Travaling by bus is very popular in Colombia due to its convenience and extensive network. The buses we took were in excellent condition, clean, and driven by licensed uniformed drivers. Decades ago, this used to be true in the United States but with cheaper air travel and a growing number of automobiles, bus travel has fallen off. Too bad, because it can be enjoyable, safe, and comfortable.

One of the things that impressed us so much in Colombia was the absolute efficiency of the bus staff. As travelers still learning to speak Spanish, we were a bit concerned whether it would be easy for us to get around. Because of that, we took a more expensive “tourist bus”, seats packed so close together than my knees ached the whole way, for our first journey from Cartagena to Taganga. Miserable.

For the return, we chose to take a local mini-bus, called a collectivo, to travel from Taganga to Santa Marta, thinking we would find a bus station in that city and be able to choose a roomy passenger bus to take us back. Flagging down the first local bus we saw, we explained to the driver that we wanted to go to the bus terminal in Santa Marta to find a bus to Cartagena. He nodded and off we went.

About 20 minutes later in Santa Marta, as he was dropping off passengers, he pulled up behind a larger bus and motioned us out, saying, “That is your bus!” Completely puzzled, we descended and the ayudante for the large bus grabbed our packs and stowed them in the baggage compartment. A bit later, he collected our fares.

In the next town of Barranca, our bus pulled up behind another big bus at a stop and again we were told, “That is your bus.” By now, we just went along with the program, which worked for the rest of the time we were in Colombia. As we descended, the ayudante moved our backpacks from bus 1 to bus 2, taking time to see that the compartment was locked. An hour or so later, we arrived at the terminal in Cartagena!

Mystical bus travel! The drivers knew where they might intersect with other buses, from different lines, going different directions. We never had to explain anything beyond our mentioning to the first driver that we were headed to Cartagena. We were on new buses with roomy seats, driven by capable drivers with very competent assistants or ayudantes. This good bus luck stayed with us all through Colombia.

On long hauls, we paid top dollar for directo or ejecutivo buses because we knew no passengers would be picked up or dropped off along the route and that the bus would stop only in a few towns along the way. On our overnight trip from Cartagena to Medillin at night, we chose a climatizado or air conditioned bus that was top of the line. This was not only a faster way to travel, we thought it was especially wise when traveling through any area that was known to be remotely close to any region where drug trafficking or unrest had been reported. Plus such buses usually have toilets and show movies. Although these movies were usually action movies and almost always dubbed into Spanish, it was quite a surprise to hear someone like Robin Williams or Tom Cruise “speaking” Spanish with the same intonation and phrasing they used in the movie in English. What an industry this must be!