Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [7]
Take a water taxi from Buenaventura to the beach town of Ladrilleros, a budget destination popular with caleños (Cali residents). You’ll find surf, sand and occasional sun here. Finally, organize a weekend dive cruise to Isla Gorgona, and spend two days visiting this former prison island and diving the coral reefs. Advanced divers can dive with a school of hundreds of hammerhead sharks on remote Isla Malpelo, but give yourself an extra week. From Buenaventura return to Cali via San Cipriano, deep in the tropical forest and only accessible by a unique hand-propelled rail cart.
Colombia’s Pacific coast is the ultimate off-the-beaten-path destination. It isn’t cheap – all transport is by small plane and boat – but the rewards are definitely worth it.
TAILORED TRIPS
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DIVING COLOMBIA
Colombia has enough fabulous dive sites to satisfy everyone from the beginner to the Jacques Cousteau wannabe. If you’re after a PADI card, or a Divemaster certification, spend some time hanging out in hippie haven Taganga on the Caribbean coast, which offers some of the cheapest accreditation courses in the world.
For crystal-clear Caribbean waters, the reef diving off San Andrés and Providencia is world class. The more adventurous will want to visit Capurganá, which has superior diving to Taganga, and is just a short walk to the Panamanian border.
Divers looking for a challenge should not miss Isla Malpelo, where you can dive with schools of sharks numbering in the thousands. It’s a minimum eight-day live-aboard dive cruise; be sure to book this one well in advance.
For a less challenging taste of the Pacific coast’s diving, take a weekend dive cruise to Isla Gorgona, and visit the ruins of the island’s former penal colony.
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NATIONAL PARKS & PROTECTED AREAS
Colombia has 54 national parks spread across the country, some easily accessible and others so remote that their number of yearly visitors can be counted on two hands.
One of the most frequently visited parks, Parque Nacional Natural (PNN) Tayrona, is popular among aspiring beach bums. Also well known on the Caribbean coast is the PNN Corales del Rosario y San Bernardo, just off the coast of Cartagena. Most visitors base themselves at Playa Blanca and take boat trips out to the cays and islets.
Travelers seeking fresh alpine air and glacier-wrapped peaks should head for PNN El Cocuy. Considered off-limits for security reasons a few years ago, the park has been safe for a while and is now well set up for trekkers. Closer to Bogotá, the Santuario de Flora y Fauna de Iguaque is lower in elevation, but still offers some fine hikes to a group of alpine lakes. The beautiful Laguna de Guatavita can be reached from the capital in a day trip and has spiritual significance.
Budding vulcanologists will want to visit the PNN Los Nevados, located southeast of Manizales. It contains several volcanic cones, some of them active. If the jungle is more your thing, it’s hard to beat the PNN Amacayacu in Colombia’s Amazon Basin.
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History
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PRE-COLUMBUS COLOMBIA
SPANISH CONQUEST
COLONIAL DAYS
INDEPENDENCE WARS
AFTER INDEPENDENCE
LA VIOLENCIA
GUERRILLAS & PARAMILITARIES
COCAINE POLITICS
URIBE & THE US
LOOKING AHEAD
TIMELINE
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A cynic might redraw the Colombian blue, yellow and red flag as gold, brown and white – representing the three local products that, for better or worse, the country has been most associated with over the years: gold, coffee and (processed) cocaine. In reality, Colombia’s past and present is far more complex: a rare Latin