I guess, the actual name of Comuna 13.
Speaker 3:And you know it has a unique part of the history and it's got some amazing graffiti and all these incredibly bright colors and it's super um loud, like an energetic like. There's this music blasting and there's like, and it's it's, you know, there's there's street performances and it was one of the things that was really eyeopening to see. And it's got caught up with a lot of the violence and because of the poverty in that area, and so and there's some of the artwork that you pointed out to me like, with the paramilitary operations there and when the U? S was trying to crack down on the drug trafficking, a lot of these poor people were caught in the crossfire in that neighborhood, and so there's a a a remarkable and powerful story there, but it's also a very living community that is, you know, transforming, and so tell us a little bit about Communa 13.
Speaker 5:And I believe that this is like the perfect spot that reflects the model of urban innovation and social transformation in the city Past to be, in 2002, the most dangerous neighborhood in Medellin, where not even locals were visiting it. And today you go there and you find people from everywhere in the planet, or even Colombians. I have friends that live here in Medellín and they tell me, caro, when are you going to take me to Comuna 13? Because normally they never go there. This is a place that, yes, has a very, very tough past, but culture, arts they really started changing the place. There are a lot of amazing programs there where social leaders, they started kind of like teaching people how to.
Speaker 5:Well, first of all, the history of what happened over there, because this is one of the first places that I started also saying, okay, one second, we cannot just move on. We have to also start talking about everything that happened in the past. But then they do it through arts. It's a place where you start walking around and you're going to see murals that talk about the operations, murals that talk about the people that live in the area. In Comuna 13, you find about 10% of Afro-Colombians. These were people that were displayed from the regions and when you come here, you see murals, for example, that they start kind of like paying tribute to their background. You're going to find kids that they start dancing Also these neurogeneral new rhythms like exotico that are common from these regions. So it's a place where they start also showing kids hey, you have an opportunity. You can become a rapper, you can start singing, you can also do breakdance and look, this is art. Art is what is really changing us.
Speaker 3:And I think that is a perfect place to understand. Also, the'll walk with you. So we went to the restaurant and then you toured us around so we could see, after we went to the restaurant, where else could we go to get a drink and just experience some of the nightlife, and you gave us even more history. So there's so much to explore about the city, but there's two other things I want to touch on together. One of them is the extraordinary food experiences and the dining experiences, because you took us to a few different restaurants, a couple of your favorites, to show us and, if we have more time, and I'm definitely going to hit them when we get back.
Speaker 3:But there was one place that was absolutely extraordinary and was a real highlight of our trip. We went to a place called El Cielo, which described for our listeners, if you wouldn't mind, what El Cielo is and how this came to be, because I just couldn't believe that this existed. And then the experience we had was so next level and yet it was so affordable at the same time, by comparison to what you'd pay in the US, for example, for that experience. But yeah, tell us a little bit about El Cielo.
Speaker 5:El Cielo. It's a restaurant that was opened by a local chef, juan Manuel Barrientos. He opened here in Medellin, then he opened in Bogota and today you can find it in Miami, dc. Both of these locations they actually won Michelin star and they're soon opening in New York too.
Speaker 5:This restaurant, it's an experience. It's one place where you go. It's not just one dish, one hour and you're out. No, the opposite. It takes you about two hours and a half through different courses. Normally they change the menu a couple of times a year and every time that you go you're going to be able to try something different.
Speaker 5:What I like more about the place is that you're able to try to taste the local products, but given in a way that you are never going to imagine, like. I even remember one of the last times that I went, they gave me a onion ice cream. If they didn't tell me that that was onion, I will have never imagined it. So it's a place where you, little by little, you'll start trying different things. Not everything is to to eat. I don't want to, of course, mess up the experience of the people that hopefully one day they can visit this place, but there are things that are also for you to interact with them, to, for example, put chocolate in your hands, to breathe, to smell. They speak english, which is great. They come to you, they start explaining you everything that is in your plate, but also how you can interact with food. It's a place that I definitely suggest. It's one of my favorite restaurants here in the city.
