Martin Hajek

I first heard of Capurganá a few years ago when I interviewed Ndana Chibanda. Since I value personal recommendations, I decided to read more about the town. Its location immediately piqued my interest, and when I finally got the opportunity to visit Capurganá myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Here are some comments and tips that you may find useful if you decide to go there.

Why Capurganá is a destination worth travelling to

What’s so special about it?
Capurganá is located in Chocó, which is an extremely interesting region in terms of geography and biodiversity. You may have heard of Lloró, one of the rainiest places in the world. Towns like Bahía Solano and Nuquí on the Pacific coast are popular destinations for whale watching. Chocó has a bit of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean close to Panama as well, and that’s where Capurganá is. No roads lead to this town, so there aren’t any cars there.

Isn’t it dangerous?
Chocó is the poorest department in Colombia and suffers from several major issues. That said, Capurganá has developed a lot in the past decade or so. Due to its location, you can’t expect the same comforts as in a big city, but I found the atmosphere in the town very relaxed and felt completely safe there.

We can’t ignore the fact that Capurganá is one of the starting points for the infamous trek through the Darién Gap to Bajo Chiquito in Panama. However, if you’re not involved in the activity of smuggling people, there’s nothing to worry about. Tourists are well received in the town, and some locals even keep their house doors fully open, which I believe is a sign that petty crime isn’t an issue there.

There are direct flights from Medellín
Many visitors travel to Capurganá by boat from Necoclí or Turbo. That is quite time-consuming and not exactly comfortable, so if you prefer a faster way, you can go there directly from Medellín with Pacífica. The flight itself is an interesting experience since the airline uses this L-410 aircraft built in 1989 in Czechoslovakia.

The airport in Capurganá is very basic and the runway tends to be used by the locals for walks or as a shortcut when going somewhere. The hand-written boarding pass and no airport security at all perfectly fit the location.

What can you do there?
A lot! There is a beach in the town, but most visitors go on boat trips to nearby bays (Sapzurro, La Miel, El Aguacate). If you like diving, there are opportunities to do so, mainly from April to November when the sea is a bit calmer. Capurganá also offers amazing hikes to places like Reserva Natural El Cielo or La Coquerita. My favourite place in the area is Sapzurro, mainly thanks to its absolutely stunning beach.

Is the hike to La Miel in Panama worth it?
Yes, I think so. You can easily go there by boat, but if you are an avid hiker, a day trip from Capurganá to La Miel and back is doable. This is the official trail to follow, which involves paying a small fee. Even though the hike itself isn’t that difficult, there are a couple of passages where you need to climb up sets of stairs, which is a bit demanding in humid weather.

Since going to La Miel means crossing the border to Panamá, you are supposed to carry your passport or ID. In my case, there was nobody on the Colombian side and the Panamanian officials just waved me through without checking anything, but it’s better to be ready to have your papers looked at.

What are the drawbacks of visiting Capurganá?
We are talking about a place that is so remote that using Google Maps doesn’t help much and I recommend Bing Maps instead. You may experience water shortages and power cuts while staying there. Electricity doesn’t run 24/7 in the town, so if your accommodation doesn’t have its own power generator, it will get very hot in your room early in the morning.

There are no ATMs in Capurganá. Some places do accept cards or bank transfers, but it’s still recommended to travel with enough cash. You can just leave most of the money in your room when you go out. Again, I’d like to emphasise that I felt safer in Capurganá than in big Colombian cities. Just watch out for motorbikes because this is definitely not the place where you’d receive high-quality medical care if you got run over!

Finally, you need to choose your accommodation wisely. The dock area and some of the streets north of the airport could compete for the title of the noisiest place on Earth due to the locals’ penchant for playing extremely loud music through huge sound systems. I stayed in Mi Cabaña El Maderal, which is run by really nice people, and had no issues with outside noise at all. There are a lot of places to stay in Capurganá; just make sure to read the reviews before booking your accommodation so that you avoid unpleasant surprises.

