A favourite weekend retreat for Medellin’s wealthy, Guatape makes an easy day trip from the city or is a beautiful place to spend a couple of days. A 90 minute bus ride takes you from the heart of bustling Medellin to tranquil Antoquian countryside. The year round climate is mild and sunny adding to the area’s laid back holiday feel. Mid-week the town remains relaxed and sleepy but at the weekends Colombians come to let their hair down so it’s possible to enjoy the best of both worlds.
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Wake up and smell the coffee – Colombia’s Zona Cafetera
3 Mar
Growing truly exceptional coffee is one of the things Colombians do best. In fact their coffee is considered to be amongst the greatest in the world so we fully expected to be left wide-eyed and shaky with the amount we intended to drink in the country’s renowned bean growing region, aptly named Zona Cafetera.
Exploring the tombs of Tierradentro
27 Feb
Surrounded by jaw dropping scenery, Tierradentro is considered to be one of the most important archaeological sites in the whole of Latin America and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s famous for beautifully decorated underground tombs and stone statues which were discovered in the hills around the tiny settlement of San Andres de Pisimbala. We were already sold on visiting Tierradentro, which translates as “inner land”, but when someone tipped us off that the site only receives a small number of visitors each year and it was likely we’d have the whole atmospheric place to ourselves, we were rushing to buy our bus tickets to take us there.
Selling onions at market won’t make you cry
21 Feb
Life can seem hard when you’ve been selling onions every Tuesday for forty years at Silvia market. The old couple with weather-beaten faces sat silently together staring in different directions into the distance. They were traditional countryfolk whose survival hinged on the cultivation of fruit and vegetables on their small farm for personal consumption and to sell here at Silvia’s bustling weekly market. They were Guambiano people from one of the small mountain villages of Pueblito, Guambia, La Campana and Caciques and are considered to be one of the most traditional indigenous groups in all of Colombia.
Iquitos – a steamy jungle metropolis
27 Dec
Iquitos is the largest city in the world which isn’t linked to the rest of its country by road and it’s best described as a sensual, steamy jungle metropolis with attitude. Despite its attractive promenade with wonderful river views, its historic buildings and leafy plaza with quaint eateries and coffee shops, Iquitos retains a working class identity with a somewhat edgy feel. We got the sense here that anything goes if you know the right guys and that the law of the jungle is very much alive and well.
Samaipata – celebrating the Inca New Year
30 Aug
We looked at the time – it was 12.20am. We looked down at our jeans and shoes – they were caked in mud. We looked all around us – 500 people were drinking, dancing and singing as they prepared to welcome in the Inca New Year with the party to end all parties.
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Torres del Paine – the ‘W’ trek
Visitors from all walks of life converge on the small hamlet of Puerto Natales to visit Chile’s and perhaps the Continent’s number one national park – Torres del Paine. Located in the Southern Patagonian ice fields at the end of the Andes, the park offers diverse wildlife and incredible mountain scenery, glaciers, lakes, rivers and […]
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