Destination Spotlight: Colombia with Juliana Medina (CEO) & Rodrigo Atuesta (Co-Founder), Impulse Travel

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
I would say music is so close to what we are as a
nation for many differentreasons.
I think music embodies thistricultural blend of indigenous,
european and black in manydifferent kinds of rhythms.
Also, music, I think, bringsthe country together.

(00:24):
Colombia is a big, bigpowerhouse when it comes to
international music, so music isso intertwined with what we are
that I would say that it wouldbe impossible to conceive
Colombia as a nation takingmusic apart from it Hello

(00:54):
everyone, and welcome to ourvery first Destination Spotlight
episode of Travel Trends.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
This is your host, dan Christian, and today we're
going to kick off this newseries with a spotlight on
Colombia, which is a countrythat is often misunderstood
given its complex history, butit's one of the fastest growing
and most exciting destinationsin the world, and I can speak
from experience about thatbecause I recently traveled to
Colombia with Impulse Travel.
You're going to meet Rodrigoand Juliana today, who run

(01:21):
Impulse Travel, as well as threeof their guides, who they call
ambassadors, all of which I hadthe privilege to meet while I
was in Bogota, medellin andCartagena, and I also wanted to
make sure that this firstdestination spotlight was not
only a destination I traveled to, but one that was really
meaningful for me, and I thinkyou'll understand as you hear
this conversation, impulseTravel is very much a company

(01:44):
that's aligned with my travelvalues.
Their whole focus is creatingpositive, meaningful change in
their communities.
They are truly change makersthat are committed to getting
money into the hands of localpeople and giving them
opportunities they wouldn't haveif tourism didn't exist.
So it's a really powerful storyand one I'm very keen to share
with you today, and, obviously,one of the big discoveries for

(02:05):
me was just how remarkably safeColombia was, how warm and
welcoming their people were, howdelicious the cuisine is that
was a huge highlight.
The diversity of their countryand their scenery, from the
mountains of Bogota to thestreets of Medellin and the
Caribbean vibes of Cartagena.
There's literally never been abetter time to visit Colombia as

(02:26):
far as I'm concerned, and Icannot believe I waited this
long, especially because thevalue of the dollar is so
extraordinarily good.
One of the additional benefitsas well for all of our listeners
if you will mention TravelTrends when booking with Impulse
Travel, they will give you afree day tour, whether you're
booking direct as a traveler oras a travel agent on behalf of

(02:47):
one of your clients.
Either way, they'll give you afree day tour, which could be
the Breaking Borders tour inBogota that I highly recommend
everyone has to do.
It could be Camino 13 inMedellin or the coffee tasting
experience in Cartagena.
You choose the tour you want todo and they will gladly include
that.
Just mentioned travel trendswhen you're booking with Impulse
Travel.
And now we're going to have theprivilege to meet these two

(03:10):
visionary leaders, as well asthree of their extraordinary
guides, but first we're going tohear from Rodrigo Atuesta, the
co-founder, chief impact officer, who started this company over
15 years ago with a mission totransform tourism into a force
for positive change.
And you'll see, he has donethat.
But he's still only gettingstarted.
And you're going to meetJuliana Medina, the CEO, who

(03:32):
joined about five years ago andhas really helped guide Impulse
to the forefront ofsustainability and
community-based travelexperiences.
She's joined me on stage a fewtimes over this past year,
including at ITB in Berlin.
She's an extraordinary leaderin the travel industry.
And a few times over this pastyear, including at ITB in Berlin
, she's an extraordinary leaderin the travel industry and a
remarkable CEO for this company.
The two of them have anincredible dynamic.
And then you'll meet threeextraordinary guides that will

(03:55):
give you an overview of Bogota,medellin and Cartagena.
I'm so excited to bring thisepisode to you, so let's get
started.
Welcome Rodrigo, welcomeJuliana.
It's so great to have you onthe Travel Trends podcast.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Hey.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Dan.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
It's great to be here .

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Awesome.
As Rodrigo once said, it waslove at first listen when you
discovered the Travel Trendspodcast and we got a chance to
connect a few years ago.
Obviously, our relationship hasevolved significantly since then
.
Since we met in Montreal, I'vejoined your board and I'm a huge
advocate for travel to Colombia, given the trip that my wife

(04:30):
and I had last year, and so Iwas very keen to do this
Destination Spotlight because,as most of our listeners have
heard on our show, I feel likenow is the time to travel to
Colombia and, based on myextensive experience in the
travel industry, working withbrands like Lonely Planet and G
Adventures and the TravelCorporation, there's certain
times when a destination justmeets the moment when it has so

(04:53):
much to offer travelers and it'sjust at a time of its
development where it's whenshould you go?
Now, the sooner you can get toColumbia.
I think you guys you certainlyknow this, you live there,
you're a Colombian, and so I wasreally keen to bring this
conversation to life so that allof our listeners can have a
much better understanding ofwhat an amazing destination in
Colombia is and address a lot ofthe questions that I had of

(05:13):
both of you before we traveledthere.
Like is it?

Speaker 1 (05:16):
safe.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
It's the question that keeps coming up and it's
incredibly safe.
So I have so many questions foryou guys today, but let's start
with a bit of an overview ofeach of you and your backgrounds
.
And, juliana, you're the CEO ofthis company.
You've been on stage with memultiple 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 makesure our entire audience does

(05:37):
and those people that are justdiscovering travel trends by
virtue of this ColumbiaDestination Spotlight.
So tell everyone, juliana,first a little bit about your
background in the travelindustry.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
Yeah, thank you, dan.
So yeah, I was born and raisedin Cartagena, colombia, and I
studied finance, but then Ibecame a guide, a tour guide in
my city, and I fell in love withit because I found the power
that tourism has, like withbeing a guide make me answer and
make me question myself, likewho I am, and therefore, so I

(06:09):
had my degree in finance andthen mixing with being a guide
and then making this into thecompany and then what it's
impulse today.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
That's great.
Thank you, juliana, and we'llget a bit more into impulse.
But, rodrigo, you've been onthis journey since the very
beginning and you guys both haveextensive background in tourism
.
Tell everyone a bit about howyou got into the industry.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
It was a very similar story.
Actually, as a lot of people inthe travel industry, I didn't
study formally anything relatedto hospitality.
I went to university to studyindustrial engineering in Bogota
, which is Colombia's capitaland also my hometown, and when I
was in university I alsostarted teetotaling around being

(06:51):
a tour guide.
I think my first approach tohospitality was actually through
couchsurfing, and that spiritof connecting with people from
all over the world and hostingthem 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

(07:16):
about Colombia and alsounderstanding the rich heritage,
culture and nature thatColombia has and turning that
into experiences for visitorscoming to Colombia.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
I actually didn't realize that part about your
background, Rodrigo.
I didn't know you were anaverage couch surfer for many
years.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah, I'm still are.
I mean, I don't host that muchanymore, but I'm still part of a
community and I have alsoactually recently in Africa,
joined a couch surfer as atraveler and it was an amazing
experience.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Oh, that's interesting.
And for those people who aren'tfamiliar with that term, I came
to understand it nearly 20years ago when I was working at
Lonely Planet and there was thisconcept of couchsurfing where
people would literally justallow strangers effectively to
stay on their couch and givethem a place to stay, and it was
sort of this element ofgoodwill right that you pay it
forward and you have theopportunity to crash on someone
else's couch because you give upyour couch.

(08:06):
And I still remember whenAirbnb first launched and
someone had said to me Vivek,actually one of my colleagues I
was working with at LonelyPlanet, he's like there's
already couch surfing, why do weneed Airbnb?
And Airbnb basically justcommercialized the concept of
couch surfing and turned it intoa multi-billion dollar business
.
So I love that.
That was actually part of yourstory and it actually connects

(08:28):
to me getting to know you, likeI have over the last couple of
years, that you are very givingand your intentions when it
comes to travel.
And this is a testament to youboth.
And part of the reason I wantedto have this spotlight on
Columbia and have you both partof this conversation is because
your intentions are very pureand very genuine and it's not
about a profit motive so much asit is getting the money in the

(08:51):
hands of the right peoplelocally and lifting up
communities.
And that's very real and Iexperienced that firsthand.
So tell everyone.
Rodrigo, a little bit of anoverview of Impulse Travel, so
everyone kind of wrapped theirhead around this business that
you and Juliana have created.
Sure.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
So Impulse Travel is a Colombian DMC.
That means destinationmanagement company, and we also
mix the business model of alocal tour operator.
So what that means is that wecome from the background of
developing experiences ourselves, primarily by ourselves being
guides.
We both started about 15 yearsback as tour guides, and from

(09:30):
being tour guides that evolvedto understanding and putting a
bit more intention and designinto the experiences that we
were delivering to the market.
So we then migrated to be alocal operator that came up with
the most, let's say,unconventional experiences for
other DMCs.

(09:51):
Back then I didn't even knowwhat a DMC was.
It was just Colombian companieswho were hiring us and bringing
all these foreigners to haveour experiences.
Then we started to learn thebusiness about being a DMC and a
company from the United Statesgave us the opportunity to be a
DMC for their group trips, andfrom there that was 2015,.
You know all evolved and westarted to focus on delivering

(10:14):
amazing experiences forinternational travelers in
Colombia that connect with whatwe believe is the most important
asset of Colombia, which is thepeople.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
For sure, Juliana.
What else would you add to thatfor people just becoming
familiar with impulse travel asfar as where the business here
is in 2025?

Speaker 4 (10:35):
Yeah, it's like I consider ourself a bridge
between the internationaltravelers and having the best
connections here locally.
So both of us have traveled theworld and have lived in other
countries, so we know theexpectations of the
international travels, but atthe same time we know all the
potentials and we have greatfriends and great connections to

(10:55):
deliver and create itinerariesand create travels and
experience that are justunforgettable.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
That's great.
No, I appreciate you sharingthat, and this is where you know
, having gotten to know eachother so well, both in person
traveling to Colombia, andobviously we've seen each other
internationally at variousevents, I'm always amazed at how
little people understand aboutColombia, and that's really
where I wanted to start theconversation together today,
because I certainly had a numberof questions, but I also hear

(11:22):
you getting asked many of thesame questions, and so, on this
conversation today, I wanted toreally bring Columbia to life
for all of our listeners.
And one interesting kind ofside note story another one of
my good friends, ian MichaelFarkas, is Colombian.
He lives in Miami.
He and I have known each otherfor 10 or 15 years and he's a
great friend of mine and I hadhim on episode or season one of

(11:43):
travel trends and when we weredoing season one for our
listeners that have been joiningus since the very beginning.
Of course, we're in season five, preparing for season six Now
we uh uh used to do triviaquestions at the end of every
episode.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
And you remember that ?
Yeah, do you have my Columbiatrivia ready for me?

Speaker 3 (12:01):
This is going to be, I do a little bit Ready for me.
This is going to be I do alittle bit, this is going to be
an easy one for you.
But one of the questions Iasked him was about what's
unique about Columbia, and thatColumbia is the only country in
South America that hascoastlines on both the Pacific
Ocean and the Caribbean Sea,which, and so I, which, of
course, geographically.
That's why, as a good startingpoint, you guys are essentially

(12:23):
the gateway.
So I asked you he.
Obviously he knew the answer tothat question.
People can go back and listenthat episode, but I I learned,
um, I would, I would get thesetrivia questions together based
on the guest and theirbackground.
I ultimately stopped doing itbecause there was one lady I
felt terrible.
She got, I wasn't.
I wanted everyone to get fouror five out of five and she got
zero out of five and I was likeyou know what, know what I'm
like, I'm not making these toohard, but yes, let's talk a

(12:48):
little bit about the geographyof Colombia first, since you
really are the gateway to SouthAmerica from Panama, and so give
everyone, if you wouldn't mind,a little bit of an overview of
the landscape and geography ofColombia.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Well, colombia is so diverse that we say that
Colombia can be up to sixcountries in one.
There's many reasons to that.
As you already mentioned, wehave coasts both in the Pacific
part and also on the Caribbeanside.
That's actually the only SouthAmerican country that has this
feature.
And also being the entrance toLatin America means a lot, not

(13:24):
only nowadays in terms of theimmigration that created what we
know as Latin America today.

(13:49):
Everything passed throughColombia and everything left its
mark.
So Colombia has like atricultural background, because
we are predominantly a native.
So there was about 10 millionindigenous people before
Columbus arrived that's anestimate and over 80 different

(14:12):
tribes that still live today,most of them, but also the fact
that the Europeans came, and notonly the Spanish, but also the
Germans, the Italians, also abig migration from Arab
countries and also the slavetrade brought a lot of Africans
into Colombia.
So that kind of mixes geographyand culture and makes Colombia

(14:38):
so unique.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Well, what's really interesting about that that I
discovered traveling there lastyear is that I expected to
experience one Columbia, andeven in the first 24 hours, I
quickly started to realize thatthere was going to be so many
diverse aspects to the country.
And what I wasn't prepared foreither, and our listeners will
have the opportunity in thisepisode, as we're going to

(14:59):
travel from Bogota, where youguys are primarily based.
Of course, juliana is fromCartagena, but the Impulse team
is based out of Bogota.
We're going to talk to one ofyour amazing guides in Bogota
first, and I had the chance tomeet while I was there.
Then we're going to go toMedellin and then we're going to
go to Cartagena in this episode.
So we're going to take you on atour of Colombia through this
special episode and destinationspotlight.

(15:21):
But the one thing I was going tosay is that I just didn't
realize how unique each of thosedestinations were going to be,
and so certainly Cartagena beingon the Caribbean coast and, as
you mentioned, the slave tradebackground, but just the waves
of immigration to Colombia overthe years and the different
cultures and how they all blendtogether that infuse the music,
the cuisine and even theactivities that we know what you

(15:43):
go out and do do in a night inBogota is very different than
what you go out and do for anight in Medellin.
I got to experience Tejo forthe first time in Bogota.
Tell everyone what Tejo is.
That's a really fascinating.
I love Tejo.
I wish the world needs moreTejo.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah, I'm sure.
Well, tejo is well to start off, tejo is our national sport and
that's not a joke, it'sactually on the constitution.
So Tejo, it's a game.
It's similar to Cornhole forthose who know this traditional
game from the US and NorthAmerica but the difference is

(16:18):
that it involves heavy pucks ofmetal, gunpowder and also beer
as an important component ofplaying the whole thing.
So it's about throwing thesemetal pucks to the other side,
trying to explode these littlesachets of gunpowder, and it's a
very lively environment becauseyou have a lot of joy and each

(16:40):
of the explosions bringseveryone to life and it's an
environment and it's part of ourheritage and so one of the
things that we love sharing withour travelers.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
And don't forget the music, like playing in the back,
like all the Colombian musicand everybody partying and
dancing while they're throwingthe trejos.
Oh, that's so much fun.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yeah, and what were we drinking again, remind me the
uh well, primarily it's beer,but then it's aguardiente.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Aguardiente is another.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
It's a desolated drink that comes from sugar cane
and it is infused with anix andit'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 arounda tray of um alcohol and beer
and it was, and there was fruitand it was just like, oh my god,
it overwhelmed the senses thefirst night and it was the shock

(17:30):
of the gunpowder going off.
It certainly adds anotherelement and I said to Juliana
and Rodrigo that I wish thisexisted in Toronto.
I would go every weekend, butclearly that's not going to fly
in most places but, given thegunpowder and alcohol
combination, but that's one ofthe amazing things that you can
do when you go to Bogota and itis incredibly safe.

(17:50):
But it's very unique.
And you mentioned DMO Foranyone who's not familiar with
that term like a destinationmanagement organization, and the
DMO for Colombia is ProColombiaand there's an important
connection there and I do have aquestion for you on this topic
too, rodrigo because obviouslyDMOs play an important role of

(18:10):
encouraging more travel,investment and overall awareness
of a destination.
So the reason we actuallyconnected in the first place,
rodrigo was actually a listenerto Travel Trends, so he already
actually was familiar with thepodcast and I was invited to be
a speaker at a pro-Columbiaconference in Montreal and I
think most of our listeners know, I'm based in Toronto and I

(18:31):
flew up to Montreal for thistalk and we saw each other the
first night, the welcoming nightbefore my talk the next day,
and made the connection that youlistened to the show and so we
struck up a friendship and youwere part of the talk the next
day and then we we kept in touch.
We became great friends.
You kindly asked me to joinyour board.
I've obviously been very activeand now I've traveled to
Columbia.

(18:51):
But when you think about howthat all came about, there's a
pro Columbia connection.
There's a DMO facilitated thatopportunity for you to travel to
Montreal, for me to go toMontreal and speak and to make a
connection kind of permanentbetween the two of us, and I
think that highlights theimportance of government and
then private enterprise and thereason we're having this
conversation today.
I'm not a equity partner.

