I made it. A nice, non-stop flight from Toronto in 6 hours and I am in South America. Not bad. Non-stop flights are always good just because it saves you from the changing planes and waiting around ordeal. But they’re also good because the total of carbon emissions released for your trip is less. We haven’t solved the problem completely, I’m looking forward to the biodiesel fueled flights of the future (lots of airlines currently testing fuel made from agriculture waste, algae, and other non-food sources of bio energy!), but this is one thing that helps.

So I had been practicing Spanish before I left, as usual I called my friends in Costa Rica and talked to them for about an hour on Wednesday. On Thursday I went with Irene, GreenSpot.travel’s co-founder, to a Spanish “MeetUp” group in the city to practice and meet some other Spanish-speakers.  Then I chatted with the Ecuadoran lady beside me on the flight so I felt pretty ready.  Then I watched 2 and a half movies in English (Air Canada finally has those personal TV screens on the back of the seat. I say finally because Singapore Airlines had them years ago. Anyway I had to watch the Secret Life of Bees – a great book! – I cried throughout it, such a great story).

On arrival, I was happy to be greeted by a cheerful Colombian girl holding the “ProExport Colombia” sign which indicated she was those of us participating in the Destino Colombia 2009 event. We chatted easily and I remembered that the telenovelas that are popular in Costa Rica are often Colombian and the accent is easy to understand, nice and clear.

What I hadn’t thought about all this time was that the other people on the trip wouldn’t necessarily speak English OR Spanish!  Two French people arrived from France and our Colombian host, Yvonne, immediately switched to French to talk to them. I was dumbfounded when I realized I could understand! You mean 18 years of French classes weren’t in vain?  Unfortunately I cannot understand French Canadians, so I just thought I couldn’t understand the language at all, but although I couldn’t really speak back, at least I could get what was going on. I said a couple of phrases but they also speak English so I could respond that way.

So I was asking questions to Yvonne in Spanish, and she was relaying info in French, to which I was responding in English, to the French people – and Yvonne because of course she speaks English too! It doesn’t stop there.

We get to the hotel and meet the rest of our group members. A Chilean, a Brazilian and a German. The Chilean, Brazilian and I went for dinner together. I can speak English or Spanish with the Chilean but the Brazilian doesn’t speak either language. He speaks to us in Portuguese and we get the gist, the Chilean more than I because he has spent time in Brazil and has learned to understand it. I surprisingly could understand for the most part, and would respond in Spanish, which he can understand for the most part. You see how it’s working.

Then the Frenchman joined us and there was for the first time in my life, no common language among the group. So we spoke sometimes in English, but then I had to relay in Spanish what we were saying to the Brazilian and he would respond in Portuguese to the Chilean and me and we would relay in either English or French (the Chilean speaks French) to the Frenchman.  Now that’s a multilingual experience. I’ve spoken bits of four languages in the past 12 hours! Wait till we add the three others tomorrow from other countries plus our guides!

We are all heading to San Andrés today, a Caribbean island off the coast, to start our scuba diving adventure. To add another culture to the mix, I’m told the island has a heavy Jamaican influence, much like the Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica and Panama!  What an incredible world we live in, I am a culture junkie!

See you in the Caribbean…

By Kelly Galaski 

I wanted to look up some of the places I’ll be traveling to in Colombia, to give you an idea of what part of the country I’ll be visiting. As you can imagine, it is a country of great diversity with remote dense rainforests, mountains, big city centres with bustling culture, and indigenous heritage. Also, the world’s third largest barrier reef lies just off the Atlantic coast among Caribbean islands. Since the focus of my particular trip is scuba diving, that’s where I’ll be headed. How I love the Carribean.  I decided to do a little research on http://www.colombia.travel/ about some of the specific stops which include:

- Tayrona National Park near Santa Marta, on the Caribbean coast
- The Island of San Bernardo, near Cartagena, Colombia’s best preserved architectural  jewel
- The islands of San Andrés and Providencia on the Caribbean Coast, which lay next to the most extensive coral reef system in the world.

Tayrona National Park

Lonely Planet Publications chose this lovely nature reserve as one of the ten destinations to visit in 2010. It is located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and consists of 15,000 colorful hectares, 3,000 of which are marine. The park has over 108 species of mammals, among which howling monkeys, ocelots, corn monkeys, deer and over 70 species of bats stand out. Bird species, including the white and lone eagles, number over 300. Close to 110 coral, 471 crustacean and 700 mollusk species live in its oceans.

