Colombia 2022 - Day 1 Journal

We were originally scheduled to make our first ever trip to Colombia in March of 2020, and were within days of departing when Covid-19 brought travel to a screeching halt. We rescheduled for October 2020, thinking that the situation would resolve itself within six months, but we all know how that worked out... We finally got to take the trip, almost two years after the originally scheduled date. 

Colombia has the largest number of bird species of any country in the world. While ecotourism has only been happening for around ten years in Colombia, it is becoming a popular destination for birders. 

Sunday 2/13/2022 – We drove to San Antonio and checked into the La Quinta Airport Hotel at 5:00 pm.  We made arrangements to leave the car parked there for the duration of our trip for $20.00. It’s the best airport parking deal in town. We also pre-ordered an Uber for 3:30 the next morning. As we discovered last time pre-ordering an Uber is fairly expensive, but we didn’t want to risk being late to the airport and missing our flight.

Monday 2/14/2022 – When the alarm is set for 3:00 a.m. and a big trip starting the next day, we don’t typically sleep very well, and this time was no exception. We were up at 3:00 and got notification that our Uber had arrived at 3:10, so we went down around 3:15 and got in.  Fun fact: Uber doesn’t allow the driver to start the ride more than ten minutes before the scheduled time, so we sat and talked for a few minutes before we headed out

We arrived at the airport quickly, got our bags checked, boarding passes, through security, etc. with no issues. Our flight to Miami left on time at 5:45 am, and we landed as scheduled at 9:21. Our flight to Cali, Colombia left at 10:45 and arrived at 2:20.  I had made sure to get us a flight on a wide-bodied Boeing 787, so we enjoyed the first-class “pods” that we had discovered on our trip home from Ecuador the previous fall. They actually make flying comfortable and fun!

We made it through immigration okay.  It seemed to help that I speak some Spanish because our immigration official preferred to use it. He’d “parked” the lady ahead of us off to the side while she figured out what he was asking her for and waved us up. He seemed pleased that we’d correctly filled out the required Colombian “Check MIG” paperwork and that we had our vaccination records in order. We then grabbed our bags and headed through customs, where once again the official asked us some questions in Spanish. I was able to answer them, and she waved us right through. 

We’d been in touch with our guide Daniel through WhatsApp and we knew he was waiting for us just outside. We loaded up into his 4x4 Toyota Land Rover SUV and headed out of Cali.  

Loading up.

It was 25 degrees when we’d left San Antonio, and 85 when we landed in Cali, so we were glad to be headed up into the western Andean cloud forest where it would be cooler.

The original plan had called for us to spend our first night in Cali, but our early afternoon arrival allowed us to go directly up to our first lodge, La Minga Ecolodge. 

Waiting at the front gate.

The road up to the lodge

is very narrow.

This is a well-known birding lodge and features beautiful gardens and an impressive array of both hummingbird feeders and fruit feeders for the birds. 

Front of the lodge.

We arrived there at 4:30 and immediately headed out to the patio overlooking the feeders. We were immediately treated to swarms of hummingbirds and colorful tanagers. 

Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager

Saffron-crowned Tanager

Long-tailed Sylph - male

We got six life birds (birds we’d never seen before) in the first hour that we were there. 

One of our lifers was the well-named Multicolored Tanager. This was a particular target species of ours and we were pleased to get looks at it the very first afternoon. 

Multicolored Tanager

Birding on the deck.

When it started to get dark we headed up to our room, which had three beds and a private bath. Simple but adequate. Dinner was a nice bowl of warm soup and a pasta/chicken entrée. We’ll be staying at several different lodges and hotels, and it will be interesting to see how they compare in terms of room amenities, food, feeders, etc. 

One side of our room.

The other side of our

very large room.

The beds were crazy firm, and there was no fan in the room to circulate air, so it felt both cool and muggy. Neither of us slept particularly well, but that is typical for us on the first night of a trip. Once we get tired enough we’ll sleep! 

Next time: Day 2

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