Early October was an auspicious time for Colombia: in order of perceived national importance were two international football matches, JY's first running of this tour, a referendum and the country's second nobel prize
I was one of seven on this first journey that took the traveller through four very different areas and from capital to coast. Travel was by minibus (window seats for all) and plane.
Our journey didn't get off to the greatest of starts with a 12hr delay at Heathrow but we eventually arrived in Bogota to be met by Leon Pardo, our local guide for Bogota / the Eastern Andes and our Tour Manager throughout the trip. He proved to be one of the best tour managers that any of us had met in our assorted travels. The sightseeing schedule was rejigged and after a quick trip to the Gold museum (which couldn't be rescheduled) it literally was welcome drink, snack and bed. We had a one night stay in Bogota and then an 8am start for a daylong drive, along good roads to the small and pretty town of Villa de Leyva for a further one night stay. We travelled through countryside that was very reminiscent of the Alps, past battle fields, polling stations (referendum day) and the Taj Mahal with frequent stops to visit the promised tourist attractions. There was another 8 am start for the return journey that took us directly back to Bogota to finish our sightseeing tour of this slightly smoggy, high-rise and high altitude capital city before the short (30 min) evening flight to Pereira, our home for the next 4 nights.
Pereira is one of the main towns of the coffee region. Our time here was much more laid back with 9 am starts. The surrounding region has very different scenery and architecture with high mountains, volcanoes, deep valleys and cloud forest. It is lush, green and a twitcher's paradise. It was possibly my favourite area of the tour.
The included trip to the beautiful Corcora valley stopped at small towns en route - one very touristy ( good for retail therapy) The included walk along the valley bottom was on uneven ground but not onerous (others may disagree) and was only of an hours duration. I had the honour of getting my hands dirty and planting one of the two Quindian palms, given on behalf of JY, to the conservation effort.
We had a free morning the following day or could join Leon on a short walk around the older, central part of Pereira before an informative private afternoon tour of a coffee plantation. This trip also took us close to the homes of the 1980's drugs barons so we learnt as much about narcos as we did about coffee.
For our final day in Pereira we had a choice of a free day or an optional three quarter day excursion to wallow in thermal pools and plunge under glacial waterfalls in a beautiful setting. The not included lunch was taken at a restaurant that holds the world record for the longest Chorizo sausage! We finished this trip with coffee and cake at a cafe that gave us stunning panoramic views over the whole region.
Back to the 8am starts for our flight (via Bogota) to the coast and the hot and sticky town of Santa Marta for a 2 night stay. It is Colombia's oldest working town and where the 19C liberator Bolivar died and was briefly buried. It was probably my least favourite place of all we visited -good ice cream though. 8 am start again for the visit to the Tayrona national park, sandwiched between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the sea. The park is easily accessible from Santa Marta but as numbers are strictly controlled you need to be an early arrival. The itinerary was a little confused here - the lost city we were supposed to visit is actually a six day return hike away but we did get the short boat trip to Cristal beach for swimming and optional snorkelling (I am told both were excellent). if you are not a beach person (and most of our group weren't) I would suggest taking a book - there's plenty of shade but nothing else to do .
9am start for the last stage in our journey - a road trip through mangrove swamps to an even hotter and stickier Cartagena (cameras did steam up here). We were able to make an early lunchtime check in at our hotel before taking in the main sights of the old city on the only included tour of our 3 nights here - the following two days were free or there were optional tours available. The old town is an absolute delight with plenty to do and see during the day and it really comes alive at night with music and street performers. The remainder of Cartagena is modern high rise and in places a building site. Our hotel was well placed - across the road from the beach and close to shops, bars and restaurants and a 30 min walk or less than £3 taxi ride to the old town.
As we weren't beach people none of us did the optional tour to the Rosario Islands (and to be honest the weather was a bit iffy for a 1hr boat ride) but we all did the tour to San Basilio de Palenques. The people there were incredibly proud of their heritage and traditions but there is a massive gulf between their world and ours which some may find disturbing though it was interesting to see that even in poverty mobile phones and computers were considered a necessity. All journeys have to come to an end at sometime and this one finished with one final day in Cartagena before a 5pm departure to airport for the flight back to Bogota and onto London. We had a 1pm checkout and Leon managed to negotiate a 4 pm checkout on a couple of rooms so we had somewhere to keep luggage and freshen up before the long haul home.
Colombia is a very beautiful and diverse country and I feel privileged to have visited before it becomes populated by large tour groups or vast numbers of foreign visitors. Lonely planet has just declared it one of the must do destinations for 2017 and it is easy to see why. Perhaps it is worth stressing that the country (or the parts this tour takes in) is now safe for tourists, that I never felt threatened and that the biggest danger was from the somewhat kamikaze traffic and uneven pavements.
Happy to try and answer any questions