Speaker 3:Well, you got me excited about it. We already booked Rodrigo and the team had suggested it, and I looked it up and I was like this looks extraordinary. You told us about it before we went and I was totally blown away, because the 16 courses match with different wines and then each of the dishes is so exquisite from different regions within Colombia, from the Amazon. But then the experience with the chocolate, where they actually put the chocolate in your hands. The whole idea is to wash your hands with chocolate, but you eat the chocolate at the same time and you look around the room as other people are trying to figure out what's happening here. Is everyone else doing this? So it's truly extraordinary. So anyone going? Definitely you need to build that into your itinerary.
Speaker 5:Something about the chocolate experience that I love is that when they put chocolate in your hands, it's, of course, it's like a chocolate therapy I believe that is the name in English but it's like you put it in your hands, it's great for your skin. But it's like you put it in your hands, it's great for your skin. But it's also like do you remember when you were a kid that you used to lick your hands? You're in a fancy restaurant, but go ahead, start licking your hands and start trying the chocolate. So I really like this place because you go there to a fancy restaurant where you are expecting to see it very posh, but then one of the first experiences is this one lick your hands, so into seeds, very push.
Speaker 3:But then the one of the first experience is this one lick your hands, so it really kind of like tried to break the idea that you have about how cuisine has to be and how you also have to put all your senses into food no, it was such an extraordinary experience and that was definitely the highlight, but, um, because the chocolate was so delicious and it was like you couldn't stop licking your fingers, um, but then it felt glorious after you washed your hands and your hands all of a sudden were you know, you had this delightful feeling of your hands being, and then you were gone to eating other dishes. But the other thing I wanted just to highlight is the accommodation, because when you kindly took us on the walking tour around the neighborhood, you also highlighted to us that we can walk home from the restaurant, and we said farewell to you and we did exactly that we walked home from the restaurant. It was safe, it was well lit and it's a lovely experience. Again, this is completely different to what I imagined traveling to Colombia, once you're actually in the destination, going out for this type of meal that I never knew that this type of dining existed there, and then to be able just to wander back to our hotel, which had a beautiful pool and was in this kind of lush green area.
Speaker 3:And so tell us a little bit about the accommodation, because that was another eye-opening thing for me is there are really quite a few extraordinary places to stay. And I don't mean extraordinary in terms of being luxurious, because that's actually not my style of travel. I just mean extraordinary in terms of being luxurious, because that's actually not my style of travel. I just mean extraordinary in terms of like they fit perfectly in their environment. And so I just like the decor and the architecture fit perfectly into Medellin in a local neighborhood which you felt like you know, there's local houses and there was locals coming and going and there was a restaurant there and it just it had such a great vibe to it. So tell us us a little bit about the accommodation, because I'm sure you see people staying at various different places and just bring that to life. And then I'm going to ask you one more question to close out our conversation to any tips that you have for, uh, for all of our listeners.
Speaker 5:But yeah, tell us a little bit, if you wouldn't mind, about the accommodation options so here in the city you can find from like very big uh hotels, like chains and also boutique hotels that some of them even used to be in big houses of these neighborhoods where they try to decorate the place even to bring you to different regions of the country, that you are able to experience from the very beginning, from the hotel, how is the whole country the prices are unbelievable, really affordable. This is one of the reasons also why a lot of people they are coming here to the country, because when you come with the change with pesos and dollars, it's pretty easy to like stay in one of these places. They have exquisite food from the very beginning, from breakfast. Then you can also like walk around in the neighborhoods and, as you're saying, the whole area it's pretty safe. So it's easy for you to just like finish breakfast and start walking around and then you start popping with more breakfast, ice cream spots, independent designer shops, so it's a great area to walk around.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I would just highlight how it all comes together, because I remember when I first got the quote back, as we were putting our trip together and the team was putting together a customized itinerary for us, for my wife and I, because it actually had been our anniversary and so it was just the two of us, the kids stayed home and we had this extraordinary time in Colombia.
