A Yellow Fever Issue Traveling from Colombia to Costa Rica

For those who know us well, you’ve come to expect that we plan every little detail far more than most other travelers.  We research a lot, and only very rarely have unexpected surprises pop up on us.

I say this as the intro to this article so you can imagine our shock when we tried checking in to our flight from Cartagena, Colombia, to San Jose, Costa Rica and were told we had to show our Yellow Fever vaccination records in order to fly.

You know, the ones that were lost when we were robbed in Peru.

Hello panic mode, my name is Jeremy.  I never thought I’d be seeing you this day.

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Hilton Cartagena Review – 5 Much Needed Nights

Hilton Cartagena from the beach.In our fourth and final Hilton credit card points redemption for this trip, we decided to splurge in our final city in South America.

Although some of our redemption choices in the past were for more stylish hotels, the Hilton Cartagena in Colombia was calling to us in order to recover after our six month journey around the continent.  With 120,000 points and two weekend certificates remaining in our accounts, we were able to exchange these for five-nights in an Executive room (after our gold status upgrade) worth $279/night.

As in the case of our previous stays, we have to ask one question: was the property worth our points?

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That Time Angie Made Us Stay in a Sex Hotel

Enjoying the surround sound of a half-dozen Colombian men getting it on with their mistresses during our stay in a sex hotel was not something I would have put on my bucket list.  

But it happened anyway.

Welcome to your first night in Colombia!

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The One Reason to Skip Cuenca, Ecuador on Your Next Trip

Overlooking Cuenca from the Inca RuinsWithin moments of arriving in Cuenca, Ecuador, we felt an odd familiarity. 

The city seemed eerily similar to one we had visited a few months prior, down to just about every detail.   The buildings looked identical, the public squares just as pristine, and many of the people wore the same traditional style clothes as we saw during our stay in Sucre, Bolivia.

With our excitement at the highest levels, since Sucre has earned a spot in our Top 10 Favorite Cities anywhere in the world, we were thoroughly prepared to start throwing around the same distinction for Cuenca.

But there was one key difference which brought our whole experience down several notches.

The city is overflowing with expats, and the ones we encountered were all quite rude.

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