(19:13):
I don't have any financialstake in impulse travel.
What I do have is a greatunderstanding now and passion
for travel to Colombia andthat's why I wanted to bring
this episode together and Ithink very highly of the two of
you and the company travel toColombia and that's why I wanted
to bring this episode togetherand I think very highly of the
two of you and the companyyou've built, and obviously I
want to see you guys continue tobe successful.
Because of the style of travelthat you offer in Colombia, this
whole idea of change makers,where you're really getting the

(19:35):
money in the right hands I feeldeeply connected to that
philosophy and purpose, and sothat's what I think drew us
together and is one of thereasons I really wanted to kick
off our Destination Spotlightseries talking about Colombia
and having you on.
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 byProColombia, like ITB, and so

(19:58):
it's such an important part ofgrowing the tourism economy and
giving people opportunities toget out of other industries,
like narcotics, and you guysactually hire guides that have
previously had to work innarcotic when they didn't have
other opportunities, and now allof a sudden they do because
they can work in tourism, andwe're going to speak to one
great example of that withBreaking Borders and one of the

(20:20):
tours that you run in.
So it's amazing how this allties together.
But just my direct question toyou, rodrigo, is that when you
think about the DMO andProColumbia.
I would like to know, beyondthe marketing campaigns and I do
love that as well, because theonly risk is you won't want to
leave, because I certainly feltthat and I can't wait to come
back again.
And so what has the tourismboards done from your point of

(20:43):
view to make travel to Colombiathat much more interesting
possible for other people?
So what are some of the thingsthat you've seen, beyond what
I've mentioned, that have reallyhelped lift Colombia up through
ProColombia as an organization?

Speaker 1 (20:57):
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 thinkis the fact that they
understood very early on therole that tourism had in the
development of Colombia as awhole, not only as a travel

(21:17):
destination, but also as acountry and as a society.
So they understood that andthey have been bringing a spirit
of unifying the travel industry.
So one of the things that Ilove about the travel industry
in Colombia I think it's verysimilar in other countries is
the fact that there is a verybig collaborative spirit among

(21:38):
different DMCs.
For example, we're very goodfriends with other DMCs who
might be our competitors in somestages, but at the same time
we're friends, and I think thathas been infused by ProColombia.
And also ProColombia hassupported in a big way an
association that is calledACOTUR, which is the Colombia's
Responsible Tourism Association.

(21:59):
They work very closely together.
So it's been the effort ofcreating these spaces for people
not only to connect with theworld but also to connect among
us, to create a very strong andunited travel industry.
And they have been verystrategic and, I think, very,

(22:20):
very smart in terms of themessaging, in terms of where to
put the money.
Actually, procolombia is one ofthe DMOs with the smallest
budget compared to other DMOslike Peru or Costa Rica or
Ecuador, and the work that theyhave done has been very
efficient because I think alsothe quality of the people that
work there is amazing.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
I appreciate you sharing that, and what I want to
get into now is really whatmakes Colombia so special.
I mean, I think everyonejoining us that is new or
unfamiliar with Columbia I'msure there's actually people
that are joining us that havebeen to Columbia as well and
just want to hear more about thedestination, and I think this
is where you know there's somuch for us to be able to
discuss and cover, and intoday's episode, obviously we're
going to speak to three of theguides and then you'll hear

(23:03):
again from Rodrigo and Julianaat the end of this conversation.
But one of the things thatreally stood out to me traveling
to Colombia was just how muchit had to offer, like the
biodiversity, the cuisine, thevalue for money.
That was like, obviously, whena destination is rising up, as
Colombia's and I had two othercolleagues tell me that before I

(23:24):
went it's just that going outfor a fantastic dinner is so
much more affordable in Columbiaand this is where, being
Canadian too, the weather waspretty spectacular, I would say
as well.
But the people I mean gettingto know you guys, but the
culture and the warmth there'sso much that Columbia has to
offer, and so I want to breakthat down for our listeners.

(23:47):
So let's start with coffee,because actually, one of the
things that I found reallyinteresting and Juliana knows
this story because when I wasfinishing the end of our trip,
we were in Cartagena and we weredoing like rum tasting and
chocolate tasting and we didcoffee tasting and one of the
things I realized when you thinkabout the cocoa bean and the
cacao bean I asked one of theguys what came first, coffee or

(24:10):
chocolate, and she wasn't sure,and I'm not trying to be
critical of that, it was like Ididn't know either, and so I
went and did all this researchand I play this game sometimes
at parties when I like, mytrivia question is what came
first, coffee or chocolate.
At parties, when I like little,my trivia question is what came
first, coffee or chocolate, andwhere in the world did it come
from?
And almost everyone guessesthat it's coffee from Columbia.

(24:31):
That's like it seems to be thedefault answer.
And the reality is coffee camefrom Africa and it came from
Ethiopia and chocolate came fromMexico, and yet they've
actually flipped.
So most coffee production isnow in South America, Most
chocolate production is inAfrica.
So that's your fun triviaquestion when you're playing

(24:54):
this game at parties, but coffeeculture has become so
synonymous with Colombia andwhen I was doing coffee tasting,
it's like you guys haveperfected coffee.
And I'm not even a coffeedrinker I'm a tea drinker.
But I actually discovered thatI love Colombian coffee because
it's so pure and the taste is soflavorful and it doesn't have
some of those bitter elementsthat I'm familiar with drinking

(25:16):
coffee.
So let's talk about coffeeculture first.
So what role does coffee playin the lives of Colombians and
for someone looking to travel toColombia, because I didn't get
a chance to experience thecoffee region?
But tell us a little bit moreabout coffee specifically and
how that ties to Colombia andmakes it such a special
destination.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
Yeah, I know.
Coffee is so important in ourculture so we drink coffee every
day.
We call it tinto, so that'salso a fun fact.
So when you come to Colombia,if you ask for Tinto, you're not
asking for wine, you're askingfor coffee.
But at the same time is thatthe coffee industry in Colombia
works with small families.

(25:55):
So 500,000 families live out ofcoffee growing.
So it's not like in othercountries that big companies own
all the land and everythingit's done by machines.
Here, every, every bean ofcoffee is handpicked, every bean
of coffee has been selected,and also we have a coffee
federation and it's somethingthat we feel proud of, that,

(26:17):
that we take care of.
So also, even in the that I'mfrom Cartagena, and in the port
they always taste the coffee,because every bean that comes
that goes out of Colombia, everycoffee bean has to be perfect,
has to be good, because we havea brand and we have.
We have a brand to preserve anda brand to protect.

(26:40):
This association of good coffeeand Colombia is something that
we have been working on in acountry for many years and we
take care of.
Also, something veryinteresting is that a coffee for
us?
We're not heavy coffee drinkers.
Actually, the countries thatdrink the most coffee are
located in North Europe.

(27:02):
Here we drink more small cupsof 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 towake up and to get productive.
We drink coffee to share withothers.
We drink coffee to have deeperconversations, to share with
your family, to share with yourfriends, and that also what it's

(27:23):
part of tourism.
And also another thing is thatthere's a region that we call
the coffee region, but you canfind coffee and we grow coffee
in almost every region ofColombia.
So no matter if you go toCartagena, actually you can
visit coffee farms.
Just look at it.
There are two hours away fromCartagena.
Many people don't know that.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
What I was just going to say to your, the reason I
bring up coffee first, becausewhen it was actually suggested
to us as part of our itinerary,my initial reaction was, well,
I've been to coffee plantationsbefore, I'm not really a coffee
drinker, and so for me it wasactually almost like a hidden
gem, like it was a highlightthat I didn't expect to love
coffee as much as I did inColumbia and we had coffee in

(28:04):
multiple places and I was likeI'm really enjoying coffee in
Columbia.
It just became a great part ofmy trip and experience.
So for me I wanted to highlightthat as what actually made my
trip to Columbia special.
But clearly there's so muchmore to Columbia than just
coffee, and one of the thingsthat certainly you guys know a
lot more about is the arts andthe music and dance.
You guys know from seeing me inperson that I dance like Elon

(28:25):
Musk, so dancingis not astrength of mine.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
I think you did way better than that.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
I don't really want to be compared to him otherwise,
for sure, but.
I just that was the awkwardnessof my moves that were most
similar to his.
But tell us a little bit aboutmusic and culture, because I
know this is big for you,rodrigo.
Your wife is an artist, um, andyou've got a lot of friends in
this space.
But tell us a little bit abouthow music, and dance in
particular, is such an importantpart of colombia and what makes

(28:55):
it special.
And, if you wouldn't mind, giveus a bit of an overview of what
I I had a chance to experiencethat I hope many other people do
as well.
Sure, I would say.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Music is so close to what we are as a nation for many
different reasons.
I think music embodies thistricultural blend of indigenous,
european and black in manydifferent kinds of rhythms.
Also, music, I think, bringsthe country together.

(29:24):
Colombia is a big, bigpowerhouse when it comes to
international music.
I think we all know aboutShakira and now Karol G and all
these big international musicicons that have actually came
out of Colombia and that is nottaken for granted.
I mean, that's not like thatdidn't happen overnight.
Music industry in Colombia hasbeen a leading music industry in

(29:46):
the region for many generations.
Actually a lot of, even a lotof the tangos from Argentina
back in the day they came torecord to Medellín and that's
one of the reasons Medellín isalso a very big tango city.
So music is so intertwined withwhat we are that I would say
that it would be impossible toconceive Colombia as a nation

(30:08):
taking music apart from it.
Music is something we don'tlisten to or we don't dance to
only it's something that we liveall through.
So you would see when you cometo Colombia, for any traveler,
that even if you, everywhere yougo, there's going to be music
playing and, for example, in our, whenever we gather with

(30:30):
friends and family, there'salways a point in the night
after dinner, if there's music,people are going to stand up and
dance.
I learned dancing with mymother, with my auntie, so
that's also something thatbrings people together in a very
warm and festive and also likephysical way, because, as you
know, colombians are very warmand we're very touchy and we
like hugging each other and Ithink dance and this dance

(30:52):
culture, not necessarily dancebeing part of a flirting thing,
but I can, for example, dancewith Juliana as my business
partner, and that would betotally normal to have a Tazanza
dance without any flirtatiouselement to it.
So, yes, music is veryimportant and we have brought a
lot of this into life fortravelers with a different set

(31:15):
of experiences.
So the one that we experiencedtogether is Colombian Musical
Journey that is co-created withGregorio Uribe.
He's a Latin Grammy-nominatedmusician.
He's Colombian, amazinglytalented, and he has become a
good friend over the work thatwe have done together with Music
and Tourism.
That started creating a journeythat is eight days long that is

(31:37):
called Sounds of Colombiavisiting the nest of the
different rhythms in the northof Colombia, going to the
communities, having experienceswith these musicians that are
amazing, a couple of them LatinGrammy winners, and they live in
very small villages and theywelcome us to their houses.
And we decided to create aversion of this because this was

(31:57):
a great conduit to understandColombia as a whole through
music and through, because musicis a language that everyone
understands.
You might not speak Spanish,but you understand music.
It makes you feel something, awhole, through music and through
, because music is a is alanguage that everyone
understands.
You might not speak spanish,but you understand music.
It makes you feel something.
It's what connects the interiorjourney with the outside journey
.
So music, we believe, is agreat way to, to open the doors

(32:18):
to everything that colombia is,and with gregorio, we created an
experiences, an experience thatis in his house, in his home
studio, that is travelingthrough Colombia through
different rhythms, and it's veryinteractive, very fun, and
everyone can engage with music,even if you believe that you
don't have any rhythm or thatyou can't dance, you can't sing.

(32:39):
Whatever your mind limitationsare don't matter in this
experience, because we realizehow music brings everyone
together, and that's theColombian experience.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Well, it's so touching to me.
He's going to someone's home,as we did.
We got to meet his wife and hisadorable young son that he's
got a great song about him thathe played while his son was
there and it was so cute.
His son was like I gave it athumbs down after his dad sung
this beautiful song so funny.
But son was like I gave it athumbs down after his dad sung
this beautiful song so funny.
But they served us snacks andit was such an amazing way to be

(33:13):
welcomed to Columbia.
So mention to everyone becauseGregorio is such an
extraordinary musician.
You're obviously very fortunateto have someone like him to
work with to lead some of thesetrips, because he's an
outstanding musician.
I actually found out when I wasspeaking to one of your guides
in medellin that he was comingon tour and she was like so

(33:33):
desperate to see him.
And it was so, and I was like Iwas just at his house.
I'm like how fortunate am I?
Like I got a chance to meet himand you're just waiting to see
him on stage and get a ticket tohis concert and and it's like
how special is that?
But tell everyone how they canfind out more of his music,
because I actually have it onSpotify now and that's the song
about his son.
I posted about it on socialmedia, so some of our listeners

(33:53):
may have seen that.
But yeah, tell everyone wherethey can find his music.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
So you can find it in any platform like Spotify,
apple Music, I think also inYouTube, and you can search for
Gregorio Uribe amazing, and Ithink he's been an ambassador to
Colombian music worldwide andhe has been also a bridge
between Colombia and the rest ofthe world, using music as a
conduit for that.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
That's great and, juliana, you clearly can dance
as well, and I have seen the twoof 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 12different instruments and you
guys seem to excel at all ofthem.
But tell us a little bit moreabout, I guess, some of those
cultural traditions or even someof the festivals that it leads

(34:40):
to, because I left not only witha love of coffee, but also a
love of a cumbia, and I didn'teven know what that was before.
And now, all of a sudden, I likecumbia music which is like this
, like from where you're from,like Cartagena is a beautiful
blend, but it's but, yeah, tellus a little bit more from your
point of view about the arts,the culture and some of the
traditions of Colombia thatpeople get to take part in when
they travel there.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
Yeah, travel there.
Yeah, something related todancing before I started going
to the festivities, is thatsomething that I call?
The ethics of dancing is thatdance is a language, and
language.
People don't make fun of youwhen you're trying to talk, or
when you talk and when youcommunicate, right?
So the first thing, or one ofthe first rules that I give my
travelers when they're dancingis that you don't apologize, you
just dance, okay?

(35:27):
So nobody wants to be talkingwith someone that is always
correcting their mistakes whenthey're talking, right?
No, nobody wants to talk withsomeone like that.
So when you're dancing, youjust go with the flow.
You enjoy the music and weColombians we enjoy when people
dance.
So don't be afraid, don't feelshame, go out and feel, move
with the rhythm.

(35:47):
We clums will celebrate, andthen it's about the festivities.
So, for example, we have thecarnival in Barranquilla, which
is the second largest carnivalin the world, only after Rio.
Many people don't know that,but it's millions of people who
go there to celebrate ourtraditions, cumbia, for example,
being part of it.
Cumbia, it's a mix also ofthese three ethnics and all the

(36:10):
heritage of Colombia and somepeople even from Mexico to
Argentina, and each country madeit their own.
So actually, many Mexicansthink that cumbia was born in

(36:30):
Mexico, and many Argentiniansand many Peruvians.
You know, it has this thing thatyou belong to it, that it can
also be yours, so that it isyours.
So then, also, we have themusic of the Pacific, then the
marimbas, and then we have alsothe music of the llanos and the

(36:50):
Andean music.
You know it's that we evenactually our DMO Pro Colombia,
made a country campaign that wascalled Colombia, the country,
the country of music and theland of sabrosura and the
country of the 1,000 rhythms.
So everywhere you go, you canalso use music to blend into the

(37:12):
culture.
So we have music to cry, wehave music to celebrate when you
have heartbroken.
Everything can be translatedand used to music, and every
city has a festival that is alsovery strongly related to it.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
Wow, it's powerful.
I mean, you said music to cryOne of the things that stood out
to me in Cartagena when we wentto do a cooking class which
we'll talk about when we getinto Cartagena but one of the
parts that really struck me isthat we were talking about the
slave trade and the difficultyof bringing kids into that

(37:45):
environment and that what theyexplained to us is that when
their child was born, the firstthing that he was, they cry and
they grieve for them, for thehardship that they're going to
experience in this world, andwhen they die, they have a
celebration because they'regoing back to Africa and I was.
It was like, wow, it was sopowerful and this is, um, we'll
we'll talk more about that whenwe get into Cartagena, but just

(38:06):
as soon as you said that, that'sone thing that just came right
back to me Um, and just howpowerful music is.
It's like the most powerful wayto uh, connect with people,
because that we're wired thatway.
We're wired for storytelling,we're wired for music.
It's how our brain so, sothat's one of the things that
I'm talking about appealing toall the senses.
Like arriving in Bogota,Literally, we were singing,

(38:29):
dancing, and then we wereplaying Tejo and it was all
happening in the first 24 hours.
But one of the things that Iwould love to get into a little
bit too, when we think aboutwhat's so special is the
biodiversity, and so we'll talkabout that's so special is the
biodiversity, and so we'll talkabout that in Bogota, about the
markets.
But, rodrigo, how would youbegin to describe that to people

(38:51):
who've not been to Colombiabefore, as to one of the reasons
that it is so special?

Speaker 1 (38:56):
So a couple of fun facts about Colombian
biodiversity.
So we are the second mostbiodiverse country on earth
after Brazil, and the mostbiodiverse by square kilometer.
Also, colombia is number onefor bird species, so it means
that we have more native birdspecies than any other country

(39:18):
on Earth, and that equates withthe intricate geography that we
have the Andes and the twooceans and so many different
kind of ecosystems that thisgeography creates and also for
the fact that we are in theEcuador.
So, since Colombia's weatherreally depends on how high you

(39:40):
are in the mountain, you can goto Cartagena, and it's going to
be hot all year round, and youcan go to bota or above, which
is in the mountains, and it'sgoing to be like more cold and
fresh and chilly, and you can goall the way up to snow peaks.
So all these geographicalconditions create set the stage
for us here kind of biodiversityto emerge.