Speaker 3:But even when I looked at the quote, I was like wait, a second, is this missing something? I'm like wait, like the cost was so reasonable but yet and it wasn't because I know the team I mean they put together such an incredible itinerary for us, but when you add up the cost of a typical day traveling in Colombia, it is maybe 20% of the cost of traveling to Europe, for example, but at a level equivalent or in some sense I would say higher because of the experiences you're having. So I think that's one of the things that I just wanted to highlight to our listeners, because there are certain destinations at a certain time in their development where it's one of the best times to be able to go, and that's how I strongly feel about Colombia. So let's leave everyone with one final suggestion from you, carolina about Medellin. What would be one of the things you would say that you either can't miss or one of the things you need to prepare in advance? That makes Medellin so special?
Speaker 5:prepare in advance. That makes Medellin so special. Well, one of the best things about coming to Medellin is that you can come all year long. We don't really have seasons here, so people can be prepared to just come, like even for a weekend, at any moment of the year. I will say that definitely you have to try to go to a restaurant where you're able to experience the country also through the food.
Speaker 5:One of the things that I love more to do is also experience exotic fruits, or like go to one of these markets, start trying different fruits. It's unbelievable how sometimes people they go and it's like how do I just try 15, 20 fruits that I never saw in my life? So this is one of my favorite, favorite things. And finally, I have to say coffee.
Speaker 5:I am an addicted to coffee myself, and it's something that you can easily find in the city. I'm addicted to coffee myself and it's something that you can easily find in the city. We even have coffee farms in the valley or just like one hour away from the city. You can do a coffee testing and learn about this product that, yeah, we produce one of the best coffees in the world. I mean, you can just like have it here like for breakfast, but you can start going from coffee shop to coffee shop to be able to try it. So definitely, that's one of my favorite suggestions. So experience the city, try to talk with locals, try to go to neighborhoods that yeah, Comuna 13, for example, is amazing, but we have so many other neighborhoods that are great, that have a lot of arts. You can have great food and great coffee.
Speaker 3:I love that you mentioned those two things, because one of the lines that I really enjoyed when I was there was that diversity is the new luxury, and diversity of fruits. I had no idea until we went to the market in Bogota that Colombia has more fruits than any other country in the world, and I was experienced and I love fruit, and so for me that was another like eye opening highlight. And so the fruit. I'm glad you mentioned that, because we hadn't otherwise highlighted that on this episode.
Speaker 3:And the other one was coffee, because I have mentioned that a couple of times and actually it was with you that I had the experience of doing the coffee tasting and discovered that, oh my God, I love this particular type of Colombian coffee because it's not bitter and it was delicious and so yeah, so I have so many highlights from our time together, caroline, I think our listeners have certainly gotten a good understanding of and we've just scratched the surface, but you've done an excellent job of giving all of our listeners an overview and certainly reminding myself why it was so special and why I need to get back there as soon as possible, and I certainly look forward to seeing you again. We'll definitely plan another tour in Medellin. I'm going to try and bring the kids this time because they need to experience it as well. But yeah, I want to say thank you so much for your time. I really enjoyed this conversation. It was great to reconnect with you again and I certainly wish you a great summer in 2025 and the rest of the year.
Speaker 5:And hopefully I'll see you a little later this year, hopefully. And yes, the city is also great for families, so it will be amazing for you to bring your kids here, and I can't wait to meet you again. I'm really happy that every time more people are coming to the country, to the city, so can't wait also for our listeners to start planning the trip to Colombia.
Speaker 3:Now we have the opportunity to go all the way to Cartagena, where I finished my trip, and Cartagena is truly. I was part of the inspiration for actually putting this episode together. I listened to a podcast on the way to Cartagena and I'm not going to reference the podcast because I love podcasting and I love so many podcasters but this particular podcast was terrible. It was absolutely awful. I told Rodrigo andcasters but this particular podcast was terrible, it was absolutely awful.
