Cartagena

Cartagena de Indias is a city on the northern coast of Colombia.

Towards Baranquilla, Medellín, Bogota
The one trunc road to Baranquilla and Medellín is the one going past the castle. At La Bomba del Amparo, there is one splitting (Baranquilla-Medellín), if you head down to Medellín some kilometers there is another turnoff to Baranquilla and a good place to hitch.

Another option is to take the road to Baranquilla 4kms past the turnoff to the bus station (Terminal) to a police stopping. Here the cars slow down and often you may get a chance to talk to the drivers.

Another good spot is a gas station (and stamp point) called Florida. There are loads of trucks going to Bogota and to Medellin. Better hours are between 6 and 8 in the morning (better if you sleep there then, you can ask to the restaurant or to the hotel to put your tent somewhere). How to get there: take a bus to Mamonal from the center of Cartagena, and ask to the driver to let you in the industrial zone, where the mototaxis are. Then take a mototaxi to Florida. Alternatively, you can walk about 6 km till the Florida station. Don't make the mistake to stop in the Dona Cleme station(2km before): that is much smaller and with less traffic.

Towards Panama
There are 2 marinas in Cartagena. Try to get a yacht to Portobello Panama, this is not easy though.

Personal Experiences

 * I made the mistake of taking the road directly south to Turbaco. I walked all the way to that next city without a single ride. But there were no trucks! Don't make the same mistake, find the truck road. -Chael777


 * "January 2014: Following the instructions above, I took a bus in the direction of Mamonal (a final stop of a bus was Passacaballo). I left a bus in front of Ferreteria Reina and walked towards Peaje. There the road splits: to Baranquilla and to Medellin. I saw also many buses passing there with a direction "Caracoles", so probably you can take a bus directly to peaje from city centre. I needed to go to Medellin, and very soon a moto took me and brought to first gas station "La gran via", where I stayed for a night. All personal there was very nice and even promised to find a truck for me in the morning. But I prefered to do everything by myself and after 1 hour waiting I got a ride with a small car to Sincelejo." -che.apelsin


 * " March 2014 - I took a bus to the bus terminal(as you would expect to do) (which I hasten to add is a cracking place to sleep for the night. Super friendly staff and lots of police, and free Wifi, just sleep on the chairs (movable) to avoid being woken up) . Next morning I walked out through the apocalyptic landscape about 2km to were the road forks north and south. Towards Barranquilla there is a police checkpoint, but they would allow me to stand after it. However, on occasion trucks pull in here to secure loads, and it was with one of those happy chappies that I got a lift north. If you are transiting Barren, take any ride, but swap of at a busy petrol station to find rides towards Santa Marta as hitching out of B is a pain in the B. Waited 20 minutes here." -

Lukeyboy95