(40:02):
We actually own two biodiversityhotspots that have been
cataloged as places, that wherethe biodiversity is so big that
science has not even able tocatalog all the different plant
or amphibious or frog speciesthat are there, and they keep
doing expeditions and they keepfinding out that there's more.

(40:23):
So that has a lot to do withColombia and also the fact that,
since Colombia, in the years ofdevelopment, let's say in the
20th century, where all theseindustries were being developed
in other neighboring countriesthat were not going through an
internal war that's what we callthe green side of war so a lot

(40:46):
of these lands have been keptpristine.
All these forests and all thesesea ecosystems, all these
jungles have not been wiped tocreate, I don't know, oil fields
or mining or anything like that.
So we're at a moment of havingall this pristine nature, and
tourism, we believe, is the wayto make the most out of it, to

(41:09):
make a livelihood for the peoplewho benefit and who inhabit
these areas, and also toshowcase the world the amazing
richness that Colombia has interms of nature.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
Well, I'm keen for everyone to hear about just the
diversity of the fruits at themarket, because I'm a huge fan
of the market, so that was ahuge highlight for me.
But just the biodiversity?
Juliana Guerrero, who has wonthe board as well, published a
book on this topic, about thebiodiversity of Colombia.
I just didn't realize it justapplied to I mean, there's more
fruit, types of fruit inColombia than anywhere else in

(41:40):
the world.
But it goes on and on and on.
Like it's just like there's somany examples of where the
biodiversity is so rich, um that, depending on what it is that
you're into, he has a um, thefirst person I've met that has a
cabinet of curiosities and hecollects insects and, like I was
, like he's a real renaissanceman and I I adore, uh, him and

(42:01):
his.
We got a chance to go to hishouse and meet his family as
well, but he was showing us allthese insects he's collected
over the years and it'sremarkable and it's one of the
things he loves about.
Columbia is just that manypeople don't know.
So biodiversity is obviouslyanother big attraction.
The one I want to make surethat we do talk about too is the
food, the cuisine, and so,juliana, how would you describe

(42:24):
Colombian cuisine?
Because I can tell you I hadnot been to a Colombian
restaurant before I traveled toColombia, but I was looking for
Colombian restaurants as soon asI got back and I took a picture
of one and sent it to you guysand I'm like so describe
Colombian food and the differenttypes of variations of the
dishes that are available.

Speaker 4 (42:42):
Oh, wow, that's a hard question because it's so
rich and so diverse.
Actually, that is one of themost common that we get.
Is that I didn't expect thefood in Colombia to be this good
, so we're not well known forour food, but we are.
It's so diverse and food isjust what grows in the landscape

(43:05):
.
And since our landscapes are sorich, then you can get such a
big variety of ingredients.
Then you can blend to createincredible dishes.
And also they change fromregion to region.
They're changing from city tocity.
So my recommendation is that youhave to come and test and try.

(43:25):
So, for example, in the Andes,the variety of potatoes and the
soups that are made with it, andthen the stews, and then the
fruits, of course, that also areused in the cooking, and then
you go to the coast, then thefishes and all the seafood that
we blend with coconut oh my God,I just skinned my mouth out of

(43:47):
a full of water just thinking ofthe nice things that we have.
And also the cool thing aboutthe Colombian cuisine is that
it's changing and it's evolvingin front of our eyes, and that's
also a very tricky thing.
There's so many new restaurantsthat are opening like almost
every day.
So actually, if you look onTripAdvisor and you look what

(44:10):
it's online, you're probably notgoing to get the best options
and what the best that actuallyis out there, because they're
just based on the history andwhat used to be good, like 10
years ago, and those for us andat least in my experience, are
not the best hidden gems interms of food.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Yeah, there's a generation of Colombian chefs
that have had the opportunity totravel abroad, work in other
countries and then come back toColombia and put all their
learnings about techniques anddifferent ways to prepare food
about techniques and differentways to prepare food, but
blending that with thisdiversity of Colombian

(44:49):
ingredients.
So the result of that is agastronomic experience that is
second to none.
Very affordable as well, as youalready mentioned.
Compared to going for finedining in cities like San
Francisco or New York, you canget that for a fifth of the cost
here in Colombia and probablymuch better quality.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
Well, that's exactly what I experienced in Medellin
and we'll talk about that whenwe come to.
This is where, like Bogota,Medellin, Cartagena, all three
of those we'll summarize them atthe end because it's really
difficult to pick any one overanother because you want to go
back, I want to go back to allof them, and for different
reasons.
But medellin was where we wentout for an extraordinary like
was it?
17 course meal from thiscolombian slash american chef

(45:34):
that has restaurants in miamiand washington, and that
experience would have been athousand dollars anywhere else,
but it was like for the two ofus it was two hundred dollars
and it was absolutely like,worth much more than that.
Like we had so many differenttypes of wine and spirits and
like the cuisine wasextraordinary.
Like, so, yeah, but yeah, youbrought up an interesting point
there that would really stoodout to me, even though I had

(45:57):
been briefed, to know thatColumbia was affordable.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthat.
So, when someone's, you know,booking a trip with a company
like Impulse, as far as thevalue for money they're going to
be able to realize, or evenjust traveling to Colombia as a
destination independently, giveus a bit more context to the
affordability.
I also know seeing Julianatravel other places just get

(46:19):
sticker shock when you'retraveling from a place like
Colombia to Germany or to theUSA, and that's an important
realization.
When you're traveling from aplace like Columbia to Germany
or to the USA, because when youknow you and that's an important
realization I think that mosttravelers need to also keep in
mind when they're traveling to aplace like Columbia.
So it's incredibly affordableand you see backpackers I mean
it's a huge community.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
It's an issue right that you guys know in certain
places, that you know people arecoming and spending six months
living there and they're drivingup the prices for locals
because it is so affordable.
But yeah, take us a little bitthrough the economics if you
wouldn't mind.
Yeah, I think it's all down tothe exchange rate, because
Colombian peso is not a verystrong currency.
So if you compare it with theUS dollar, with the euro or even

(46:59):
with the Canadian dollar theCanadian dollar, colombia's
currency, and so you get fourfor one, or three for one, or
with the British pound, I thinkit's five for one.
So I think that helps a lot forColombia being an affordable
destination.

(47:28):
Also, at Impulse, one of thethings that we have realized is
that it's about selecting whatis really value for money,
because there has also been atendency to overcharge, since
there's this surge of peoplecoming from other countries and
there's a lot of smart peoplewho are taking advantage of that
and putting very high prices onthings that are average quality
.
So, from the standpoint ofVimpulse is also being on the

(47:48):
ground and understanding whatreally keeps this value for
money and people who are doingthe things for the love of their
craft.
Of course we support them tomake a living out of it, but not
for just making a businessopportunity out of this
affordability that Colombia has.
So it's not by default.
You really have to know to movearound and for that we
recommend either us or any otherlocal friend or partner to

(48:11):
travel with.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Yeah, I appreciate giving us that context.
Sorry, Juliana, are we going toadd to?

Speaker 4 (48:15):
that.
Yeah, I just wanted to give afew data to that.
For example, an itinerary inColombia.
It's around 30 to 40 percentmore affordable than Costa Rica,
for example that it's anothercountry here in the region.
So also something that I wantedto add is that coming to
Colombia, it's also very easy interms of connectivity.
We'd also reduce the price andreduce the hassles to come.

(48:39):
So, for example, we're the bestconnected airport in South
America.
And then all that also reducedthe price, reduced the friction
of making a 19-hour here.

Speaker 3 (48:48):
No very good points, and again, those are the things
like the infrastructure, gettingfrom the airport and getting
picked up by a guy Again, someof the things you just didn't
expect or know exactly how theywere going to play out, but
certainly the affordability.
I found, you know, certainlyrefreshing to be able to go to a
destination and and just seehow far your money can go and
the things you can do, becausethere's no reason why you're not

(49:09):
going to do those optionalactivities or go out for dinners
or like you're not going tohave to be as cost conscious
because of the, the exchangerate, as you highlighted, ruriko
.
But one thing I'm sure peopleare getting a sense of from the
conversation is the people.
I mean you.
You guys are, you know, you'reso incredibly proficient in
English and so and this is whereobviously we're, you know,

(49:31):
we're connected as humans, forsure, but you guys, it's always
impressive to me when people canspeak multiple languages.
Juliana can also speak German.
It's so impressive to see youguys operate in Spanish with
locals, with your team, and sothe people of Colombia are
certainly very special.
That's the clear and the warmth, as I had mentioned before.
But how would you guys describeyourselves and when you're

(49:53):
trying to convey to people whohaven't been to Colombia before
what the experience is going tobe like for them when it comes
to actually meeting locals orconnecting with everyday
Colombians.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
In one word, I would say we are Colombia's
changemakers when we speak aboutImpulse as a core team and also
as a community with all thepeople we work with, and that
means that changemakers arepeople who care about the
transformation process thatColombia is going through and
that are conscious of the impactthat their work has in their

(50:27):
context and who want to makethis impact meaningful and who
want to make things better forthe livelihood of future
generations in Colombia.
So there is a big component, andI think our generation is
setting the standards for whatthe travel industry will look
like in the years to come, andwe are very fortunate to be

(50:51):
surrounded by amazing people whoare very warm, who are very
approachable, who are also veryexcited about welcoming
travelers, since Colombia hadbeen close to tourism for so
many years.
For us, contrary to whathappens in many countries in
Europe or even in Asia right now, people coming to Colombia will

(51:13):
always get a welcome toColombia everywhere they go, and
not a gringo go home graffitiin the back of the hotel, you
know.
So I think people is a centralcomponent to not only to
Colombia, but also to Impulse asa brand.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
Juliana, what else would you say about the people
of Colombia?
That people can come to, thatshould be prepared to expect.

Speaker 4 (51:34):
No, we're just welcoming.
We love to have visitors, welove to tell our stories, we
love to talk.
So, yes, we are one of the mostdiverse countries in the world
and we have the oldest diversity, but it's still the best that
Colombia has is our people.

Speaker 3 (51:50):
Awesome, that's great guys.
I want to talk a little bitmore about Impulse, and then
we'll go on to the regions, butbefore we do, is there anything
else that I've missed?
Because those are some of thethings that stood out to me,
that were so special aboutColombia.
Is there anything that Ihaven't highlighted already?
That is another reason whypeople should consider traveling
to Colombia, or just knowingmore about the people in the

(52:10):
region.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
Yeah, I would say that for people considering
travel to Colombia or travelprofessionals, travel advisors,
tour operators consideringColombia as a next destination,
you should know that there's aColombia for everyone.
So the diversity of thingshappening, not only in the
things that we already touchedon, like music, astronomy and so

(52:33):
on, but also in terms ofliterature, also in terms of
education, affinity groups,because there's always a lens to
see Colombia through this hugediversity, so we can map a
Colombia for everyone and makethis match with the stories and
with the people that are goingto contribute to your interests.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
That's really interesting.
It's a good way to put it too.
I guess that you know thinkingabout all the different types of
people that might be listeningto.
This affinity group certainlycould be one of them.
So, and the education one of thethings that I've discovered,
you know, when I was in medellin, is that, uh, that the
commitment to building librariesand to help, you know, giving
people education and opportunity, um, is an important part of

(53:18):
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 opportunitiesthey're trying to give to people
that live in the poorercommunities.
So, education is important,even health care, I mean, I
remember asking the two of you Imean, being a Canadian is
always like a source of pridethat we have a national health
care system, despite itschallenges, and both of you are

(53:39):
highlighting to me just howamazing the health care system
is in Colombia.
Hopefully, that's not somethingthat a traveler ever needs to
worry about or utilize, but itis, for an older traveler,
something that they have to beconscientious of.
That like what if I fall sickin a destination, or what if I
have an accident?
And it's like.
Actually, colombia's got anamazing healthcare system that
everyone seems to rave about andbenefit from.

(53:59):
So, anyway, that was one otherthing 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 alltogether.

Speaker 4 (54:10):
No, yeah, let's go, let's continue.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
All right, cool, all right.
So we had the privilege ofdoing you know it was my wife
and I.
Unfortunately, our kids weren'table to join us on this
particular trip.
I you know it was sort of twoparts for us.
I mean, we had our boardmeeting and we had a couple of
days where we were doingactivities together as a board
and that was sort of our group.
And then my wife joined becauseit was our anniversary and we
had, you know, five or six daysexploring Columbia and you guys

(54:32):
helped put together an itineraryand you know we had the most
incredible time.
But I wanted to help all of ourlisteners understand when it
comes to impulse and how youactually bring these trips
together, offering guided toursor independent, like private
tours.
Tell us a little bit about thetypes of trips that you guys

(54:53):
offer and how you're trying tobring the story of Columbia to
life, like we've been discussingin our conversation so far.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Well, as you are already familiar, impulse is a
Colombian DMC, so that meansthat we are a bridge between all
these diverse, intricateColombian 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

(55:24):
of the world.
So we like to work with peoplewho plan trips either for
themselves, their families orthird parties, or their clients
or their groups, and and whowant to do this with intention.
So the way we approach ourprocess, it always starts with a
deep understanding of the needand the traveler what do they

(55:47):
like, what are they used to,what are they afraid of, what
expectations they have about thedestination, 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 makemore sense for this group, and

(56:09):
second, the set of experiencesthat will bring Colombia to life
and speak to the needs of thisgroup.
And then we also a veryimportant part of it is the
selection of hotels that we willput for this group.
So the way we approach it isputting first the customer and

(56:29):
their needs and then to buildeverything from there, and we
have the capacity, and one ofthe things that we take proud of
is we have a great system thatwe built ourselves.
We have a technology tool thatcan bring a balance between all
these complex diversity ofsupply and also the speed in

(56:52):
which we know that we have todeliver these proposals and also
to iterate on them to get tothe perfect itinerary.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
Thanks for that, rodrigo.
Certainly, one of the thingsthat stood out to me was the
interaction with localcommunities, and I know that's a
big part of what travelers arelooking for today.
And so, juliana, when you thinkabout developing these trips,
how do you incorporate localcommunities, and how important
is that to the experiences thatImpulse brings to life?

Speaker 4 (57:21):
Yeah, so think that you are traveling with the
friend of a friend and that isgoing 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'regoing to get along very well.
That's actually what we do.
So we see, okay, I know you andI know someone that you need to
meet I don't know if you everhad and that ends up to be an

(57:47):
amazing encounter and that'swhat we feel proud and that we
are excited about doing all thetime.
And since we're Colombians andwe love to go into our
communities, we love to find andto find those change makers
that are so proud and that areso passionate about their
stories.
So, and then it's how we thinkit's so powerful and the impact
it's done Because when youtravel, many of the travelers

(58:10):
just keep in the same things andthe tourist traps, and then
it's all about taking thepicture and all that.
But for us it's that, ok, we'regoing to take you, just maybe
it's sometimes it's just even astreet further, and there's
where you're going to get thestory and the story that you're
going to tell your friends whenyou go back home, you won't
believe who I met and who Italked to and the story that

(58:32):
they tell us.
So also, at the same time,because we in Colombia, we're so
optimist, like I feel likeright now, now that I travel a
lot and I go to all this liketravel events, that I feel so
hopeless in the world, likepeople are worried about things,
like people feel sad and allthat, and then coming to

(58:55):
Colombia is to find a countrythat is so optimist of the
future, that thinks that everyyear is better than the one
before, and that is that we usedto be.
Like Rodrigo said, we used tobe the problem country.
Now we are the solution country.
So I feel like coming toColombia is also recovering this
hope that we all Colombians cantell, and also putting the
money in the right places andalso putting the money in the

(59:16):
right places.
Also, something a fun fact isthat, since we're a late player
in the industry so in tourismindustry, I mean, is that so our
industry have been built inaround the last 20, 30 years is
that 85% of the hotels inColombia has less than 25 rooms.
So actually, colombia, we arenot positioning ourselves as an

(59:38):
all-inclusive destination, forexample.
It's actually hard to find.
There are a few, but there'snot a destination for you and go
and lay and don't do nothing isthat we have envisioned our
country to be a place where yougo and experience and you talk
and you live and you transformyourself through the things and
experience that you do and youtransform yourself through the

(59:59):
things and the experience thatyou do so and that you do that,
the hotels that you stay, theguides that you meet, and that's
also one of the things that wedo at.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
Impulse is very great .
Yeah, I can't thank you guysenough for our friendship, our
partnership, our continuedcollaboration.
I think the world of you bothand I'm such a big advocate for
Impulse and for travel toColumbia, and I look forward to
everything that's going to comefrom this conversation and for
the future, in 2025 and beyond.
So thank you again for makingthe time for this and I look

(01:00:28):
forward to seeing you guys againhere there or somewhere around
the world.
Now I have the pleasure tospeak to someone that I had the
privilege to meet and get toknow when I was in Colombia.
Raul is an extraordinary guidewith Impulse Travel, but he also
has a really amazing backstoryand I wanted to bring him into
the conversation first for thatexact reason, because not only

(01:00:50):
is he an amazing guide, he's gota 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 haveyou on Travel Trends and this
special destination on Spotlight.
Welcome to Travel Trends.

Speaker 7 (01:01:05):
Thank you, dan, it's great to see you again.
Great to be here.

Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
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 havethis conversation together is
that you know, it's one thing tolearn about a place before you
visit and it's obviouslysomething entirely different
once you've been and get achance to meet the people.
And I still remember seeingJuliana showing a picture, as
all of our listeners just heard.
They got to hear from Rodrigoand Juliana, and I still
remember seeing a picture of oneof the bombings that had

(01:01:37):
occurred and then what Bogotalooks like now.
And then, when we were on ourtour and you showed that picture
, it just took on a totallydifferent dimension and meaning
when you're actually physicallythere in Bogota.
And so but we'll get to that ina minute I think all of our
listeners would benefit fromunderstanding a bit of your
backstory, raoul, because I wasso intrigued when we met that

(01:01:57):
you lived in Australia.
You have Australian citizenship, but tell us a little bit about
your backstory, raoul, becauseI was so intrigued when we met
that you lived in Australia.

Speaker 7 (01:02:02):
You have Australian citizenship, but tell us a
little bit about your backstoryand how you got into travel and
tourism.
Yeah, australia, what afantastic place.
So I went to Australia in 2002to develop my or to start my
professional photography career.
My professional photographycareer and I became a biology

(01:02:29):
enthusiast with marine biologyand the natural potential that
wildlife years in Australia andduring my time there, I noticed

(01:02:51):
how they are involved withtourism, how tourist guides
really are so passionate abouttheir nature, their wildlife,
and how most of the Australiankids, especially, are very
familiar with venomous spiders,venomous snakes, and the

(01:03:13):
education that is given to themsince they're young really had
an impact on me.
Like I noticed that there's somuch work to do all over the
world, very similar to whatAustralia has been doing.
They are really a role model oneducating people on how to

(01:03:34):
behave when they encounterwildlife and so on, to behave
when they encounter wildlife andso on.
So that was an inspiration forme as a starting point when I
decided to come back toAustralia, from Australia back
to Colombia was in 2018.
So, after 16 years there, Icame back for many reasons, but

(01:03:57):
one of the reasons was thatColombia was going through a
really remarkable socialtransformation change
politically, economically,culturally.
That was inspiring.
And when I started to work atImpulse it was a fluke really I
was catching up with an oldfriend having a few beers after

(01:04:21):
years of not seeing him and hewas or I think he still works
with Impulse every now and thena tour guide at Impulse and he
said you know what?
These guys are really cool, youshould contact them and see how
it goes.
I never thought of becoming atour guide, so I gave it a go

(01:04:43):
and all of a sudden I realizedthat well, it's quite enjoyable,
it's fun and you learn heapsEvery day.
Every client was different andevery destination that I started
to explore was a challenge forme because I had to, in brackets

(01:05:04):
, go back to high school andrelearn things from history,
from geography, from biology,and it was very exciting.
So then it became veryautomatic.
I got certified and then onething led to the next.
Photography was also like areally important part of my

(01:05:30):
wanting to be a tour guide,because I was going to visit
national parks and go to othercities and do the wildlife that
I always crave shooting.
So that's a very short versionof how I got into tourism in 20
years pretty much, but that'syeah, well, you're clearly a

(01:05:54):
natural.

Speaker 3 (01:05:55):
That's what stood out to me, raul, and the part about
the connection with Australiayou clearly just mentioned.
One of the things that peoplequickly come to know about
Australia is a lot of thingsthat can kill you, and there's a
lot of things not that they'reout to kill you, but there's a
lot of things that can kill youin Australia, and so it is
important.
Think that wait a second, I'mgoing to come up against
venomous snakes or venomousspiders and the reality is

(01:06:22):
everyone lives happily inAustralia and rarely ever do
these things.
But it's amazing what the mediadoes to even, you know, to
scare you about visiting adestination, and it's funny
because that there's a bit of asimilarity there.
I would assume that when peoplegoing to Colombia we talked
about that with Rodrigo andJuliana it always comes up about
safety and especially a citylike Bogota.
It's a big city and it's thefirst place people are going to

(01:06:44):
visit, and if they already haveconcerns about their security or
their well being, it's clearlygoing to be manifested that much
more in a place like Bogotawhen they're overwhelmed
arriving in a place likeColombia.
But the part I loved about yourstory, as you were just
highlighting there is that youknow you came back to Australia
after 16 years because yourecognize what was happening
after 2016, when the peaceagreement was reached, and the

(01:07:06):
fact that you're moving backfrom a very mature tourism
market, both inbound andoutbound, in Australia.
You know it's a big country,small population, but very well
developed for tourism and goingback to your home country to
realize this opportunity wherethe country is rebuilding and
creating opportunities forpeople within tourism.

(01:07:27):
So obviously I'm thrilled thatit worked out the way it did for
you and the Impulse team, thatyou guys get to work together,
and so I want to for ourlisteners now walk through a
little bit about Bogota,especially for the people that
have never been, which is themajority of people listening to
this.
I'm sure there are some peoplelistening that have been to
Colombia and are just intriguedto learn what they should do on

(01:07:47):
their next trip to Colombia, orjust love it so much, like I do,
that they just want to hearvarious voices.
But I think most of the peoplelistening to this have not been
to Colombia, and so I want tomake sure that we address
everyone, that's, theuninitiated.

Speaker 7 (01:08:11):
And so give us, if you wouldn't mind, just very
briefly, a bit of an overview ofBogota as a city, as you would
describe it to someone visitingfor 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 50sBogota had 600,000 people in the

(01:08:32):
city.
So the escalation of populationis really dramatic.
It always like a big capitalcity.
I like to compare it to otherexamples like New York or even
Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires.
It has this eclectic vibe.

(01:08:55):
One of the reasons why it's sovibrant and so diverse is
because the majority of thepeople in Bogota at some stage
were not from Bogota.
So they migrated.
They came to the big capitalfor other opportunities, because
they have a friend of a friendor a relative that is already
living here.
So they call each other and say, yeah, come over, we can squish

(01:09:19):
you in and there's, I can talkto my friend, to my boss, and
you can find a job.
And why did this happen isbecause of the violence that was
in the rural areas of thecountry.
But this doesn't only happen inBogota, it happens in Cali,
Medellin and Cartena and othercities, capital cities in

(01:09:39):
Colombia.
But because Bogota is thecapital, obviously there's more
demand for work, there's moreopportunities.
It's a tough city, but it's anincredible eclectic city.
I think that it's kind of likea double-edged sword.
All that increasing populationmakes it obviously noisy, rude,

(01:10:05):
polluted.
When it's rainy season, like weare now, it's gray and cold and
wet.

Speaker 3 (01:10:15):
So that is kind of like that sort of premise of
Bogota similar to anyone elsethat would travel with impulse,
picked up by a driver at theairport.
We got our bags, we got on theroad.

(01:10:43):
The roads were great.
The first thing we did is wewent 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 andRodrigo, who then had joined us,
can I leave my bag in the car?
And they're like, yeah, that'sfine.
I'm like, do you not do thatback home?
And like, yeah, that's fine.
I'm like, do you not do thatback home?
And I'm like, actually, no, I'mvery careful about leaving a
bag exposed on a seat.
And so they're like, no, no,it's fine.

(01:11:03):
And so we had this amazing meal.
Then we got back in the car.
We drove to a musician's homethat people heard a little bit
about and the next thing, youknow, we're playing music.
And then, next thing, you know,we're back in the car again and
playing tejo on this, uh, andhaving drinks.
And I mean this is this epicfirst evening in bogota,
completely different than what Iimagined and even some of the

(01:11:24):
things you just described thereabout it being kind of a big
city and like overwhelming.
I found it quite accessible andum and then for me it actually
really set the tone for the restof the trip.
It kind of put me at ease and Ithought, if I can handle bogota
, or if we, and if this isbogota, I'm like like what's the
rest of Columbia going to belike?
But it's really interesting.
You mentioned a really importantpart about the history, and why
Bogota is as populated as it istoday is because so many people

(01:11:47):
moved into the city to escapethe violence in the countryside,
and I do remember that wassomething that you'd highlighted
on our tour.
But if we look at Bogotasomeone thinking about traveling
there for the first time, takeus through some of the things
that you would recommend peopledo in Bogota for their first
visit.
What are some of the the mustsee places in Bogota?

(01:12:09):
And even, if you wouldn't mindto a couple of the hidden gems
that people may not be asfamiliar with.
But what are the big highlightsas to why someone would want to
go to Bogota?
Or, if they're flying intoColombia, why should they spend
a couple of days in Bogota atthe beginning of their trip?

Speaker 7 (01:12:24):
Yeah, it's.
You mentioned that um the citybecause it has received a lot of
people from all over thecountry, makes it very diverse.
No, so the restaurants.
The restaurant offer is huge.
Perhaps the best restaurants inthe country are here in Bogota.

(01:12:45):
But also the history Goingthrough the city center of
Candelaria, the eclecticuniversity government
residential hub of the city, isperhaps the most fun and most

(01:13:07):
underappreciated I guess you cancall it or underestimated
experience.
You're going to see a lot ofurban art and graffiti and
movement culture and diversity.
Perhaps one of the best thingsabout Bogotá is the outskirts of

(01:13:28):
the city and the highlandmountains, what we called, or
what we like to call, the waterfactory of the region.
The national parks and naturereserves around the city are
extraordinary.
But also I think that peopleare surprised and usually what

(01:13:52):
happens?
People arrive to Bogota, theystay one or two nights and then
they leave to continue theirjourney.
Like what you said, it's kind oflike I was not expecting Bogota
to be so much fun and this funhas developed in the last 20
years or so because Bogotawasn't like this.

(01:14:14):
People are changing and theyare 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.

(01:14:36):
That wasn't the case back whenI left, for example, to
Australia in the early 2000s.
I remember that Bogota that Imentioned before the cold, rainy
, rude, aggressive Bogota, andI've seen the transition into a
much more friendly, morehospitable, even though still

(01:14:59):
there's big traffic jams, everytime there's a big rain pour and
the traffic collapses.
For some reason, everything justgoes upside down.
But I ask myself sometimes andI say, like, what is it about
Bogota that makes it so special?
And I think is the people thatlayer under the crust.

(01:15:25):
You know the the rough crust ofthe big city.
You peel that layer out andthen you see a very friendly
city.
So I was mentioning restaurants, the national, the bird
watching experience.
There's coffee farms nearbyBogota and people always go like

(01:15:47):
, oh, the coffee region?
Well, the coffee region?
Yes, of course, but we drive 20kilometers north, south, east
or west of Bogota.
We are going to have climatechange or weather change,
because we're going to be goingdown the Andes Mountains and
it's going to get warmer andthere's different towns and

(01:16:08):
different region around Bogota.
The region around Bogota isbeautiful.

Speaker 3 (01:16:32):
Museum, art, concerts is everything that you want in
a big city.
Bogota has.
And again, this is where, likefrom the outside looking in, I
had a very different perceptionof Bogota, just reading about it
and hearing about it, until Iwent there for myself and really
found it accessible, welcoming,exactly as you described, and
clearly we had an opportunitynot only to get time together
but to do a walking tour throughthe city.
And not every city is wellpositioned.

(01:16:54):
I would say a lot of Americancities don't really work for
walking tours because mostAmerican cities, you know, were
gutted in the 1960s and 70s andbecame very suburban.
So many downtown cores in theUS, you know, are just not well
suited to walking tours becausejust the infrastructure is not,
whereas a city like Bogota hasmaintained these beautiful

(01:17:15):
squares and this, you know, thisSpanish architecture.
So let's walk us through, ifyou wouldn't mind, one of the
tours you do, and I would loveif you wouldn't mind taking us
through the square and some ofthe history there, because that
was one of the standouthighlights for me, because I'm a
huge history buff, and thenwhen you were showing us
pictures of what it looked likeat various points in history and

(01:17:36):
then looking around, that to mereally brought Bogota to life.
So tell us a little bit about atypical walking tour that you
would do, or a tour that youwould take people on an impulse
trip, and what are some of thosestop points?
Because the other thing I wantyou to make sure that you
mention is the cocoa drink thatI so thoroughly enjoyed.
And we stopped for that.

(01:17:58):
But yeah, tell us a little bitabout a day in the life of
traveling around with you inBogota.

Speaker 7 (01:18:06):
Oh, buckle up.
Look, one of the best thingsabout 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 radiusin three to four hours and in
this walk, well, you experiencethe flea markets, outdoor

(01:18:32):
markets.
One of the beauties aboutBogotá's public space is that
there's no restriction forvendors.
Back a couple of years ago,everything was forbidden, forbid
, forbid, forbid.
So there were no vendorsallowed.
The police would come and takepeople away, get their

(01:18:55):
merchandise, so they were notable to make their buck for the
day.
So they were not able to maketheir buck for the day.
But now you see a lot of fruitoffers and a lot of fried goods,
typical snacks, and peopleselling secondhand clothes, and
it's kind of like a flea marketseven days a week, pretty much.

(01:19:16):
So you walk along the historiccenter.
When you are walking along thehistoric center, you reach or
you walk past many before andafter watching these colonial
and Republican what we callRepublican architecture in the

(01:19:45):
late 19th century, beautifulFrench buildings.
They were all burned down in1948 because of the revolution
that was pretty much kicking offrevolution that was pretty much
kicking off.
So then they rebuilt in the1950s and 60s with this

(01:20:06):
pseudo-brutalist architecturealong the main street.
So when you're walking aroundand you're seeing this eclectic
architecture, you see in onecorner, colonial and in the next
one Bauhaus, and in the nextone Art De, the cathedral, the
congress, the courts of law.

(01:20:42):
Back in 1985, this reallyincredible moment happened when
the guerrilla took over thecourts of law, or the Palace of
Justice as it was known, andPablo 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

(01:21:05):
goosebumps here with what you'resaying, because it's pretty,
pretty brutal that we'restanding on places where history
took place and we're talkingabout recent history place.
And we're talking about recenthistory.
Every 20 years, colombia has amoment or a pin in the timeline
that it's worth talking about,and this is back in 1985.

(01:21:26):
We move forward to 2016, wherethe peace agreement was held and
the plebiscite was voted, andpeople coming to demonstrate
their passion, whether they'reagainst or in favor of something
, they always reach the PlazaBolivar.

(01:21:47):
So, going there, even though Igo there, sometimes even three
times a week, every time I go Igo.
Yeah, oh yeah, this is kind oflike the heart of the city of
the country.
You know, not only the city, ofcourse, but the country.
Yes, it's quite amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:22:07):
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 andI think it actually was
something that Juliana presentedon stage, but nevertheless I'd
seen the image and it stuck withme.
But just describe that scenefor a moment, because that was
actually before we got to thesquare and you held that up when

(01:22:29):
we were, I guess, in thefinancial district.
Just describe what thatrepresented, because obviously
it's beautiful now, but therewas terrible bombings that
occurred back during thatdifficult time.

Speaker 7 (01:22:39):
So just give us a quick overview of that one that
people may have seen it Well inthis intersection, which is
perhaps the busiest or mostpopular intersection in the city
center, the liberal leader wasassassinated point blank by a
hitman just outside his office.
Assassinated point blank by ahitman just outside his office

(01:23:04):
and it was almost lunchtime andhe created this massive riot
that half of the city waspartially destroyed and burned.
So we go into this intersection.
There's a series of photographsof these days.
It's known as El Bogotazo andBogotazo meaning like a big bang
, an implosion that happened inthe city.

(01:23:26):
So if you google Bogotazo youwill see these amazing
photojournalists that went overto document what was happening,
the riots that were happeningthat lasted for over two weeks.
The tram was burned, buildingswere on fire, people were being

(01:23:50):
shot at with sniper rifles andthe majority of the people that
rioted that day came from theupper Candelaria neighborhood
known as Egipto, which we gothere on a social transformation
tour as well.

(01:24:11):
So it's remarkable connectionsthat we do here with these sort
of inner city tours.
And then I show, we go on, westand on this intersection, we
look at the city how it lookstoday and I show there was a
trend a couple of years ago withshowing the melancholy of

(01:24:36):
analog photography and goingback to the same place and
comparing it with a photographthat was taken years ago.
So I show that photograph andit's kind of overpost is that
the right word Layered with thebackground and you can see the

(01:24:58):
destruction in the photographcontrasting with what it looks
today and it's really powering.
It's a black and white highcontrast image and you can see
the modern rebuilt city part ofthe city today.

Speaker 3 (01:25:17):
And I think what it highlights and part of the
reason I wanted to ask you aboutthat, because I found it so
profound to be there in personand to see that juxtaposition,
especially from preparing to bethere and then actually being
there and I think that's part ofthe appeal of certainly
traveling to a destination foryourself is that you have an
idea in your mind and you'veseen some of those images,
especially for older generationthat would have been more

(01:25:39):
familiar with that history andthe images they would have seen
at the time.
It's amazing.
It's how difficult it is towhite people's memories of that,
because that's what theyassociate 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 likewow is like you can see, um, how
traumatic that would have beenfor the people at the time.

(01:26:01):
And then you see what it istoday 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 youto highlight as well, because
you were the one that kindlygave me the uh, the cocoa drink
and I was like I was thrilled totry it, but I also discovered
on that trip that, um, thatactually I know it's often, uh,
people drink it for altitudesickness and it has all sorts of

(01:26:21):
various medicinal benefits and,um, I have to say, uh, it
certainly works for me.
I like I found that, like it'slike your digestion, like you
know all the things and whetherso, tell us a little bit about
some of the things you mightexperience, like I had the good
fortune to do, as you're,wandering around Bogota and
taking people into, because wewent into some different coffee
shops and, like you know, likethat, but yeah, tell us about

(01:26:44):
that experience in particular,because that was very memorable
for me.