Speaker 3:I told Rodrigo and Juliana about this because, as I'm flying to Cartagena looking to get some insights and looking for a travel podcast, I found this one and the person that was actually doing the interview had not been to Colombia before and they were interviewing someone that was from Switzerland that was now living in Colombia, and even he made the comment you don't sound Colomb, sound Colombian. And she said no, I'm actually not. But my daughter moved here and I was like why am I even listening to this? But I actually persevered because I wanted to know everything they had to share, to see if there were any highlights, and today I now have the privilege not only of having to experience Cartagena myself, but also have a true expert who lives in Cartagena and really knows this. So I just want to say, even though we haven't met because obviously I've been to Cartagena on our trip, but this is the first chance I get to meet Oralis, and so, oralis, tell us a little bit about your background in Cartagena and how you got into the travel and tourism industry.
Speaker 6:I was born in a little town called Marialavaja in Bolivar department, because in Colombia we are divided by department, there are 32 and this one is called Bolivar. So I was born in a small municipality called Marialavaja. But then I moved to Cartagena, which is two hours from the town, just to study. So I studied to be a personal assistant, but it doesn't work, I don't really like that. And then I decided to be a tour guide and I studied during two years and that's the one I really like, I really love. And that's the one I really like, I really love. And my experience in impulse travel has been amazing. It has been amazing because I have had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. So I feel myself like a traveler without traveling. Feel myself like a traveler without traveling. So because I have a lot of people and I have the opportunity to learn about their cultures, about everything.
Speaker 6:How I joined Impulse this is weird. You know what happened when I finished my study as a tool guy. I was thinking so now I have to join a nice, very nice agency to start with this challenge. Juliana called me and I said what I just think about this. And then Juliana called me but I didn't send my resume Nobody and I was surprised. I said, oh, this is something divine, because she called me and she doesn't have my resume. And then I said, oh, this is God's will and that's why. That's the reason I really love impulse travel, because it's the first agency that gave me this opportunity to be a tour guide in Cartagena, to join, to learn a lot about the city, and also, juliana teach me a lot about how to be a tour guide and I'm still learning. But yeah, I think it was very, very special how I joined Impulse, because I didn't expect Impulse, but she called me, me, and now I think it's the best decision I took because I feel like they are my family. That's what I feel.
Speaker 3:That's wonderful. That's such a lovely story. That's wonderful, and clearly you're learning from the best, because both Julianne and Rodrigo obviously were both tour guides. They know this space, so they're masters of the craft. But this is where good people know good people, or they spot someone and, like yourself, that actually is you know. You've chosen to educate yourself, move into the city, like you're. Most of the guides, as I've come to understand, are, you know, pursuing a post-secondary education. They're going to college. They're you know. Clearly, most of the guides, as I've come to understand, are pursuing a post-secondary education. They're going to college. They're clearly even learning English, for example, like the fact you have multiple language skills, which I do not have and many of the travelers don't either. And then not only do you have to be able to know the history and be able to bring Cartagena to life, you've also got to manage all of these different personalities, which is another unique characteristic to a tour guide. So, as you just described, you travel the world by bringing, as people arrive in Cartagena. So I want to bring Cartagena to life for all of our listeners, just like we did with both Bogota and Medellin.
Speaker 3:And so I'll just start by just sharing my first perspective on the city after listening to that terrible podcast, which I did finish. I was just about to land and I had read that in many ways Cartagena is referred to as a little Miami the beautiful beaches and the shoreline. But then the incredible architecture that very much did look like Miami, all of a sudden, like just on this, like thin peninsula of just glorious condo towers, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing at first, because it was, and you arrive as you land, literally to the right, so the buildings are to the left. So if you're getting a flight, try and sit on the left side of the plane if you want to get a spectacular view, at least on the way into Cartagena. And the other really interesting discovery for me was that the airport is so close, it's so convenient. We were at our hotel within, I think, about 10 minutes of leaving the airport. It was so incredibly close. And then there's so much to do right around Cartagena and arriving there, like it is, it's beautiful, it's tropical.
