After travelling from the capital city of Bogotá, to the beautiful islands of San Andrés and Providencia with their unique Caribbean culture, to the fascinating colonial city of Cartagena and to Tayrona National Park, my interests were piqued – and I couldn’t have imagined what more the country had to offer.

Our trade show in Bogotá gave me the chance to meet the many tour operators who have picked the best places in the country to visit. There is the desert of Guajira, the archaological sites of San Augustín, the Amazon region, the Pacific coast where there are ecolodges and whale watching and surfing, the colonial and modern cities, the coffee regions where some of the world’s best coffee comes from, and I could go on. I hope I have the opportunity to go back one day and explore some more.

I wanted to thank Proexport, the Colombian government for inviting us on the trip, the hotels we stayed at, the amazing restaurants we ate at (still can’t get that yummy food out of my head!), and the fun dive instructors we had. And a special thanks to Lorena Zapata for being our group’s leader, making sure we got everywhere we had to get to on time as much as possible and for being flexible with all of us, who each had different interests and independent personalities!  Lorena invited me into her home and became a great friend. She and her family, who moved to Bogota from Ecuador 10 years ago and fell in love with the country, charged me with becoming an Ambassador to Colombia! So I am attempting to fulfill my promise, with pleasure.

Here are a few more random pics of our “Chiva” driver in Bogota, Punta Faro, Cartagena, and sunset at Taganga.

 

As we did in San Andres, we took a tour of the island to see some of the cultural and historical sites, like the first church, school, etc. I think sometimes locals must think tourists are crazy for taking pictures of things like an old school made out of wood, but to us these things are just so different it’s really fascinating. Inside the school there were two signs that touched my heart. One said, “We make studying a party” and the other said, “We bring our backpacks filled with love, creativity, discipline, responsibility and respect.”

 

In tropical countries, you never know what you will see on the road. In Cambodia I saw oxcarts, in Indonesia whole families on scooters (this is pretty common in a lot of places, including Colombia, but it was in Indonesia that I saw a little naked maybe 2-year-old boy standing up on the front of the scooter holding the handlebars!). Here we got to see a young boy on his way home from fishing taking his catch on his bike. Nothing like fresh fish! Then we were stopped on the road by a herd of cows and the herder, on motorbike was directing them up the road waving a branch.  There’s something to be said for simplicity in this world…

 
Another thing I love about the tropics is the fresh fruit and natural bounty surrounding you at all times. Have you ever seen almonds in their natural form, growing from trees?  Our lovely Providencian friend, Jennifer, found some for us and broke open the fruit to reveal the nut inside – a fresh raw almond.
 

Our days on Providencia included amazing meals at Miss Mary’s and Caribbean’s Place.  The small restaurants serve up fresh fish, crab and lobster served beautifully presented with fresh blended juices or wine if you prefer. The food has been SOO good the whole time, we’ve all been really satisfied and stuffed full!

Maybe the best part for me, being a huge reggae fan, was going to Richard’s place and watching the sun go down over the sea and grooving to some nice tunes while chatting with Richard himself. Alfonso, the friendly Rasta pictured below made us drinks and we swapped stories about Jamaica, where of course the culture of this island has its roots. An unforgettable place.