Speaker 7 (01:26:47):
Yeah, I think Bogota.
Well, I think it's around 9,000feet, it's 2,600 meters over
sea level and because it's solush and green it's deceiving.
You are not expecting thealtitude sickness to hit you,
and sometimes it does, andsometimes it gets people really,

(01:27:11):
really hard.
The thing about coca inColombia, coca leaf, the power
of coca in Colombia is that ithas a very different connotation
to when we're talking about itin Bolivia or even Peru.
When we talk about it in Peru,oh yes, in Machu Picchu I had it

(01:27:31):
, it was beautiful, it's verynice.
But when we talk about cocahere in Colombia, it has a
completely different ring to it.
It's obviously related withcocaine and narcotics and
trafficking and the drug lordsand whatnot.
So in society, in Colombiansociety, even still today,
people have taboo about coca andthey go like no, I don't do

(01:27:56):
that because that's bad for you.
But I think that the trend ischanging.
People are, for example, Ireplace coffee for coca, so I

(01:28:17):
now drink one cup of coffee aweek and I drink daily coca.
And every time I go hiking or Igo outdoors and I'm expecting
to walk for more than four hours, I always take my little bag
with coca leaves for my walk andwhat it does is it stimulates
you in a very mild but powerfulway, if that makes sense.

(01:28:40):
For example, coffee is verypowerful stimulant as well, but
sometimes you feel this energykick very strongly.
I don't know if that makessense for all you coffee
drinkers, but it happened to meand one of the reasons why I

(01:29:00):
changed coffee was because itwas giving me anxiety and I was
feeling a bit with.
My heartbeat was very fast whenI drink coffee.
And then I changed into cocaand all of a sudden I'm going
like I feel much better.
The stimulus is still there,the and, and it's not diuretic,

(01:29:26):
which is a very big plus.

Speaker 3 (01:29:27):
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 alsojust understanding because I
watched the series narcos I'msure many of our listeners did
and if you go back and watch thefirst couple of episodes of

(01:29:49):
narcos and understand thehistory about how it was
actually brought into columbiaand then the whole process of
actually making cocaine is, youknow it involves much more
gasoline than it does.
Coca leaves Like, it's like andso, but people just connect the
two and so coca itself issomething that, uh, as you
described as an alternative.
It's not a psychoactive, uh,drug either, and it's like it is

(01:30:12):
more of a stimulant, as yousaid and you know.
So this is where I definitelyencouraging everyone who goes to
Colombia to try coca whenyou're there.
It's, you know, it's availablemultiple places and certainly
for the altitude is one factorof why it'd be beneficial,
because it was our second dayand we had the, and then I just
discovered there was somethinggreat to have over the course of

(01:30:32):
the trip as we were doing hikes, and so, yeah, I just wanted, I
wanted to call that outspecifically.
But the one thing that thatcame from was this taste of
change tour, and it's one of thethings when I was even reading
the itinerary before we, uh,went on this trip, I thought the
names were clever, like the wedon't talk about pablo tour,
that we'll get into in medellinin a moment.
But you know, the taste ofchange, it's a double entendre,

(01:30:55):
right, like.
It's like the taste of change,the taste and then the changes
that have occurred in thissociety and like so tell us a
little bit about that specifictour, because obviously I've
pulled out one aspect of whatmade the taste of change tour,
uh, really interesting andspecial for me.

Speaker 7 (01:31:09):
But tell us a few more highlights of what people
would experience on the taste ofchange tour well, the taste of
change is uh, change wasdesigned 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 andcorruption and government and

(01:31:31):
all these social changes, but itwill probably just stay just
hanging over your head.
But when we make thingstangible, everything changes.
So the taste of change providesthat opportunity to actually
understand a little bit morewhat is the change that we're

(01:31:54):
talking about.
So we're talking aboutsubstitution of illegal coca
crops for the production ofcocaine for something like cacao
or coffee, or an incrediblelist of fruits, endemic fruits
to farm, instead of farming cocafor the production of cocaine.

(01:32:14):
So we go visit, like you say.
We visit a number of shops thatoffer this opportunity, for
example, coffee, coffee, we knowColombian coffee is one of the
best ones in the world and oneof the reasons it's one of the
best ones is because, well,first, the climate, but also the

(01:32:37):
small batches for harvest thatthe farmers are producing.
Farms are not massivelyproducing only coffee, they are
also growing not only coffee,but bananas, chontaduro, arasá,

(01:32:59):
and look.
The list of fruits possible todo at the same time as you're
growing coffee is enormous.
So Colombia is taking advantageof that and we go visit an ice
creamery and we go and have icecream and we talk about this
change and there's 20 differentflavors of ice cream, of exotic

(01:33:20):
fruits that you probably nevertasted before, but they also
include vanilla and chocolate,amongst other incredible flavors
.
Then we go visit a shop thatthey sell Bikis or cookies with
flavors of different farms andprojects that have emerged.
We go and taste one of the bestchocolates in the city with

(01:33:46):
flavors like pepper and ginger,that everything is being
harvested from previouslyillegal coca plantations,
previously illegal cocaplantations.
So when we mention and we showstatistics and we say today we
have 250,000 hectares, it's veryconfusing and it's very

(01:34:11):
difficult to picture it in yourmind that all this coca, illegal
coca is being replaced.
There's no proof.
A lot of people say there's noproof for that.
Well, the proof is right herein an ice cream cone, in a
coffee cup, in a chocolatetruffle, in a beer.

(01:34:31):
We visit a brewery.
That is the perfect example ofcommitment to peace and for us,
ad Impulse makes it very, veryvaluable, because I think that
the best way to have adiscussion about whether it's

(01:34:55):
politics or art or a film thatyou just watched or a city that
you just visited, is having adrink, and they also sell
non-alcoholic drinks there.
But a brewery is the perfectexample of people having a
bottle, having an IPA or anamber Ale or something that

(01:35:21):
prolongs, extends thecommunication that we're having,
the message that is comingacross.

Speaker 3 (01:35:32):
So I think that the taste of change really is
valuable because it's a tangibleexperience of what peace in
this country really means Verywell said, and you took me right
back there with some of thosehighlights and also reminded me
of how much I can't wait to getback to Colombia and spend more

(01:35:53):
time in Bogota, specificallybecause that was an
extraordinary day, like fullstop.
It was highlight afterhighlight.

Speaker 7 (01:36:00):
We did have a very good day.
It was perfectly sunny and itwas a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (01:36:08):
Yeah, no, it was glorious.
And this is the differencebecause you know when someone
goes to a destination.
Because I'm going to ask youwhat would be one of your tips,
but I'm going to share mine justwith all of our listeners,
Because for me, when I seetravelers that are trying to do
what I remember as a LonelyPlanet inspired traveler, where
you guidebook and you're tryingto do it on your own and ride on
local buses and a lot of that'svery well intentioned but I did
notice and this always happenswhen you've got a great guide is

(01:36:30):
that other people come over andjust start to listen and stand
around and kind of hang aroundbecause they're like there's
something special happening here.
This sounds really interestingand one of the things that I
would suggest to all of ourlisteners.
You know that you definitelywant to have an amazing guide,
like Raul, whether you book atrip with Impulse or you take a
trip on your own, no matter howyou experience Columbia, the

(01:36:52):
fact is you're going to get somuch more out of any day in any
of these beautiful cities byhaving an amazing guide to
really unpack and help reallyunderstand what is in that
destination.
So it's great to be able towalk around spontaneously on
your own and you still will havetime to do that, but I you know
it was for us.
Yeah, the weather was great.

(01:37:13):
Obviously, the guide wasfantastic, but it was just
highlight after highlight and Inever would have packed that all
into one day, and that'ssomething that I found over the
course of the trip that it wasjust highlight after highlight
and I never would have packedthat all into one day, and
that's something that I foundover the course of the trip.
That it was like you know,there were so many highlights on
the trip each day, but Bogotareally set the tone for the rest
of the trip.
So, Raul, first of all, I can'tthank you enough again for what
a special experience that was.
It's so great to reconnect withyou after you know these these

(01:37:35):
past few months.
Hopefully, I'll see you againon the next trip, but I'd like
you to leave everyone, if youwouldn't mind, with what would
be your suggestion or one ofyour main tips for someone
visiting Bogota.

Speaker 7 (01:37:50):
Well, thank you, dan.
For me, it's great fun to be aguide in such a complex but
colorful tour.
It's one of my favorites, forsure.
I think one of the things thatI like is that every tour ends
up taking a different pathbecause of the questions that

(01:38:14):
are asked during the tour.
It's not like I press recordand I start rambling on the same
things over and over again.
The tour, the clients take meon a different tour every time
and it's because they come withsome sort of previous knowledge,

(01:38:36):
whether it's watching Narcos,like you mentioned, which I've
seen it or reading a book, orbeing up to date with the news,
or even a contemporary history,if you may.
But a little bit of informationis very important to be here.

(01:38:59):
It's not like a spoiler, butit's to more or less understand
a little bit, like to read thesynopsis of a film.
Sometimes you'll be surprised.
You end up buying a ticket fora film and you've never seen or
heard this film, and you may beoverwhelmed and shocked by the
film.
And you've never seen or heardthis film and you may be
overwhelmed and shocked by thebest film you've seen.

(01:39:22):
But it's always better to gosomewhere anywhere in the world.
With a previous previousknowledge, you know it doesn't
have to be a prof like extensive, but just enough for you to to
ask interesting questions andmake the tour a little bit more
engaging.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:39:43):
No, and I'm going to just add one other thing,
because this was a profounddiscovery for me, having enjoyed
watching Narcos not for thereasons that you might otherwise
think, I just found itfascinating to learn a bit about
that history.
But then what I really wasintrigued by is just how
inaccurate some of the thingswere Like when I was in Medellin
, I was like actually none ofthe first two seasons were ever

(01:40:03):
shot in Medellin, it wasn't evenshot in the Destination.
But the one that really made melaugh and I'm sure you can
appreciate this is the characterthat played Pablo Escobar
Wagner Mora, the actor.
He's Brazilian not Colombian,and he's a Portuguese speaker,
not a Spanish speaker, and Iguess you guys were all telling
me just how much you guyscouldn't stand listening to him,

(01:40:25):
because his Spanish wasterrible and for you know, for
an English speaker that's justreading subtitles, we wouldn't
know Right.

Speaker 7 (01:40:32):
But like I just I guess he's, so that's why, like,
you've watched it yeah, I guesshe's a fantastic actor.
No, so that's why you'vewatched him.
I guess he's a fantastic actor.
I mean, he did an awesome jobtrying to put a Paisa accent on
top of his Portuguese nativetongue.
But yeah, I mean Narcos was likeso that we don't extend talking

(01:40:56):
too much about this it's afictional Netflix show based on
true events.
So you know, at the end of theday, you end up feeling for the
characters and feeling empathyfor Pablo Escobar or the DEA
agent or the police officer whois a corrupted official,

(01:41:17):
whatever.
But the truth is that, in a way, that's how it was.
It's true that there is a lotof corruption layers.
It's true that there is a lotof secrecy.
It's true that for many years inColombia, we didn't talk about

(01:41:38):
what was actually happening infront of our face, and it's not
up until 20 years ago that thecountry started to change all
this and that's thetransformation that we're going
through.
If we compare it to Australia,people talk about the poisonous
snakes, the venomous snakes andthe poisonous frogs and whatever

(01:42:02):
.
But people talk about it andthey educate themselves about it
and they learn what to do andwhat not to do, but we in
Colombia, we're not talkingabout any of these things that
we're talking about today, andthat's perhaps the most
important element of thetransformation that Colombia is
going through being able to talkabout the pain and the

(01:42:24):
suffering that not only mygeneration, but the ones before
us went through.
All this healing is happening,and it's happening slowly.
This transformation is not justabout pretty streets and
awesome graffiti.
It's about healing the woundsfrom the past, and that's

(01:42:45):
amazing what is happening inColombia.
That's why it motivates me towork like this, to work with
this.

Speaker 3 (01:42:52):
That's amazing, very inspiring, and I think the big
takeaway there is you have to goand experience it for yourself.
If you've seen the show andhave a certain perception, to go
and experience it for yourself.
If you've seen the show andhave a certain perception, go
and experience columbia, ifyou're at all intrigued.
If you haven't, you don't evenneed to watch the show.
Just go to columbia andhopefully you'll have a chance
to meet raul for yourself and beable to experience the all the
incredible highlights of bogotathat we've been talking about

(01:43:14):
here on the podcast and get achance to meet him, because he's
just a wonderful person.
So thank you again, raul, forjoining us for this and say I
really look forward to seeingyou again in person soon.

Speaker 7 (01:43:23):
Thank you, Dan.
You make me blush, but it'strue.
Just can't wait for to continuemaking the little bit, putting
the little grain of sand in thechange, making progress here in
the country.

Speaker 3 (01:43:39):
All right, I now have the great pleasure to introduce
all of our listeners toCarolina, who is based in
Medellin.
We had the most extraordinarytime traveling around Medellin
together and learning so muchabout this incredible history,
so I'm thrilled that she couldjoin us for this conversation.
Carolina, welcome to TravelTrends.
Thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 5 (01:43:57):
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 tostart talking about my city.

Speaker 3 (01:44:08):
Well, we certainly had the most extraordinary time
together.
I learned so much and hopefullywe can impart that to many of
our listeners.
Certainly, one of the thingsthat I needed to get right from
the beginning was how topronounce this city, which, as
you highlighted to me.
I asked you, and it really mademe 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 isthat all the locals wear jeans,

(01:44:31):
so, like, if you're wearingjeans that's when you told me
that actually that's one way toremember how to pronounce
Medellin as if everyone wearsjeans.

Speaker 5 (01:44:38):
Yeah, exactly Medellin.

Speaker 3 (01:44:41):
So tell us about your history and connection to this
amazing city and what got youinto the travel and tourism
space.

Speaker 5 (01:44:48):
Well, I started working in tourism 10 years ago.
I have been a tour guide, atour leader.
At the very beginning I have tobe honest with you I never
thought that I was going to workas a guide Originally.
I'm an industrial designer.
When I finished beginning, Ihave to be honest with you, I
never thought that I was goingto work as a guide Originally.
I'm an industrial designer.
When I finished university, Iwanted to learn badly English,
so I lived in the States forlike about a year and a half and

(01:45:09):
when I came back I startedlooking for a job.
But I'm a little bithyperactive and talkative and I
wanted to work in something thatI was feeling, that would go
with my personality, that I wasnot feeling like trapped in an
office every single day.
And I ended up working as atour guide.

(01:45:29):
But at the very beginning Inever thought that it was going
to be something that I was goingto do for, hopefully, the rest
of my life.
I at at the beginning was liketalking.
When I started being a guide, Istarted talking about my city,
I started talking about downtownMedellín, growing up, and well,
later on I understood that lifekind of like connects, because

(01:45:50):
when I did my thesis degree indesign was creating ideas of
like how locals we could visitthe city and how we could see it
with the eyes of a tourist.
It was like designingexperiences.
But yeah, it was not somethingthat I looked for.
It was something that ended upin my life and today I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:46:12):
Well, that's certainly clear to me.
I think it's amazing how wespoke to Raul just before this
and Raul was telling us abouthis journey with photography and
living in Australia and thencoming back to Colombia to get
involved in tourism, and reallyjust how serendipitous it was
that he ended up connecting withimpulse travel and starting
this journey.
And he's an extraordinary guide, as are you, and I think it's
really interesting just to hearyour backstory and understand

(01:46:35):
how it came to be that you'vetaken on this role and how you
work with impulse.
So tell us, if you wouldn'tmind, because I don't know that.
I know this part of the story.
I know you and Rodrigo are verygood friends, but how did you
actually come to know Impulseand start working with them?

Speaker 5 (01:46:52):
I started working with Impulse I would say
probably like four years agomore or less.
There was a moment after COVIDthat everything here was like
closed Borders were closedPeople that were working with
tourism.
We struggled for a little bitand after everything started
opening, I was even in a pointin my life was when I was
deciding OK, what am I going tokeep doing?
Do I want to keep working intourism or not?

(01:47:16):
And then I met Rodrigo and forme it was something amazing
because he kind of like remindme that definitely, tourism is
something that I like to do.
He invited me at the verybeginning to participate in a
summit, to create a tour forthis sustainable tourism summit.
In that moment the tour was hada name.

(01:47:39):
It was called Pablo, who Todayit's known as we Don't Talk
About Pablo.
And for me it was also quiteinteresting because it was like
starting talking about whathappened in the city, the
history of Medellín, theviolence of Medellín.
But for me it's also somethingvery personal.
When I started working as aguide, people were asking me
like Caro, how was growing up inMedellin, and I realized that I

(01:48:03):
forgot a lot about my childhood.
I normally was answering like,oh, perfect, like nothing
happened here, and then Istarted like really trying to
remember.
So when I was designing thistour, it was also thinking more
about my childhood and thinkingmore about all these periods of
violence.
I'm 37 years old, so I can tellyou that I have lived like

(01:48:25):
different periods of managing.
One thing was the city of mylike when I was born.
Then when I was a teenager, Inot always lived here.
I also had to live in Bogotaand it was all for violence.
So for me, like when I startedworking with Impulse, was the
ability also to start likeconnecting the history of

(01:48:45):
Medellin, connecting it with mypersonal story and also trying
to talk about this, and I thinkthat it has been also kind of
like healing me.