Speaker 3:And then the other thing I just wanted to highlight from my experience, which is where Colombia really opened my eyes to the fact that there are so many different types of Colombia and different parts of Colombia and Cartagena, knowing that we were heading to the Caribbean coast and obviously, as Juliana discussed a bit of the history, with the slave trade and some of the, you know, unfortunately dark parts of our past of humanity, but nevertheless has led to beautiful things today with the cultures and the food and the wonderful people, and so getting a chance to understand the, I guess, the ethnic makeup of Cartagena, which is very different than other parts of Colombia, and so I found that incredibly refreshing to be able to see a completely different part of this country. But those are my initial perceptions, but I'm sure it's very different to you, having grown up near there and spending so much time there. But tell everybody how you would describe Cartagena for someone who's going to be arriving there for the first time or considering traveling to Cartagena.
Speaker 6:So Cartagena, it's very special because it's one of the most historical cities of Colombia and it's very special because it's strategy role as a port, also because its struggle for the independence. And also Cartagena is special because of the people. Here we have the mix of races, you know, because we have the influence of Spanish, african and indigenous. Talking about culture, cartagena is a mix of traditions. All these three races provide the culture. It made our city special, the mix of races. So it made our city special, the mix of races. So also Cartagena is special because of the history, because of the gastronomy, because of the music, because of the dance, also because of the people.
Speaker 6:Here we're very noisy, but in a good way. We're very noisy. We speak very loud and some people say, ah, these people are very noisy. We speak very loud and some people say, ah, these people are very noisy, but that's part of our culture. So that's why people from Cartagena are special and are different.
Speaker 6:So we have a beautiful city with wall very preserved. We have wall, we have battery, we have bastion, we have fort and we have batteries, we have bastions, we have forts and we have everything. I think we have everything in Cartagena, even that part you mentioned the modern area, where the colonial houses, very colorful streets and amazing architectural. So Cartagena is, for me, is the perfect destination because you can join everything. If you want to go to the modern area, you go to Boca Grande. It's the modern area. You go to Boca Grande, it's a modern area. But if you want to go back to the history, back to the time, you stay inside the wall and you can join these beautiful houses with colonial style, amazing balcony with flowers. So yeah, for me we have everything here.
Speaker 3:What and what I found so fascinating? Because one of the things I had read before coming is that it's a unesco world heritage site and you know this walled city, which I was so keen to see for myself up close, knowing that this is, you know, um, you know, a colonial town named after cartagena in spain. That's like, that has, uh, you know, a 500 year history, and so, as you described, the architecture, but also the fortress, and it was never conquered by the English, and so it's a fascinating part of the history of Colombia. For sure, it's totally unique and different than any other part of the country, and exactly what you described was what hit us first was music and the nightlife, and it was like just the, just a totally different environment when we hit the streets to walk through Cartagena, and it was just like where are we? And the closest comparison that I could think of from my travels was Havana, like, and it just had this like great Caribbean vibe about it, and I was like I've loved all of Colombia so far and I'm like this is pretty incredible too. And I was like I've loved all of Colombia so far and I'm like this is pretty incredible too, like I was just like.
Speaker 3:Even so, tell us a little bit more about what you would typically take someone on the tour. So what? Because we had a couple of we. We were very fortunate to have an amazing day touring around Cartagena, and then we went to an island for we basically had another little getaway, which you can by all means highlight all the things you can do from Cartagena, because I guess there's so much more that we still could do on future trips. But in Cartagena itself, what are some of the primary things that you would encourage travelers to check out? Or what are some of the things that you take people to explore on their kind of first day to experience the city?
Speaker 6:Okay, the city during the colonial period period was divided in three social levels. So we still have social class and social level in Colombia. So in that time was from one to three, today from one to six or even more. But something that I want to introduce to the tourists about Cartagena, I tried to teach them about these three social levels in the past because the city was divided Inside the wall upper and middle class.