TESOL International Association is a community of ELT professionals. This association is involved in numerous activities, including publishing TEIS News, which is a newsletter edited by the Teacher Educator Interest Section. When I was asked to contribute to its latest issue, I was more than happy to say yes. You can read my article here, and I recommend that you check out the other contributions as well.

The importance of teacher-led CPD (TEIS News)

I decided to focus on teacher-led CPD, which means taking responsibility for your own development as an ELT professional. This topic is close to my heart because I’ve managed to make decent career progress while living in Colombia, a developing country in which you’re not likely to get much support in terms of CPD if you work for a run-of-the-mill language academy. With the exception of a month-long holiday in Europe, I’ve continuously lived in Colombia since 2017, and I hope that my article can provide some hope to those who wish to develop professionally without having to move to another part of the world.

The TEIS News article is based on my own experience, and I’d like to take this opportunity to provide more details about my own journey. I have no problem admitting that the COVID-19 pandemic was extremely beneficial for my ELT career. Yes, I didn’t enjoy the lockdowns and not being able to travel freely, but I spent those two years working on increasing my chances of succeeding in our profession.

First of all, I was able to finish my Delta from my living room. There aren’t any Module Two providers in Colombia, so I originally planned to do the module in Mexico and actually had my interview with IH Mexico right before the pandemic reached Latin America. I managed to complete my M2 with this course provider a year later fully online, which was extremely convenient in terms of reduced costs since I didn’t need to pay for flights and accommodation. The only Delta module that now requires you to do something in person is the first one, which involves taking the exam at an authorised centre. Fortunately, they are usually easy to find in major cities.

IH Mexico runs the fully online CELTA as well, and being able to get Cambridge qualifications from home without worrying about a huge time difference is a great opportunity for those who don’t have any course providers in their location. Having just a bachelor’s degree and a generic TEFL certificate usually isn’t enough; you need to do much more to stand out, and holding an internationally recognised qualification is usually a step that can’t be skipped.

It has to be said that high-quality courses or degrees aren’t cheap, especially for someone who gets paid in Colombian pesos. What I will mention here is that it is necessary to consider the return on investment. Getting a Delta costs a lot of money, but if you play your cards right, it will open some interesting doors for you. In my case, the Delta gave me the confidence to start freelancing and looking for my own students. It also helped me land some very interesting contracts with institutions, so even though it took me a while to figure everything out, the results were pretty impressive: when I checked my bank account two years after obtaining my Delta certificate, I realised that just one month of my freelance work can generate the same income as what I used to earn in half a year as a language academy employee.

I’m certainly not an advocate of reckless spending, but sometimes it’s necessary to bite the bullet and spend a lot of money on your qualifications. If you’re stuck in an entry-level job, you know that things are never going to change unless you take action. A calculated risk can lead to some significant changes: these days I need to work just 10 hours per week to earn more money and be much happier than when I was spending 30 hours a week at the language institute and doing a lot of lesson planning at home. Since I’m my own boss, I normally choose to work more, which allows me to lead a very comfortable lifestyle.

The attitude shift caused by the pandemic means that you can do a lot of stuff remotely and there’s no need to be based in one of the big ELT markets. If you have the right visa and access to the internet, you can live in a small town in South America and teach students from other countries without using a middleman. You can work as a contractor for organisations based in another country, which comes with some obvious benefits. You can run your own in-person or online courses for local students as well. The opportunities are out there, and it’s important to keep emphasising that being a language academy employee is not the only career path for English teachers.

Finally, don’t underestimate the power of your online presence. I’ve met a lot of brilliant ELT professionals thanks to this blog, and it always feels nice to receive positive messages about my posts. Also, without TEFL in Colombia, I wouldn’t have been able to convince the amazing guest contributors to help me create More Than a Gap Year Adventure. If you are thinking of making progress in your ELT career, I recommend that you get a copy of the book since it contains a lot of useful advice that may have a very positive effect on your development in the profession.