I’m not home quite yet, but I can already proclaim that my trip to Colombia was absolutely fantastic and I would go again in a heartbeat! It turns out that the reason my trip to Colombia was so cheap was that I didn’t realize that my return had a long layover in Los Angeles —23 hours—where I am now at my sister’s house. I’ll fly home later this afternoon.

On the final night of our tour, most of us went out to dinner together to celebrate. We were a very lively bunch, thanks mainly to one member of our group, Steve White, who is a professional comedian (As you can see, Steve is African-American, and his website is “steveaintwhite.com“). I sat right across from him at this dinner, and we were all howling with laughter!

Here’s his description of himself:

FOOLED YA!

Check Me Out

Whirlwind, likable, funny, passionate, versatile, talented, and a solid actor with an infectious smile. In a name Steve White. Think Morgan Freeman, Robin Williams, Chris Rock, Jim Carrey, and Denzel Washington, all rolled into one! And yes, throw in a little Meryl Streep. Don‘t believe? Go and see one of his hilarious stand-up shows, and then watch him do a monologue from Shakespeare‘s Othello. Read the review in the Jerusalem Post for a performance he did there as part of his stand-up tour of Israel, or read his review in the L.A. Times for his award winning performance as Clay in LeRoi Jones‘ award winning play Dutchman. See his short film Love Anyone? that he wrote, produced, directed and starred in. He can do it all.

We had some really delicious meals, one was here in this restaurant, where I had a fish filet with lime sauce and coconut rice. I don’t think I ever paid more than $16-17 for a hot meal, and many times much less than that.

Not once did we have any trouble asking for separate checks, which has not always been the case in Europe.

I did write in a previous post that on the domestic flight from Bogota to Cartagena, there was no restriction on the amount of liquids you could carry, and I in fact carried TWO bottles of water with no problem. However, when I flew out of Colombia, I went through security carrying no water, then I stopped to buy some water near the gate before getting on the plane. To my horror, there was a second security screening AT THE GATE, and I had to give up the water I had just bought and hadn’t even opened! This is the first time that this has happened to me, and I was not happy!

By the way, we always got charged for water in the restaurants, even if it was poured from a carafe rather than a bottle. At the restaurant where I had the ceviche in Cartagena, each glass poured from a carafe was $4 US, and I had two glasses! $8, yikes! (Of course, I didn’t find this out until I paid my check!)

All in all, though, I had a wonderful time! Colombia has gotten a bad reputation for being a dangerous place, but all that has gradually changed since the 90s. I would not hesitate to recommend Colombia as a vacation destination. I loved it!

I also was highly impressed by this Gate 1 tour… by the 5-star quality of the hotels, the knowledgeable and friendly guides, all the transportation arranged, and the quality of the experiences. I was a little suspect by the cheap price—their motto is “More of the world for less,” but it certainly isn’t less quality. Thank you, Gate 1!