Daniel Jacobs - The Rough Guide to Colombia (Travel Guide eBook)

Jane Sweeney/AWL Images Ltd

Contents

Shutterstock

Hacienda Guayabal, Zona Cafetera

Introduction to

Colombia

From tropical Caribbean beaches to jagged Andean peaks, pristine Amazon rainforests to ancient jungle ruins, Colombia boasts a treasure trove of landscapes, along with languid colonial towns and dynamic, modern cities. The vibrant cultural mix ranges from indigenous Andean culture to the legacy of Gabriel Garca Mrquez, the literary giant who left his stamp on elegant Cartagena and enigmatic Mompox; activity wise, you can salsa the night away in Cali or get your thrills mountain biking and whitewater rafting in San Gil. Despite a long history of domestic conflict, Colombia is home to some of Latin Americas most welcoming people, with Bogot and Medelln offering culinary, art and live music scenes to rival Buenos Aires or Mexico City. In just ten years the country has been transformed from narco-state to a nation on the rise, with a stable democracy, booming economy and burgeoning tourist industry.

Problems remain of course, but despite the stereotypes Colombia is far safer today than many other Latin American countries. While foreign visitors are rarely, if ever, affected by drug-related or political violence, in many parts of Colombia you can still feel as if you are visiting uncharted territory, with mainstream tourist infrastructure only slowly being developed and tour buses a very unusual sight for now.

The only country in South America to border both the Pacific and the Caribbean, the diverse ecosystems and regions of Colombia are surprisingly distinct, with the cultural divide between the central Andean cities and the Caribbean coast especially acute. Indeed, Colombia has always had a reputation for beauty, and it was likened to paradise by the first Spanish Conquistadors in the sixteenth century. Things started to go wrong after independence was declared in 1810, with Simn Bolvars Gran Colombia (which included modern-day Venezuela and Ecuador) falling apart in 1830 and civil wars raging between Conservatives and Liberals on-and-off until relatively recently. The rise of the cocaine industry in the 1970s and 1980s (mostly due to massive US demand) led to increased violence, while Communist-inspired guerrilla groups like FARC championed rural opposition to the central government. Today most of the 1980s cocaine kingpins are dead or in jail and a peace deal was finally secured with FARC in 2017 its a challenging but hopeful period for Colombia, and an incredibly fascinating and rewarding time to visit.

Where to go

Cosmopolitan Bogot is, like most capitals, a busy and traffic-snarled commercial centre, with a vibrant cultural scene, excellent museums and lively nightlife, rapidly developing into one of South Americas most enticing cities, though it needs time to work its charms set high in the wet and cool Andes, dont expect a tropical paradise. As you head north from Bogot through the mountains to Bucaramanga , picturesque colonial towns like Barichara , Pamplona and Villa de Leyva give way to warmer, river-fed bastions of adventure tourism such as San Gil .

Fact file

• Colombias 49 million people enjoy the worlds 29th largest GDP (fourth largest in Latin America).
• Colombia has a large indigenous population , with over one hundred distinct groups and just under two million people (many living in reserves or resguardos ): the biggest populations live in La Guajira, Cauca and Nario departamentos , while the Amazon region contains the most groups.
• Colombians enjoy booze , with aguardiente (an anise-flavoured spirit) the most popular (especially in the Andes) and rum more prevalent along the Caribbean coast. Bizarrely, Scotch whisky, in the form of Old Parr (no longer sold in the UK), is also widely drunk.
• Gabriel Garca Mrquez (19272014) is Colombias only Nobel Prize winner he won for literature in 1982.
• Arrested in Venezuela in 2012, Daniel El Loco Barrera was the last of Colombias major drug barons to face justice. The legacy of cocaine king, Pablo Escobar , lives on at his vast former estate near Medelln, populated with hippos descended from those he kept as pets.
• Colombian telenovelas ( soap operas ) have been incredibly successful, including Betty la fea (remade as Ugly Betty in the US) and 1990s juggernaut Caf, con aroma de mujer (Coffee, with the scent of a woman).
• Colombia has won a total of just 27 Olympic medals since 1932 (including 5 golds two in weightlifting, two in cycling and one for womens triple jump).

Most visitors make time and rightfully so to head further north to the Caribbean for the sun and sand. Just a stones throw from the beach, the walled city of Cartagena is the biggest Spanish colonial port in South America and one of its most artfully restored, a gorgeous melange of narrow streets, blossom-smothered haciendas and Baroque churches. To the south lie the sun-drenched islands of the Rosario and San Bernardo chains , as well as low-key Tol , while Capurgan and Sapzurro offer pristine sands and snorkelling as well as a less-travelled route into Panama. East of Cartagena, the major city of Barranquilla is best known for its mind-blowing carnival but is rapidly recapturing its title of cultural capital; while historic Santa Marta and the fishing village of Taganga are near Parque Natural Nacional Tayrona , whose untouched jungles and picturesque beaches are unrivalled. Santa Marta also makes a great base for the five-day trek to the isolated archeological ruins of La Ciudad Perdida , the Lost City, and Aracataca, the birthplace of Gabriel Garca Mrquez. The thinly populated province of La Guajira is an arid, desert region inhabited by the Wayuu people and pitted with giant dunes; while Valledupar is the home of vallenato music and offers access to the mountain villages of the Wintukuas and Kankuamo peoples. Almost un-Colombian in their feel, the remote Caribbean islands of San Andrs and Providencia both offer scintillating diving, crystal-clear waters and particularly in Providencias case a unique, English, Creole-speaking Raizal culture.

Colombian coffee

Is Colombian coffee really that good? Well, sort of. Most commercially sold coffee is a blend of arabica and robusta , but Colombia only produces the superior arabica bean and the version grown here, thanks to a combination of Andean soils and climate, is arguably the worlds finest. The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia were also way ahead of their time when they began marketing the drink in the late 1950s, based on a campaign featuring the moustachiod Juan Valdez , a fictional coffee farmer, along with his trusty mule Conchita. Today Colombias answer to Starbucks can be found across South America and as far afield as Kuwait, while the nation remains the worlds fourth-largest coffee producer , supplying 6 percent of the market. However, the version you are served in the country itself is often not the best. Part of the problem is technical high-quality espresso machinery makes good coffee, and few cafs beyond Colombian big cities possess such equipment and many of the choicest beans are reserved for the export market. Your best bet is to stay on a coffee finca (farm) or a small homestay in the countryside, where the beans are so good and the locals so discriminating, your brew (served caf tinto , black, of course) is likely to be sensational.