Speaker 3 (01:48:54):
That's really powerful and I certainly sense
that when we had that daytogether and the journey that
you took us on, especially thewe 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 agreat Disney film about
Columbia and it's a greatmusical, and so I got the

(01:49:15):
reference, which is very clevermusical, and so I got the
reference, which is very clever.
However, even the concept of wedon't talk about Pablo, because
clearly on the tour we talk alot about Pablo, but it is this
very misunderstood concept thatI you know goes back to when I
actually met Rodrigo aboutNarcos and Pablo Escobar,
because unfortunately, thathistory overshadows a lot of
what is so special and uniqueabout Columbia, but yet it is

(01:49:39):
such an important part tounderstand the history and
clearly you've been personallyaffected by it and a number of
people that I had the privilegeto meet and get to know in
Colombia certainly hadexperienced or been in places
where there had been bombings orthere had been violence and
it's like.
So you know, clearly you'vebeen impacted by that and you
know you're able to take peopleon these tours and obviously

(01:50:02):
that likely is part of thehealing process, because you
walked us around what used to bePablo Escobar's palace in his
house that you can.
You know people would have seenin the Narcos film, or at least
a resemblance of that, and Iwant to tell it to all of our
listeners today.
About what's there today,because I found it one of the
most powerful memorials, verysimilar to like 9-11.

(01:50:24):
But in many ways it'scompletely unique to the history
of Colombia.
So I want to come to that.
Before we do, let's just giveeveryone an overview of Medellin
itself, because when I arrivedin the city, the part that
really stood out to me as I wasmaking my way from the airport
into the downtown core is thatyou know it exists in a valley,

(01:50:46):
so you get these beautiful viewscoming into town.
And then there's so manydifferent features, geographic
features to the city, there's somany different neighborhoods
and it's all very hilly and it'sgot lots of character.
And then there's also the partthat really amazed me and you
took us on this journey was thecable cars.
I've never seen a city that hascable cars designed for people

(01:51:09):
to be able to get to and fromwork, and obviously one of the
things I'll just share with ourlisteners, but I'm clear, I'm
keen for you to be the one tolead us on this journey.
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 inpoor conditions are living
higher up on the mountainside,and so that's where they have

(01:51:30):
less access to resources andtransportation, being one of
them.
But to give them opportunity,the city has built these cable
cars to get people into town fortheir jobs, and the
infrastructure when it comes topublic 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 wasexpecting at all.

(01:51:51):
But the one thing that wasreally special, carolina, as
part of our time together, wasactually experiencing a local
library that's at the base ofone of the cable cars at the top
to help educate the localcommunity, and it's still one of
the things that I want to beable to do is to send a box of
books, some Canadian books forkids and so, but that was sort

(01:52:11):
of my first impressions of oneof the highlights for me with
Medellin, but give all of ourlisteners, from your vantage
point, an overview of thisincredible city.

Speaker 5 (01:52:19):
Okay, so Medellin is a city that, as you are saying,
is very green.
It's one of the things that Ilike the most about my city that
when you start coming, youfirst exit from a tunnel, coming
from the airport almost fivemile tunnel and the first thing
that you see it's a valley thatis very, very green.
You start walking in the cityand you start seeing flowers

(01:52:43):
everywhere.
This is one of the reasons whywe have a beautiful nickname
Medellin, the city of theeternal spring, even though I
have to say that now it's likebeginning of summer for global
warming, but the weather here isperfect all year long for
global warming, but the weatherhere is perfect all year long.
We, the people from Medellín,we call ourselves paisas, and

(01:53:06):
paisas, we are also verywelcoming.
I will say that one of the mainthings that people like to, or
one of the main reasons whypeople like to come to Medellín,
it's also the people.
We're very friendly, we're verywelcoming, and I think that
this was something that you wereable to experience when we were
doing the tours.
Now, the city, as you're saying, has different elements that

(01:53:26):
have been created in the last 20, 25 years as part of all this
process of changing, oftransformation of the city.
One thing is that we have beeninvesting 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.

(01:53:50):
We have been also investing alot in education, also in
technology, and this wassomething that you saw in the
libraries that we have in theneighborhoods.
Unfortunately, not everybodyhas the resources to buy books,
to buy a computer, so this issomething that people in the
neighborhoods of Medellín areable to go and to see, and I'm

(01:54:14):
also very thankful for your ideaof bringing books to these kids
, also very thankful for youridea of bringing books to these
kids, because this is one of thefirst places where they can go
to study, to do homework.
And transportation is also oneof the key elements of our
change.
Medellín was actually electedin 2013 as the most innovative

(01:54:34):
city in the world.
This was a contest where wewere competing with Tel Aviv and
New York, and the main reasonwas the cable car.
These cable cars were createdin 2004.
Today, you can find five ofthem that are part of the public
transportation system, and theidea is that we like these hills

(01:54:54):
are very steep, like just theidea of how are we going to give
access to the economy to thepeople?
How are we going to be able tobuild roads?
It was very hard because therewas not a lot of public space,
so there was a moment that wedecided to do it through air.

(01:55:15):
And you're saying that beforecable cars were used in fancy
resorts for skiing and todayit's the way that people have to
get to at any point of the city.
We have here a metro system thatincludes train, tram, buses,
that they have their own lane,and these cable cars.

(01:55:35):
They're all integrated.
The metro started in 1995.
And it's something that we havebeen little by little improving
.
But I believe that the mostimportant thing is what you're
mentioning.
It's like we go to the areas ofthe city that has the lower
index of life quality and inthis way people are able to get
a job and participate into theeconomy.

(01:55:58):
But also it's unbelievable howthankful people is, also because
they started feeling okay, thecity is investing in us, the
budget of the city is also goingto us, and this is also part of
something that we started doinga few years ago, where the
communities were able toparticipate in.

(01:56:19):
What do we want for ourneighborhood?
How can we change it?
What is important for us tohave here?
And we noticed thattransportation, education,
public space, sports weresomething very important to
include in all this change, andI would say that that's kind of

(01:56:40):
like the key of the change.

Speaker 3 (01:56:42):
Well, I love that you highlighted what the city
actually means, like the eternalspring, I think one of the
things that you mentioned aboutbeing green and like that, you
know it has a very differentfeel.
I mean, medellin is the secondlargest city in Colombia and yet
it feels so mellow bycomparison after being in Bogota
, and I felt like that wasactually a great segue after
being in Bogota and the capitaland then heading to Medellin is

(01:57:05):
that Medellin is a big city withlots to do, but at the same
time it feels way more mellowand it also attracts a lot as
you highlighted to me a lot ofglobal nomads, and so it was
kind of I mean, it has to besurreal for you, given the
history, just to see how manyinternational travelers are
living in Medellin and hangingout at the restaurants and the

(01:57:27):
cafes, and like it was surrealto me to see that and I want to
touch on that as well, because Iknow there's positives to
having that tourism dollars, butalso when people come and stay
an extended period of time, itdrives up the cost of living for
locals, which is anotherchallenge.
So you really opened my eyes toso many things and I want to
try and touch on as many of themas possible in our conversation

(01:57:49):
.
The one other thing I'm reallykeen to get your overview of is
that we don't talk about Pablotour just because it is so
powerful.
And really I want people to togo to Medellin to have a chance
to, to meet you, because when wetraveled around, the first
thing we did is we jumped into ataxi and because we had to get

(01:58:09):
to the other side of the cityand you seem to know everybody,
so we jumped in a taxi and itwas a friend of yours, actually.
I think we jumped in a secondone and it was someone you
hadn't seen in a number of yearsand it was just great to be
able to navigate the city withyou, with someone that clearly
is an expert and also has allthe connections.
So we traveled from one end ofthe city to the other and then
we started getting on publictransport and seeing more of the

(01:58:30):
city that way.
But one of the things that wasso powerful was that we don't
talk about Pablo tours.
Give us an overview of the tourthat you designed, because
that's certainly one of thereasons that people travel to
Medellin or have known aboutMedellin and there's clearly so
much more that the city has tooffer.
But I think it's important toget through that history and
that past as you did with us.

(01:58:50):
That then it sort of opened usup to see the city from a new
perspective.
But tell us a little bit aboutthose tour that you design and
what the experience is travelingaround the city with you on the
we Don't Talk About Pablo tour.

Speaker 5 (01:59:03):
When Rodrigo came to us to tell me about the idea
that he had with the tour, itwas something very interesting
because I used to say, oh, I cando all sorts of tours in
Medellin, but personally I don'tdo Pablo Escobar tours period.
But personally I don't do PabloEscobar tours period.
Even other agencies were alsoinviting me to do these tours
because, unfortunately, foreverything that happened here

(01:59:24):
for the Syrians, there were likenarcos.
There were many people thatwere coming to the city looking
to know the story about this manand normally the tours were
mostly like glorifying his image.
People sometimes wanted to knowhow much money did he have, all
the things that he did, andthat was something that I was

(01:59:44):
like no, I'm not going toparticipate.
But when this idea of creatingthe tour of we Don't Talk About
Pablo was more about, ok, let'stalk about it, but let's try to
teach.
So we start talking about howthe history of not just managing
, but also the history in thecountry and the history in the

(02:00:06):
world started all creating thatkind of like perfect moment for
the whole business to start thebusiness of drugs in this case
and also how it startedimpactful in our lives and also
how it has started to beimpactful in our lives.
We start talking about all ofthis, but we talk about the

(02:00:26):
history through the voice of thevictims, which is the most
important part and it's, for me,the key of this tour.

Speaker 3 (02:00:34):
The one thing that really shocked my wife and I
when we were in Medellintogether was the fact that
people are selling shirts withPablo Escobar on them, and we
were both shocked to see it.
One of the things I alsolearned after we left there was

(02:01:06):
that I guess they startedputting fines in place for
businesses that were sellingthese items to discourage that
activity.
But this is the difficulty withtourism is that if people are
coming and asking for thesetypes of tours, I think the the
the way that you've approachedit, which is that there's a
demand and an interest, but youfind a way to channel that into
a positive future change for thefuture.
So it's acknowledging whathappened, but absolutely not
glorifying it.
If anything, it's actuallymaking it very real and
humanizing all of the terribleconsequences of that conflict in
that period of time.

(02:01:26):
So, yeah, continue to tell usagain about the tour itself and,
specifically, I would love toknow about the monument to all
the people that died over thattime.

Speaker 5 (02:01:36):
In this place where before used to be the house of
Pablo Escobar, that was called aMonaco building, edificio
Monaco, we decided in the cityto 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

(02:02:03):
Escobar, but unfortunately theword of mouth on people that
were coming to the city werereally interested in knowing
about him.
They were really interested inthe stories that they were
listening and the problem whenwe were not talking about all of
these was that most of thestories that people were
listening and the problem whenwe were not talking about all of
these was that most of thestories that people were
listening were not accurate.
A lot of these stories wereglorifying his image.

(02:02:26):
You are mentioning how in someplaces, for example, they sell a
lot of or shirts, or magnets,things with his image, and
unfortunately, this is somethingthat is still sold in the city,
because you ask a vendor andhe's going to tell you he's like
this is what I'm selling themost.
I'm not going to stop sellingit.
So unfortunately, they don'teven think about the harm that

(02:02:49):
he did to Medellin.
They just only think about themoment, about how much money
they would make that day.
But I think that it's importantthat we start telling the
reality.
Are there people that like him?
Yeah, probably they are, andusually you're going to find
that he's a very young person ormaybe someone that in those

(02:03:09):
days was benefited by him, andusually the money that they got
was not something that it wasgoing to make lives easy, or
they were working by him or forhim, helping with all this war,
working maybe as hitmen.
So what is important is that westart talking about the reality

(02:03:30):
, but in a very unbiased way.
There were more than 48,000people that were victims here of
the violence between 1984 and1993.
And this is something that weare showing.
We unfortunately cannot make aperfect list and tell you all
the names because we don't knowexactly our history.

(02:03:51):
We are not even teaching itcompletely at schools.
So how important it is toeducate about the past, about
what happened here, but alsoabout real facts and also what
was for us, for locals, to livein a city where it was very
common to have bombs, peoplekilled or even kidnaps.

(02:04:14):
So what we do in the tour isthat, with respect, we start
addressing both sides and westart trying to explain, okay,
why a person is going to likehim, but why a person still
today doesn't want to talk abouthim.
Because they have their woundsopen, because for them was very
painful to grow up during allthese years.

(02:04:35):
I believe that my generationit's a generation that kind of
like started by first timetalking about everything that
happened here, but we have tounderstand that today there are
still people alive that werevictims of him and for them it's
painful to talk about the topic, and you can imagine also how

(02:04:57):
painful it is for locals to see,for example, a foreigner
wearing his shirt.

Speaker 3 (02:05:02):
Well, one of the things just to exactly your
point that I found so powerfulis that when we walked around
that monument and the lightsthat emit from that at nighttime
to represent the 45,000 peoplethat were killed during that
time, and as you walk your wayaround this monument, you can
see when these bombings tookplace and you can see clusters
where it's by year and by monthand all of a sudden there was a

(02:05:25):
couple of years where there wasbombings almost daily and I know
one of the board members ofImpulse Travel, julian Guerrero,
was telling me when we werethere that he had actually left
one of the clubs only a fewminutes before it exploded and
he ran back to try and helppeople and just to think about
what he experienced and what hesaw, and certainly your

(02:05:46):
childhood and many other peoplethat were affected.
It was powerful to be able toshare that story in such a way
that is deeply meaningful andalso to highlight the police and
other organizations that wereaffected by this, because you
know the police officers thatwere killed, so there's a
tribute to them there as wellfrom this period of time.

(02:06:09):
But clearly I want to make surethat everyone that is going to
Medellin and is interested inthis gets a much better
understanding by speaking toCarolina and going on this
particular tour.
But clearly there's so muchmore to this incredible city and
I want to move past that nowand get back to where our
conversation started, which isall the amazing things you can

(02:06:31):
do and experience in Medellin.
So you know, go on that journey.
Definitely don't buy a shirtand definitely educate yourself,
because it'll give you a wholenew perspective on this city.
But moving past that difficultperiod and then looking at the
city that's transformed aroundyou now, carolina, tell us about
some of the other greatattributes of Medellin and what

(02:06:52):
are some of the other bighighlights that you would
recommend travelers toexperience while they're there,
visit neighborhoods that arereally pretty, like Poblado
Laureles, places that are areaswhere high-income people live.

Speaker 5 (02:07:13):
But it's very important that you also go and
see the reality of the city.
80% of our neighborhoods arenot necessarily high-income
areas.
So being able to go over thereto see places that they may look
humble but where you're notgoing to see this sense of
community in like no, or likeyou go to these places and you,

(02:07:36):
you could see the sense ofcommunity, you could see people
that they build theirneighborhoods themselves that
are very pretty, very organized,that people they really take
care of their areas.
So for me, this will be one ofthe highlights like really
experience different areas ofmanaging and also get to talk

(02:07:59):
with people.
We're very welcoming totourists, people.
Unfortunately, not everybodyspeaks English, but even if they
don't speak English, they arevery happy to come to say hello
to you.
We use here a lot the wordgringo, not as something
negative or pejorative.
We refer to gringo almost toall foreigners.
So how you're passing by andthey start like saying hi to you

(02:08:22):
, hello, gringo.
Or sometimes they even starttalking and I have to quickly
try to translate in order toreally help, help you to
communicate with locals.
For me that's one of thehighlights.
Like that you really experiencethe city, going to different
parts of medellin, even someneighborhoods that are not
necessarily touristic or thatare not necessarily like in the

(02:08:45):
top of the activities to do justlike random neighborhoods for
the industry, let's say.

Speaker 3 (02:08:53):
Well, in one particular neighborhood, I want
to call out to your point aboutgetting to experience the local
communities and getting tounderstand the people.
The one area that many peoplewill try to see, if they've done
some research before going, isComuna 13.
Now, comuna 13, obviously theSpanish word Comuna.
There's 16 districts withinMedellin and Comuna 13 is one of

(02:09:16):
them, and I'd like you to takeus on a brief journey through
that, because you know, I knowit's San Javier is, I guess, the
actual name of Comuna 13.
And you know it has a uniquepart of the history and it's got
some amazing graffiti and allthese incredibly bright colors
and it's super um loud, like anenergetic like.
There's this music blasting andthere's like, and it's it's,

(02:09:36):
you know, there's there's streetperformances and it was one of
the things that was reallyeyeopening to see.
And it's got caught up with alot of the violence and because
of the poverty in that area, andso and there's some of the
artwork that you pointed out tome like, with the paramilitary
operations there and when the U?
S was trying to crack down onthe drug trafficking, a lot of
these poor people were caught inthe crossfire in that

(02:09:58):
neighborhood, and so there's a aa remarkable and powerful story
there, but it's also a veryliving community that is, you
know, transforming, and so tellus a little bit about Communa 13
.