Speaker 6:So I take people upper and middle class way, I explain what happened there and then I take them to the lowest class, which is located in Hexamani neighborhood, and I think they have an opportunity to see and to check what happened in the past in Cartagena, happened in the past in Cartagena.
Speaker 6:They have the opportunity to learn about the history and which is, for me, is still a little bit alive, because I explain about what happened during the slavery time, what happened with the rich people and what happened with the poor people, and we have that in Cartagena still so, which is not common because, for example, we have Hexamaní neighborhood and in Hexamaní neighborhood you can learn about lowest class area. You can see, you can see the real Cartagena in Hexamaní, the deadly life of local people in Cartagena, and it's not common to see or to have native or local people living in tourist areas because it's very expensive. But, opposite, in Hexhamani it's possible to have that. So for me it's very important to take people through these three ways to see the city upper middle class and lowest class in Hexamani. So downtown and Hexamani.
Speaker 3:The other thing I want to highlight, too, is the cuisine. I know we talked a little bit about that and the other cities that we've highlighted on this podcast, but Cartagena is very unique. But Cartagena is very unique, and so Palenque one of the big highlights for us and we were discussing this at the very beginning with Juliana that we had a chance to experience the cuisine like a typical Christmas dish and we were able to be a part of the cooking experience, and it was truly one of the highlights of our entire trip. So tell us a little bit about the cuisine in Cartagena. What are some of the things that people should gravitate to while they're there?
Speaker 6:Oh sure. And what are some of the things that people should gravitate to while they're there? Oh sure. So we have one of the most interesting cuisine of Colombia, because the mix of races indigenous, spanish and African provide their product in order to create like a perfect balance in flavor, texture. So that's why our cuisine is very original, it's very authentic and it's unique, and we have many special dishes in Cartagena.
Speaker 6:For example, one of the most famous is the coconut rice. Coconut rice fried fish, fried plantain and, in general, shellfish are very famous in Cartagena because they're fresh. And also we have many stuff and also the candies. We love sweets and I think that part belongs to the African heritage. So here we have a very nice place called Portal de los Dulces, like Sweet Portal, so you can try all kinds of sweets made by Palenquera's hands, very, very good. And, yeah, we have all kinds of food in Cartagena, because Cartagena is one of the most touristic cities in Colombia, but the most traditional, yeah, as the one that I told you coconut rice fish cocktails. I told you coconut rice fish cocktail. And also we have Posta Cartagenera, which is a beef, and it's also very special.
Speaker 3:So clearly I need to try the beef. I haven't had that yet, but there were so many highlights. One of the other highlights was the rum in Colombia and we actually got to try this specific type of rum. That was like banana infused and I just didn't expect because I'm not a typically a rum drink. I didn't expect to love rum the way I did after traveling to Colombia. So tell us a bit about some of the spirits that are available and how that is part of the culture as well.
Speaker 6:Oh sure, yeah, we have a big variety of rums, and many of them are from Cartagena, like the one you're talking about, and they are here. We have many experts, baristas, and they introduce you in this world. So you can have rum with chocolate, so you can mix this, this, and then after that, you love rum, even if you're not rum drinker. So, yeah, it's, it's very, very special. We have many kinds of rum like, uh, sorcerer, like dictator, like, and, and these people who are very expert around tasting, and they introduce you in this world.
Speaker 3:That's great. Yeah, just another highlight that I wasn't expecting. The other thing I wanted to ask you too, just in terms of the people that visit Cartagena in the time of the year that they come, because one of the things that I actually thought it was lovely to see there was many African-Americans that were traveling to Cartagena and I thought that was just so you can obviously tell the Americans because they're wearing their collegiate gear or, like you can tell by their attire. It's funny when we were talking about Medellin, one of the things that separates locals from tourists is jeans. Like that's one of the things. Like all the locals wear jeans, no matter how hot it is. But in Cartagena, obviously you can spot the locals and you can see that, oh, those are Americans, but who typically do?
