Hitching a ride on a Colombian military plane (sort of)

Time is of the essence. In order for my bus trip to happen, I have to get back home as soon as possible (for my family and for work). But here is the dilemma: Once I am done and have reached the end of the Pan-American Highway in Turbo, must I ride a bus nearly 20 hours back to Bogota to fly home to America? It's not only a waste of time, but it's also uncomfortable. By then, I will have already been riding buses for 75.5 hours over a five-day period. I would go insane.

So do I fly back to Bogota? How?

Turbo has an airport, but I can't find any commercial carriers that fly there. That Google Street View's view of the airport entrance is this, and ends there, is not a good sign.

Fortunately, I snooped some more and discovered SATENA Airline. It's an airline created by the Colombian military to serve far-flung destinations along the Pacific Coast and the Amazon jungle. They serve Apartado, a town half an hour by taxi (car or motorbike) southeast of Turbo. For less than $100, I can take an ATR puddle jumper and fly to Bogota in 90 minutes direct or two 50 minute flights to Bogota via Medellin.

Here is a cool promo for SATENA Airline. The pilot even got picked up at home in a Duster!

And here is a two-part video of the flight from Medellin to Apartado. The planes at the airports are fascinating and the city of Medellin is oddly beautiful from the air.