Speaker 5 (02:10:11):
And I believe that this is like the perfect spot
that reflects the model of urbaninnovation and social
transformation in the city Pastto be, in 2002, the most

(02:10:35):
dangerous neighborhood inMedellin, where not even locals
were visiting it.
And today you go there and youfind people from everywhere in
the planet, or even Colombians.
I have friends that live herein Medellín and they tell me,
caro, when are you going to takeme to Comuna 13?
Because normally they never gothere.
This is a place that, yes, hasa very, very tough past, but

(02:10:59):
culture, arts they reallystarted changing the place.
There are a lot of amazingprograms there where social
leaders, they started kind oflike teaching people how to.
Well, first of all, the historyof what happened over there,
because this is one of the firstplaces that I started also

(02:11:20):
saying, okay, one second, wecannot just move on.
We have to also start talkingabout everything that happened
in the past.
But then they do it througharts.
It's a place where you startwalking around and you're going
to see murals that talk aboutthe operations, murals that talk
about the people that live inthe area.

(02:11:42):
In Comuna 13, you find about10% of Afro-Colombians.
These were people that weredisplayed from the regions and
when you come here, you seemurals, for example, that they
start kind of like payingtribute to their background.
You're going to find kids thatthey start dancing Also these

(02:12:03):
neurogeneral new rhythms likeexotico that are common from
these regions.
So it's a place where theystart also showing kids hey, you
have an opportunity.
You can become a rapper, youcan start singing, you can also
do breakdance and look, this isart.

(02:12:24):
Art is what is really changingus.

Speaker 3 (02:12:44):
And I think that is a perfect place to understand.
Also, the'll walk with you.
So we went to the restaurantand then you toured us around so
we could see, after we went tothe restaurant, where else could
we go to get a drink and justexperience some of the nightlife
, and you gave us even morehistory.
So there's so much to exploreabout the city, but there's two
other things I want to touch ontogether.
One of them is theextraordinary food experiences

(02:13:06):
and the dining experiences,because you took us to a few
different restaurants, a coupleof your favorites, to show us
and, if we have more time, andI'm definitely going to hit them
when we get back.
But there was one place that wasabsolutely extraordinary and
was a real highlight of our trip.
We went to a place called ElCielo, which described for our
listeners, if you wouldn't mind,what El Cielo is and how this

(02:13:29):
came to be, because I justcouldn't believe that this
existed.
And then the experience we hadwas 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, forthat experience.
But yeah, tell us a little bitabout El Cielo.

Speaker 5 (02:13:39):
El Cielo.
It's a restaurant that wasopened 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 theyactually won Michelin star and
they're soon opening in New Yorktoo.

(02:14:00):
This restaurant, it's anexperience.
It's one place where you go.
It's not just one dish, onehour and you're out.
No, the opposite.
It takes you about two hoursand a half through different
courses.
Normally they change the menu acouple of times a year and
every time that you go you'regoing to be able to try

(02:14:21):
something different.
What I like more about the placeis that you're able to try to
taste the local products, butgiven in a way that you are
never going to imagine, like.
I even remember one of the lasttimes that I went, they gave me
a onion ice cream.
If they didn't tell me thatthat was onion, I will have
never imagined it.
So it's a place where you,little by little, you'll start

(02:14:44):
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 daythey can visit this place, but
there are things that are alsofor you to interact with them,
to, for example, put chocolatein your hands, to breathe, to
smell.
They speak english, which isgreat.
They come to you, they startexplaining you everything that

(02:15:05):
is in your plate, but also howyou can interact with food.
It's a place that I definitelysuggest.
It's one of my favoriterestaurants here in the city.

Speaker 3 (02:15:17):
Well, you got me excited about it.
We already booked Rodrigo andthe team had suggested it, and I
looked it up and I was likethis looks extraordinary.
You told us about it before wewent and I was totally blown
away, because the 16 coursesmatch with different wines and
then each of the dishes is soexquisite from different regions
within Colombia, from theAmazon.
But then the experience withthe chocolate, where they

(02:15:37):
actually put the chocolate inyour hands.
The whole idea is to wash yourhands with chocolate, but you
eat the chocolate at the sametime and you look around the
room as other people are tryingto figure out what's happening
here.
Is everyone else doing this?
So it's truly extraordinary.
So anyone going?
Definitely you need to buildthat into your itinerary.

Speaker 5 (02:15:54):
Something about the chocolate experience that I love
is that when they put chocolatein your hands, it's, of course,
it's like a chocolate therapy Ibelieve that is the name in
English but it's like you put itin your hands, it's great for
your skin.
But it's like you put it inyour hands, it's great for your
skin.
But it's also like do youremember 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 thechocolate.

(02:16:15):
So I really like this placebecause you go there to a fancy
restaurant where you areexpecting to see it very posh,
but then one of the firstexperiences is this one lick
your hands, so into seeds, verypush.

Speaker 3 (02:16:26):
But then the one of the first experience is this one
lick your hands, so it reallykind of like tried to break the
idea that you have about howcuisine has to be and how you
also have to put all your sensesinto food no, it was such an
extraordinary experience andthat was definitely the
highlight, but, um, because thechocolate was so delicious and
it was like you couldn't stoplicking your fingers, um, but
then it felt glorious after youwashed your hands and your hands

(02:16:47):
all of a sudden were you know,you had this delightful feeling
of your hands being, and thenyou were gone to eating other
dishes.
But the other thing I wantedjust to highlight is the
accommodation, because when youkindly took us on the walking
tour around the neighborhood,you also highlighted to us that
we can walk home from therestaurant, and we said farewell
to you and we did exactly thatwe walked home from the

(02:17:08):
restaurant.
It was safe, it was well litand it's a lovely experience.
Again, this is completelydifferent to what I imagined
traveling to Colombia, onceyou're actually in the
destination, going out for thistype of meal that I never knew
that this type of dining existedthere, and then to be able just
to wander back to our hotel,which had a beautiful pool and

(02:17:30):
was in this kind of lush greenarea.
And so tell us a little bitabout the accommodation, because
that was another eye-openingthing for me is there are really
quite a few extraordinaryplaces to stay.
And I don't mean extraordinaryin terms of being luxurious,
because that's actually not mystyle of travel.
I just mean extraordinary interms of being luxurious,
because that's actually not mystyle of travel.
I just mean extraordinary interms of like they fit perfectly
in their environment.

(02:17:50):
And so I just like the decorand the architecture fit
perfectly into Medellin in alocal neighborhood which you
felt like you know, there'slocal houses and there was
locals coming and going andthere was a restaurant there and
it just it had such a greatvibe to it.
So tell us us a little bitabout the accommodation, because
I'm sure you see people stayingat various different places and

(02:18:10):
just bring that to life.
And then I'm going to ask youone more question to close out
our conversation to any tipsthat you have for, uh, for all
of our listeners.

Speaker 5 (02:18:17):
But yeah, tell us a little bit, if you wouldn't mind
, about the accommodationoptions so here in the city you
can find from like very big uhhotels, like chains and also
boutique hotels that some ofthem even used to be in big
houses of these neighborhoodswhere they try to decorate the

(02:18:37):
place even to bring you todifferent regions of the country
, that you are able toexperience from the very
beginning, from the hotel, howis the whole country the prices
are unbelievable, reallyaffordable.
This is one of the reasons alsowhy a lot of people they are
coming here to the country,because when you come with the

(02:18:59):
change with pesos and dollars,it's pretty easy to like stay in
one of these places.
They have exquisite food fromthe very beginning, from
breakfast.
Then you can also like walkaround in the neighborhoods and,
as you're saying, the wholearea it's pretty safe.
So it's easy for you to justlike finish breakfast and start

(02:19:21):
walking around and then youstart popping with more
breakfast, ice cream spots,independent designer shops, so
it's a great area to walk around.

Speaker 3 (02:19:33):
Yeah, and I would just highlight how it all comes
together, because I rememberwhen I first got the quote back,
as we were putting our triptogether and the team was
putting together a customizeditinerary for us, for my wife
and I, because it actually hadbeen our anniversary and so it
was just the two of us, the kidsstayed home and we had this
extraordinary time in Colombia.
But even when I looked at thequote, I was like wait, a second
, is this missing something?

(02:19:53):
I'm like wait, like the costwas so reasonable but yet and it
wasn't because I know the teamI mean they put together such an
incredible itinerary for us,but when you add up the cost of
a typical day traveling inColombia, it is maybe 20% of the
cost of traveling to Europe,for example, but at a level

(02:20:14):
equivalent or in some sense Iwould say higher because of the
experiences you're having.
So I think that's one of thethings that I just wanted to
highlight to our listeners,because there are certain
destinations at a certain timein their development where it's
one of the best times to be ableto go, and that's how I
strongly feel about Colombia.
So let's leave everyone withone final suggestion from you,

(02:20:34):
carolina about Medellin.
What would be one of the thingsyou would say that you either
can't miss or one of the thingsyou need to prepare in advance?
That makes Medellin so special?

Speaker 5 (02:20:47):
prepare in advance.
That makes Medellin so special.
Well, one of the best thingsabout coming to Medellin is that
you can come all year long.
We don't really have seasonshere, so people can be prepared
to just come, like even for aweekend, at any moment of the
year.
I will say that definitely youhave to try to go to a

(02:21:10):
restaurant where you're able toexperience the country also
through the food.
One of the things that I lovemore to do is also experience
exotic fruits, or like go to oneof these markets, start trying
different fruits.
It's unbelievable how sometimespeople they go and it's like

(02:21:30):
how do I just try 15, 20 fruitsthat I never saw in my life?
So this is one of my favorite,favorite things.
And finally, I have to saycoffee.
I am an addicted to coffeemyself, and it's something that
you can easily find in the city.
I'm addicted to coffee myselfand it's something that you can
easily find in the city.
We even have coffee farms inthe valley or just like one hour

(02:21:52):
away from the city.
You can do a coffee testing andlearn about this product that,
yeah, we produce one of the bestcoffees in the world.
I mean, you can just like haveit here like for breakfast, but
you can start going from coffeeshop to coffee shop to be able
to try it.
So definitely, that's one of myfavorite suggestions.

(02:22:13):
So experience the city, try totalk with locals, try to go to
neighborhoods that yeah, Comuna13, for example, is amazing, but
we have so many otherneighborhoods that are great,
that have a lot of arts.
You can have great food andgreat coffee.

Speaker 3 (02:22:28):
I love that you mentioned those two things,
because one of the lines that Ireally enjoyed when I was there
was that diversity is the newluxury, and diversity of fruits.
I had no idea until we went tothe market in Bogota that
Colombia has more fruits thanany other country in the world,
and I was experienced and I lovefruit, and so for me that was
another like eye openinghighlight.
And so the fruit.
I'm glad you mentioned that,because we hadn't otherwise

(02:22:48):
highlighted that on this episode.
And the other one was coffee,because I have mentioned that a
couple of times and actually itwas with you that I had the
experience of doing the coffeetasting and discovered that, oh
my God, I love this particulartype of Colombian coffee because
it's not bitter and it wasdelicious and so yeah, so I have
so many highlights from ourtime together, caroline, I think

(02:23:10):
our listeners have certainlygotten a good understanding of
and we've just scratched thesurface, but you've done an
excellent job of giving all ofour listeners an overview and
certainly reminding myself whyit was so special and why I need
to get back there as soon aspossible, and I certainly look
forward to seeing you again.
We'll definitely plan anothertour in Medellin.
I'm going to try and bring thekids this time because they need

(02:23:32):
to experience it as well.
But yeah, I want to say thankyou so much for your time.
I really enjoyed thisconversation.
It was great to reconnect withyou again and I certainly wish
you a great summer in 2025 andthe rest of the year.

Speaker 5 (02:23:47):
And hopefully I'll see you a little later this year
, hopefully.
And yes, the city is also greatfor families, so it will be
amazing for you to bring yourkids here, and I can't wait to
meet you again.
I'm really happy that everytime more people are coming to
the country, to the city, socan't wait also for our
listeners to start planning thetrip to Colombia.

Speaker 3 (02:24:06):
Now we have the opportunity to go all the way to
Cartagena, where I finished mytrip, and Cartagena is truly.
I was part of the inspirationfor actually putting this
episode together.
I listened to a podcast on theway to Cartagena and I'm not
going to reference the podcastbecause I love podcasting and I
love so many podcasters but thisparticular podcast was terrible
.
It was absolutely awful.

(02:24:27):
I told Rodrigo andcasters butthis particular podcast was
terrible, it was absolutelyawful.
I told Rodrigo and Juliana aboutthis because, as I'm flying to
Cartagena looking to get someinsights and looking for a
travel podcast, I found this oneand the person that was
actually doing the interview hadnot been to Colombia before and
they were interviewing someonethat was from Switzerland that
was now living in Colombia, andeven he made the comment you

(02:24:47):
don't sound Colomb, soundColombian.
And she said no, I'm actuallynot.
But my daughter moved here andI was like why am I even
listening to this?
But I actually perseveredbecause I wanted to know
everything they had to share, tosee if there were any
highlights, and today I now havethe privilege not only of
having to experience Cartagenamyself, but also have a true
expert who lives in Cartagenaand really knows this.

(02:25:07):
So I just want to say, eventhough we haven't met because
obviously I've been to Cartagenaon our trip, but this is the
first chance I get to meetOralis, and so, oralis, tell us
a little bit about yourbackground in Cartagena and how
you got into the travel andtourism industry.

Speaker 6 (02:25:24):
I was born in a little town called Marialavaja
in Bolivar department, becausein Colombia we are divided by
department, there are 32 andthis one is called Bolivar.
So I was born in a smallmunicipality called Marialavaja.
But then I moved to Cartagena,which is two hours from the town

(02:25:45):
, just to study.
So I studied to be a personalassistant, but it doesn't work,
I don't really like that.
And then I decided to be a tourguide and I studied during two
years and that's the one Ireally like, I really love.
And that's the one I reallylike, I really love.

(02:26:08):
And my experience in impulsetravel has been amazing.
It has been amazing because Ihave had the opportunity to meet
people from all over the world.
So I feel myself like atraveler without traveling.
Feel myself like a travelerwithout traveling.

(02:26:33):
So because I have a lot ofpeople and I have the
opportunity to learn about theircultures, about everything.
How I joined Impulse this isweird.
You know what happened when Ifinished my study as a tool guy.
I was thinking so now I have tojoin a nice, very nice agency

(02:26:54):
to start with this challenge.
Juliana called me and I saidwhat I just think about this.
And then Juliana called me butI didn't send my resume Nobody

(02:27:15):
and I was surprised.
I said, oh, this is somethingdivine, because she called me
and she doesn't have my resume.
And then I said, oh, this isGod's will and that's why.
That's the reason I really loveimpulse travel, because it's

(02:27:35):
the first agency that gave methis opportunity to be a tour
guide in Cartagena, to join, tolearn a lot about the city, and
also, juliana teach me a lotabout how to be a tour guide and
I'm still learning.

(02:27:55):
But yeah, I think it was very,very special how I joined
Impulse, because I didn't expectImpulse, but she called me, me,
and now I think it's the bestdecision I took because I feel
like they are my family.

(02:28:16):
That's what I feel.

Speaker 3 (02:28:18):
That's wonderful.
That's such a lovely story.
That's wonderful, and clearlyyou're learning from the best,
because both Julianne andRodrigo obviously were both tour
guides.
They know this space, sothey're masters of the craft.
But this is where good peopleknow good people, or they spot
someone and, like yourself, thatactually is you know.

(02:28:38):
You've chosen to educateyourself, move into the city,
like you're.
Most of the guides, as I'vecome to understand, are, you
know, pursuing a post-secondaryeducation.
They're going to college.
They're you know.
Clearly, most of the guides, asI've come to understand, are
pursuing a post-secondaryeducation.
They're going to college.
They're clearly even learningEnglish, for example, like the
fact you have multiple languageskills, which I do not have and
many of the travelers don'teither.
And then not only do you haveto be able to know the history

(02:29:13):
and be able to bring Cartagenato life, you've also got to
manage all of these differentpersonalities, which is another
unique characteristic to a tourguide.
So, as you just described, youtravel the world by bringing, as
people arrive in Cartagena.
So I want to bring Cartagena tolife for all of our listeners,
just like we did with bothBogota and Medellin.
And so I'll just start by justsharing my first perspective on
the city after listening to thatterrible podcast, which I did
finish.
I was just about to land and Ihad read that in many ways

(02:29:35):
Cartagena is referred to as alittle Miami the beautiful
beaches and the shoreline.
But then the incrediblearchitecture that very much did
look like Miami, all of a sudden, like just on this, like thin
peninsula of just glorious condotowers, and I couldn't believe

(02:29:59):
what I was seeing at first,because it was, and you arrive
as you land, literally to theright, 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 aspectacular view, at least on
the way into Cartagena.
And the other reallyinteresting discovery for me was
that the airport is so close,it's so convenient.
We were at our hotel within, Ithink, about 10 minutes of

(02:30:20):
leaving the airport.
It was so incredibly close.
And then there's so much to doright around Cartagena and
arriving there, like it is, it'sbeautiful, it's tropical.
And then the other thing I justwanted to highlight from my
experience, which is whereColombia really opened my eyes
to the fact that there are somany different types of Colombia
and different parts of Colombiaand Cartagena, knowing that we
were heading to the Caribbeancoast and obviously, as Juliana

(02:30:43):
discussed a bit of the history,with the slave trade and some of
the, you know, unfortunatelydark parts of our past of
humanity, but nevertheless hasled to beautiful things today
with the cultures and the foodand the wonderful people, and so
getting a chance to understandthe, I guess, the ethnic makeup
of Cartagena, which is verydifferent than other parts of

(02:31:05):
Colombia, and so I found thatincredibly refreshing to be able
to see a completely differentpart of this country.
But those are my initialperceptions, but I'm sure it's
very different to you, havinggrown up near there and spending
so much time there.
But tell everybody how youwould describe Cartagena for
someone who's going to bearriving there for the first

(02:31:26):
time or considering traveling toCartagena.