Speaker 3:You find travels to Cartagena, so people have an idea of who they're going to be surrounded by, because it is a very touristic city and what I mean by that is that actually that's one of the things that's lovely about Cartagena. Like you really do feel like you're at a tourist destination. You feel like you're in a holiday place, so it is more tourist than, say, medellin or Bogota, but I'm highlighting that in a good way because it feels like a place you want to go on holiday, have a vacation. You'll see lots of other people traveling there. Even we saw they were building a new Four Seasons Hotel, like building these beautiful new properties. Because tourism continues to grow and grow To Cartagena. There's so many direct flights. I'm sure there's many people that literally just go to Cartagena and they haven't really seen Colombia. They've just seen an incredible part of Colombia and Cartagena. But tell us about where the people that you're seeing, where they're coming from and what's kind of the best time of the year to visit.
Speaker 6:So we have tourists in Cartagena from all over the world, but I think the highest population are from US. We have a lot of people from US and on December also January, february. I think these are the most vicious months that we have people coming. But, as you said, cartagena is like a holiday place, so no matter what season of the year, you come here so you can join everything. Do you know why? Because our weather. We wait here people for no longer, no matter the season, you know, because we have a tropical weather.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, one of the highlights as soon as we arrived at the hotel because our room wasn't immediately available, and that actually worked out to be just fine because the pool was, and it was so glorious and so hot and the first thing we did was hit the pool and chilled out by the pool and, incidentally, we were kind of it was a tropical paradise from the moment we arrived and it was like and I think that's one of the reasons that the Impulse team does organize the trips the way they do so you finish in Cartagena, which is a perfect way to finish. Actually, I would do it any direction, but I totally get why. You know, we started in Bogota, went to Medellin and then finished in Cartagena, because it was like it was just a glorious way to finish a trip, to have some beach time, to have some pool time and to go out dancing. That was one of the highlights that you know. We were told, oh, you have to go like, and then some of the clubs were open and the music and you're just like you've had a few drinks, the rum was tasting good, and so you know, we had an epic time in Cartagena, but one of the things I wanted to.
Speaker 3:Also, if you wouldn't mind highlighting, is the jumping off points from Cartagena, because that was eye-opening for me. We had a chance to go and spend a couple of nights, so we took a boat and had like a couple of night getaway. But there's so many places that you can travel to from Cartagena. Would you mind sharing a couple of examples of those so that if someone is literally just coming to Colombia to go to Cartagena, they at least experience a little bit more of Colombia with what's within reasonable proximity to Cartagena?
Speaker 6:Sure, we have a beautiful peninsula called Baru. So in Baru there is a small archipelago called Rosario, confirmed by 28 islands, and also there is one of the most important coral reef parks of Colombia. It's one of the most important coral reef parks of Colombia and you can see turquoise water, white sand in these private islands, so it's like a paradise. It's beautiful and, yeah, I invite you to join that because it's amazing. The Rosarios Islands. Also, San Basilio de Palenque if you're interested to have an interaction or an encounter with the African heritage, San Basilio de Palenque is the right place.
Speaker 6:In Cartagena, 20 minutes from the wall city, we have La Boquilla. La Boquilla is a fisher community and they from 200 years ago and also it's a very nice place. It's a very nice place because you can learn about local people there and you can learn about even the problems they have. They struggle with the gentrification, the development in Cartagena. So La Boquilla is another place to visit which is very nice. The Mud Boquilla is 45 minutes from the city. So if you want to have like a weird experience, unique one, you go to the mud volcano and you can have a mud bath, which is very unique and it's just 45 minutes from the city. Yeah, we have many places here.
Speaker 3:Clearly many places I need to get back to. I think it was Santa Marta that we went to for a couple of nights and it was. You know. We took a boat and this is where, like it just kept revealing itself. So clearly there's a lot I need to get back to and exploring Colombia, and specifically Cartagena. Maybe I'll do it reverse order. That time of the year is pretty appealing for us Canadians, I have to say December, january going from minus 30 to plus 30 is like a great way to arrive in a destination. Just in closing, when someone's thinking about going to Cartagena, what would you encourage them to like? If there's one or two takeaways from the conversation we've had right now about Cartagena, what would you recommend someone traveling to Cartagena for the first time to experience? I know you've hit a lot of highlights already, but what would you like to leave everyone with as kind of the one or two takeaways that you'd like people to remember from this conversation about Cartagena?