The Tayrona Indians were deeply aware of the environment. They channeled mountain water to their houses in an organized way and designed cities and cultivation terraces with the aim of protecting nature always in mind. Visitors to the park have access to the ruins and can attest to their creative abilities.

San Bernardo

The Corals of Rosario and San Bernardo National Natural Park is perfect for observing colorful coral reefs in shallow waters. Located at 45 kilometers from Cartagena, the park protects underwater ecosystems, mainly the coral reefs, which are fragile ecosystems, inhabited by a multitude of invertebrate species and a variety of fish whose movements and colors resemble ballet choreography.

San Andres and Providencia

The singular coloring of the coral reefs and the mangrove lagoons have conferred upon the sea of Providencia the name of “sea of seven colors”. Providencia is a beautiful Caribbean island located seven hundred kilometers from the city of Cartagena. In the underwater part of the park, the barrier reef that protects the coast of the island from the onslaughts of the sea may be admired in its entire splendor. In its land area, the park comprises a small hill by the name of Iron Wood and the McBean mangrove area. The prodigious coral reef and the McBean mangrove lagoon paint the sea with a spectacular gamut of colors, from deep blue to aquamarine to turquoise.

After that I’ll be whisked off to the city for an all day meeting where I will try to build relationships with Colombian operators that we can work with to design an itinerary and start sending people on trips!

Excerpts from http://www.colombia.travel/

By Kelly Galaski 

My first thoughts about traveling to Colombia (I leave on Feb 14th!) were more like a mixture of exciting pieces of thoughts: Caribbean coast! Heat in February! Scuba diving! Practice my Spanish! Latin culture! (you get the idea). But I have done a lot of traveling and generally thrive off the unknown. I have to admit that every time I mention it to someone new I either get a comment about drugs or a surprised comment, e.g. “You’re going to send tourists there?”  We have gotten the same comments about El Salvador and people are loving it. They’ve found they can do all the great adventurous activities like surfing, ziplining, volcano trekking (as well as the relaxing on the beach type of adventure) in a place full of culture – indigenous villages and mayan ruins - they never even expected because of its history of civil war. But it’s true… I digress.

So this is the reason for going to Colombia. The Colombian government has cordially invited tour operators such as ourselves, GreenSpot.travel, to go and explore and discover the country. The slogan for Colombia’s tourism board is now “El riesgo es que te quieras quedar” or “The only risk is in wanting to stay.”  So they are embracing their risky reputation and saying look, there’s nothing to worry about we know you’re gonna love it!

This sounds like the kind of place for me to visit. I like to discover places that have pasts or reputations that make them less likely tourist destinations. Or the parts of countries that don’t get visited a lot that are in big tourist destinations like Costa Rica. These are the places that are unforgettable, that warm your souls, and while I’d like to say that I’m worried somewhat, I’m really not. I’m only excited.

Ok so I looked up some facts to make sure I’m up to date with shots for potential infections, and the latest information on conflicts, but I find no matter where you go you can find potential problems. Rather than focus on that I like to think about all the people who live in these countries day to day and do just fine and that makes me feel comfortable about wherever I’m going.

For example, when I was in Jamaica in 2007 and coming to the end of a three-month internship, the Canadian government decided to evacuate everyone before Hurricane Dean hit. They called me at my place of work and said are you making arrangements to leave? I said, well the rest of the country is staying are they not? Why should I try and escape?  I still have work to finish up my project, I’ll stay with my Jamaican friends and I’ll be fine. And I was. I also enjoyed going out with my friends in Kingston – something that will never be recommended by the tourist board.

My point is there are so many wonderful countries in the world that have a bad reputation for one thing and the media focuses on that which skews the image to the point where people are afraid to visit. Not this traveler. We are going to find the best of Colombia and bring it to you.

So if you’re curious yourself about traveling to Colombia and are looking for some advice and some “I’ve been there, it’s great you should check this and that out” type of tips, stay tuned because I’ll be keeping this blog from now on and throughout/after my trip. Here’s a great video to get you feeling some excitement for the country too, on Youtube here.

Vamos a Colombia!