Speaker 6 (02:31:29):
So Cartagena, it's very special because it's one of
the most historical cities ofColombia and it's very special
because it's strategy role as aport, also because its struggle

(02:31:55):
for the independence.
And also Cartagena is specialbecause of the people.
Here we have the mix of races,you know, because we have the
influence of Spanish, africanand indigenous.
Talking about culture,cartagena is a mix of traditions

(02:32:17):
.
All these three races providethe culture.
It made our city special, themix of races.
So it made our city special,the mix of races.
So also Cartagena is specialbecause of the history, because

(02:32:40):
of the gastronomy, because ofthe music, because of the dance,
also because of the people.
Here we're very noisy, but in agood way.
We're very noisy.
We speak very loud and somepeople say, ah, these people are
very noisy.
We speak very loud and somepeople say, ah, these people are
very noisy, but that's part ofour culture.
So that's why people fromCartagena are special and are
different.
So we have a beautiful city withwall very preserved.

(02:33:02):
We have wall, we have battery,we have bastion, we have fort
and we have batteries, we havebastions, we have forts and we
have everything.
I think we have everything inCartagena, even that part you

(02:33:24):
mentioned the modern area, wherethe colonial houses, very
colorful streets and amazingarchitectural.
So Cartagena is, for me, is theperfect destination because you
can join everything.
If you want to go to the modernarea, you go to Boca Grande.

(02:33:44):
It's the modern area.
You go to Boca Grande, it's amodern area.
But if you want to go back tothe history, back to the time,
you stay inside the wall and youcan join these beautiful houses
with colonial style, amazingbalcony with flowers.
So yeah, for me we haveeverything here.

Speaker 3 (02:34:07):
What and what I found so fascinating?
Because one of the things I hadread before coming is that it's
a unesco world heritage siteand you know this walled city,
which I was so keen to see formyself 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, youknow, a 500 year history, and so
, as you described, thearchitecture, but also the

(02:34:30):
fortress, and it was neverconquered by the English, and so
it's a fascinating part of thehistory of Colombia.
For sure, it's totally uniqueand different than any other
part of the country, and exactlywhat you described was what hit
us first was music and thenightlife, and it was like just
the, just a totally differentenvironment when we hit the

(02:34:52):
streets to walk throughCartagena, and it was just like
where are we?
And the closest comparison thatI could think of from my
travels was Havana, like, and itjust had this like great
Caribbean vibe about it, and Iwas like I've loved all of
Colombia so far and I'm likethis is pretty incredible too.
And I was like I've loved allof Colombia so far and I'm like
this is pretty incredible too,like I was just like.
Even so, tell us a little bitmore about what you would

(02:35:13):
typically take someone on thetour.
So what?
Because we had a couple of we.
We were very fortunate to havean amazing day touring around
Cartagena, and then we went toan island for we basically had
another little getaway, whichyou can by all means highlight
all the things you can do fromCartagena, because I guess
there's so much more that westill could do on future trips.
But in Cartagena itself, whatare some of the primary things

(02:35:36):
that you would encouragetravelers to check out?
Or what are some of the thingsthat you take people to explore
on their kind of first day toexperience the city?

Speaker 6 (02:35:43):
Okay, the city during the colonial period period was
divided in three social levels.
So we still have social classand social level in Colombia.
So in that time was from one tothree, today from one to six or
even more.
But something that I want tointroduce to the tourists about

(02:36:07):
Cartagena, I tried to teach themabout these three social levels
in the past because the citywas divided Inside the wall
upper and middle class.
So I take people upper andmiddle class way, I explain what
happened there and then I takethem to the lowest class, which

(02:36:30):
is located in Hexamanineighborhood, and I think they
have an opportunity to see andto check what happened in the
past in Cartagena, happened inthe past in Cartagena.
They have the opportunity tolearn about the history and

(02:36:56):
which is, for me, is still alittle bit alive, because I
explain about what happenedduring the slavery time, what
happened with the rich peopleand what happened with the poor
people, and we have that inCartagena still so, which is not
common because, for example, wehave Hexamaní neighborhood and
in Hexamaní neighborhood you canlearn about lowest class area.

(02:37:16):
You can see, you can see thereal Cartagena in Hexamaní, the
deadly life of local people inCartagena, and it's not common
to see or to have native orlocal people living in tourist
areas because it's veryexpensive.
But, opposite, in Hexhamaniit's possible to have that.

(02:37:39):
So for me it's very importantto take people through these
three ways to see the city uppermiddle class and lowest class
in Hexamani.
So downtown and Hexamani.

Speaker 3 (02:37:55):
The other thing I want to highlight, too, is the
cuisine.
I know we talked a little bitabout that and the other cities
that we've highlighted on thispodcast, but Cartagena is very
unique.
But Cartagena is very unique,and so Palenque one of the big
highlights for us and we werediscussing this at the very
beginning with Juliana that wehad a chance to experience the
cuisine like a typical Christmasdish and we were able to be a

(02:38:17):
part of the cooking experience,and it was truly one of the
highlights of our entire trip.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe cuisine in Cartagena.
What are some of the thingsthat people should gravitate to
while they're there?

Speaker 6 (02:38:25):
Oh sure.
And what are some of the thingsthat people should gravitate to
while they're there?
Oh sure.
So we have one of the mostinteresting cuisine of Colombia,
because the mix of racesindigenous, spanish and African
provide their product in orderto create like a perfect balance
in flavor, texture.
So that's why our cuisine isvery original, it's very

(02:38:50):
authentic and it's unique, andwe have many special dishes in
Cartagena.
For example, one of the mostfamous is the coconut rice.
Coconut rice fried fish, friedplantain and, in general,
shellfish are very famous inCartagena because they're fresh.

(02:39:15):
And also we have many stuff andalso the candies.
We love sweets and I think thatpart belongs to the African
heritage.
So here we have a very niceplace called Portal de los

(02:39:36):
Dulces, like Sweet Portal, soyou can try all kinds of sweets
made by Palenquera's hands, very, very good.
And, yeah, we have all kinds offood in Cartagena, because
Cartagena is one of the mosttouristic cities in Colombia,

(02:39:56):
but the most traditional, yeah,as the one that I told you
coconut rice fish cocktails.
I told you coconut rice fishcocktail.
And also we have PostaCartagenera, which is a beef,
and it's also very special.

Speaker 3 (02:40:16):
So clearly I need to try the beef.
I haven't had that yet, butthere were so many highlights.
One of the other highlights wasthe rum in Colombia and we
actually got to try thisspecific type of rum.
That was like banana infusedand I just didn't expect because
I'm not a typically a rum drink.
I didn't expect to love rum theway I did after traveling to
Colombia.
So tell us a bit about some ofthe spirits that are available

(02:40:37):
and how that is part of theculture as well.

Speaker 6 (02:40:40):
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 withchocolate, so you can mix this,

(02:41:06):
this, and then after that, youlove rum, even if you're not rum
drinker.
So, yeah, it's, it's very, veryspecial.
We have many kinds of rum like,uh, sorcerer, like dictator,
like, and, and these people whoare very expert around tasting,

(02:41:30):
and they introduce you in thisworld.

Speaker 3 (02:41:32):
That's great.
Yeah, just another highlightthat I wasn't expecting.
The other thing I wanted to askyou too, just in terms of the
people that visit Cartagena inthe time of the year that they
come, because one of the thingsthat I actually thought it was
lovely to see there was manyAfrican-Americans that were
traveling to Cartagena and Ithought that was just so you can
obviously tell the Americansbecause they're wearing their
collegiate gear or, like you cantell by their attire.

(02:41:55):
It's funny when we were talkingabout Medellin, one of the
things that separates localsfrom 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 youcan spot the locals and you can
see that, oh, those areAmericans, but who typically do?
You find travels to Cartagena,so people have an idea of who

(02:42:15):
they're going to be surroundedby, because it is a very
touristic city and what I meanby that is that actually that's
one of the things that's lovelyabout Cartagena.
Like you really do feel likeyou're at a tourist destination.
You feel like you're in aholiday place, so it is more
tourist than, say, medellin orBogota, but I'm highlighting
that in a good way because itfeels like a place you want to
go on holiday, have a vacation.

(02:42:36):
You'll see lots of other peopletraveling there.
Even we saw they were buildinga new Four Seasons Hotel, like
building these beautiful newproperties.
Because tourism continues togrow and grow To Cartagena.
There's so many direct flights.
I'm sure there's many peoplethat literally just go to
Cartagena and they haven'treally seen Colombia.
They've just seen an incrediblepart of Colombia and Cartagena.
But tell us about where thepeople that you're seeing, where

(02:42:57):
they're coming from and what'skind of the best time of the
year to visit.

Speaker 6 (02:43:00):
So we have tourists in Cartagena from all over the
world, but I think the highestpopulation are from US.
We have a lot of people from USand on December also January,
february.
I think these are the mostvicious months that we have

(02:43:23):
people coming.
But, as you said, cartagena islike 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 nolonger, no matter the season,

(02:43:43):
you know, because we have atropical weather.

Speaker 3 (02:43:45):
Yeah, well, one of the highlights as soon as we
arrived at the hotel because ourroom wasn't immediately
available, and that actuallyworked out to be just fine
because the pool was, and it wasso glorious and so hot and the
first thing we did was hit thepool and chilled out by the pool
and, incidentally, we were kindof it was a tropical paradise
from the moment we arrived andit was like and I think that's
one of the reasons that theImpulse team does organize the

(02:44:06):
trips the way they do so youfinish in Cartagena, which is a
perfect way to finish.
Actually, I would do it anydirection, but I totally get why
.
You know, we started in Bogota,went to Medellin and then
finished in Cartagena, becauseit 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 outdancing.
That was one of the highlightsthat you know.

(02:44:27):
We were told, oh, you have togo like, and then some of the
clubs were open and the musicand you're just like you've had
a few drinks, the rum wastasting good, and so you know,
we had an epic time in Cartagena, but one of the things I wanted
to.
Also, if you wouldn't mindhighlighting, is the jumping off
points from Cartagena, becausethat was eye-opening for me.
We had a chance to go and spenda couple of nights, so we took

(02:44:47):
a boat and had like a couple ofnight getaway.
But there's so many places thatyou can travel to from
Cartagena.
Would you mind sharing a coupleof examples of those so that if
someone is literally justcoming to Colombia to go to
Cartagena, they at leastexperience a little bit more of
Colombia with what's withinreasonable proximity to
Cartagena?

Speaker 6 (02:45:06):
Sure, we have a beautiful peninsula called Baru.
So in Baru there is a smallarchipelago called Rosario,
confirmed by 28 islands, andalso there is one of the most
important coral reef parks ofColombia.
It's one of the most importantcoral reef parks of Colombia and

(02:45:27):
you can see turquoise water,white sand in these private
islands, so it's like a paradise.
It's beautiful and, yeah, Iinvite you to join that because
it's amazing.
The Rosarios Islands.
Also, San Basilio de Palenqueif you're interested to have an

(02:45:50):
interaction or an encounter withthe African heritage, San
Basilio de Palenque is the rightplace.
In Cartagena, 20 minutes fromthe wall city, we have La
Boquilla.
La Boquilla is a fishercommunity and they from 200

(02:46:12):
years ago and also it's a verynice place.
It's a very nice place becauseyou can learn about local people
there and you can learn abouteven the problems they have.
They struggle with thegentrification, the development
in Cartagena.
So La Boquilla is another placeto visit which is very nice.

(02:46:36):
The Mud Boquilla is 45 minutesfrom the city.
So if you want to have like aweird experience, unique one,
you go to the mud volcano andyou can have a mud bath, which
is very unique and it's just 45minutes from the city.

(02:46:58):
Yeah, we have many places here.

Speaker 3 (02:47:01):
Clearly many places I need to get back to.
I think it was Santa Marta thatwe went to for a couple of
nights and it was.
You know.
We took a boat and this iswhere, like it just kept
revealing itself.
So clearly there's a lot I needto get back to and exploring
Colombia, and specificallyCartagena.
Maybe I'll do it reverse order.
That time of the year is prettyappealing for us Canadians, I
have to say December, januarygoing from minus 30 to plus 30

(02:47:24):
is like a great way to arrive ina destination.
Just in closing, when someone'sthinking about going to
Cartagena, what would youencourage them to like?
If there's one or two takeawaysfrom the conversation we've had
right now about Cartagena, whatwould you recommend someone
traveling to Cartagena for thefirst time to experience?

(02:47:46):
I know you've hit a lot ofhighlights already, but what
would you like to leave everyonewith as kind of the one or two
takeaways that you'd like peopleto remember from this
conversation about Cartagena?

Speaker 6 (02:47:54):
Okay, so I introduce people with the history, because
it's very important Historygastronomy, music, dance, food.

Speaker 3 (02:48:06):
Yeah, that's more than two.
I think we're at five already.
I think we're well on our wayto ten.
That highlights how much it isto offer.
There's not just two.
What are we talking aboutthere's a dozen reasons that you
need to experience Carnet.
No, but this is fantastic.
I really enjoyed ourconversation.
I obviously look forward tomeeting you next time that I

(02:48:27):
have the privilege to get backto Columbia.
Certainly we'll look forward todoing another tour and bringing
our family.
Our kids didn't have the chanceto experience it on our past
trip.
We're definitely going to bringthem next time and for sure
they would love our daughtersall about beaches.
I mean, she's a teenager, so ofcourse, I think that's one of
the things for the familiesplanning a trip.
You can assure that you canmake sure that there's going to
be beach time.

(02:48:48):
Get the Cartagena in and evenif it's beaches and your thing,
there's so many other things toexplore and see.
But yeah, aralis, I've soenjoyed this conversation.
It was a real pleasure to meetyou and, yeah, I look forward to
seeing you the next time thatI'm in Colombia.
Thanks again for joining us.

Speaker 6 (02:49:03):
Oh, it was my pleasure and you're very welcome
here with your family and Ihope to see you here soon.

Speaker 3 (02:49:11):
Thanks so much for joining us on this very first
destination spotlight of traveltrends focused on Colombia.
I hope you enjoyed theconversation 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 enoughfor sharing your stories and
also a powerful window into thenew Colombia.
I am so excited to get back,and I'm sure many of you are

(02:49:33):
inspired to travel to Colombiaas a result of this episode.
Just don't forget that if youwant to get a free tour by
booking through Impulse Travel,you can find more details at
impulsetravelcom, and you canget any one of the day tours
that we talked about on thispodcast today, whether it's
Communa 13 in Medellin orBreaking Borders in Bogota or
Coffee Tasting in Cartagena.

(02:49:54):
Those will all be added to yourjourney at no additional cost,
and the team also runs fam tripsand works closely with
ProColumbia, so be sure to reachout to the team at
impulsetravelcom.
We will also be posting clipsand highlights from this episode
on our social channelsInstagram, LinkedIn and YouTube,
so be sure to check those out.
And I also just wanted to closewith an acknowledgement of an

(02:50:15):
extraordinary musician.
You heard his music in the introto this episode and you're
gonna hear it as we close outnow.
His name is Gregorio Uribe, andwe had the privilege of
visiting his home on the veryfirst day.
He has an incredible song thatyou can find on Spotify, called
I Leonardo, which was writtenabout his son, and it was a
really special moment because heperformed it in his house and

(02:50:37):
his son was there, and it wasvery sweet and very powerful and
such a wonderful way to welcomeus to Columbia.
I am now totally in love with astyle of music that I didn't
know existed before, and I justwanted to thank Gregorio.
He's another one of these greatexamples of someone that has
moved back to Colombia, justlike you heard Raul, who moved
back from Australia to be a partof this incredible travel boom

(02:51:00):
that's happening in Colombia,and very much the same because
Gregorio moved back from NewYork City.
He's so well-read, so cultured.
I had the most fascinatingconversations with him, but
ultimately he is anextraordinary musician and I
hope you enjoy his music as wesign off now.
Thanks again for everyone forlistening.
Until next time, safe travelscarajo que sonrisas me dan.

Speaker 2 (02:51:21):
Es un ojo en bello.
Carajo que sonrisas me dan.
Ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, misplantes perdidas que hay en el

(02:51:52):
pecho, yo guardo.
Ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, yofui de tu vida y de tu carácter.

(02:52:13):
Gallardo, I'm not afraid toplay 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.

(02:52:34):
I will touch you.
I will touch you, even if it ismy way, I will touch you.

(02:52:56):
I will touch you.
Although it's my way, let's seeif you can sing it, bro.
Ay Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ayLeonardo, ay Leonardo, ay
Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ayLeonardo, ay Leonardo, ay
Leonardo, ay Leonardo, ayLeonardo, ay Leonardo, ay

(02:53:18):
Leonardo, ¶¶, ¶¶, ¶¶.

Speaker 3 (02:53:48):
I'll never be alone.

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

All Episodes

Destination Spotlight: Colombia with Juliana Medina (CEO) & Rodrigo Atuesta (Co-Founder), Impulse Travel

On Purpose with Jay Shetty