Speaker 6:Okay, so I introduce people with the history, because it's very important History gastronomy, music, dance, food.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's more than two. I think we're at five already. I think we're well on our way to ten. That highlights how much it is to offer. There's not just two.
Speaker 3:What are we talking about there's a dozen reasons that you need to experience Carnet. No, but this is fantastic. I really enjoyed our conversation. I obviously look forward to meeting you next time that I have the privilege to get back to Columbia. Certainly we'll look forward to doing another tour and bringing our family. Our kids didn't have the chance to experience it on our past trip. We're definitely going to bring them next time and for sure they would love our daughters all about beaches. I mean, she's a teenager, so of course, I think that's one of the things for the families planning a trip. You can assure that you can make sure that there's going to be beach time. Get the Cartagena in and even if it's beaches and your thing, there's so many other things to explore and see. But yeah, aralis, I've so enjoyed this conversation. It was a real pleasure to meet you and, yeah, I look forward to seeing you the next time that I'm in Colombia. Thanks again for joining us.
Speaker 6:Oh, it was my pleasure and you're very welcome here with your family and I hope to see you here soon.
Speaker 3:Thanks so much for joining us on this very first destination spotlight of travel trends focused on Colombia. I hope you enjoyed the conversation today with Rodrigo and Juliana from Impulse Travel, as well as their three ambassadors from Bogota, medellin and Cartagena. I can't thank you all enough for sharing your stories and also a powerful window into the new Colombia. I am so excited to get back, and I'm sure many of you are inspired to travel to Colombia as a result of this episode. Just don't forget that if you want to get a free tour by booking through Impulse Travel, you can find more details at impulsetravelcom, and you can get any one of the day tours that we talked about on this podcast today, whether it's Communa 13 in Medellin or Breaking Borders in Bogota or Coffee Tasting in Cartagena. Those will all be added to your journey at no additional cost, and the team also runs fam trips and works closely with ProColumbia, so be sure to reach out to the team at impulsetravelcom. We will also be posting clips and highlights from this episode on our social channels Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, so be sure to check those out. And I also just wanted to close with an acknowledgement of an extraordinary musician.
Speaker 3:You heard his music in the intro to this episode and you're gonna hear it as we close out now. His name is Gregorio Uribe, and we had the privilege of visiting his home on the very first day. He has an incredible song that you can find on Spotify, called I Leonardo, which was written about his son, and it was a really special moment because he performed it in his house and his son was there, and it was very sweet and very powerful and such a wonderful way to welcome us to Columbia. I am now totally in love with a style of music that I didn't know existed before, and I just wanted to thank Gregorio.
Speaker 3:He's another one of these great examples of someone that has moved back to Colombia, just like you heard Raul, who moved back from Australia to be a part of this incredible travel boom that's happening in Colombia, and very much the same because Gregorio moved back from New York City. He's so well-read, so cultured. I had the most fascinating conversations with him, but ultimately he is an extraordinary musician and I hope you enjoy his music as we sign off now. Thanks again for everyone for listening. Until next time, safe travels carajo que sonrisas me dan.
Speaker 2:Es un ojo en bello. Carajo que sonrisas me dan. Ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, mis plantes perdidas que hay en el pecho, yo guardo. Ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, yo fui de tu vida y de tu carácter. Gallardo, I'm not afraid to play one shot, I can do it. I was born a tambourine. I will not forget you. I was born a tambourine. I will not forget you. I will touch you. I will touch you, even if it is my way, I will touch you. I will touch you. Although it's my way, let's see if you can sing it, bro. Ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ¶¶, ¶¶, ¶¶.
Speaker 3:I'll never be alone.
