IPIALES and OTAVALO: good bye Colombia, hello Ecuador

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The road between Popayán in Colombia and the border with Ecuador has bad reputation. The internet shows many reports and inquiries of worried travelers planning to use this road. But if you check carefully will see that most of these reports are a few years old.
I didn't want to ignore them and their recommendations but disliked the idea of being controlled by the anonym reporters commenting incidents somebody else told them. I checked with the local people and at the end decided to take a day bus to Ipiales and spend the night there before crossing to Ecuador. This was not a bad decision. 

POPAYÁN: the white city of Colombia

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Popayán is a small city located on the southwestern part of Colombia, between Cali and the border town of Ipiales. It is the capital of the Department of Cauca and has a population of 260.000 inhabitants approximately.

My interest in Popayán comes from its colonial setup and its architecture, with streets of houses all painted in white color, a big contrast to the colorful Cartagena as well as many other Colombian cities. Popayán was also home for more than a dozen presidents and has being a center of power in the country since its independence.

SANTIAGO DE CALI: the world´s capital of Salsa

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Have you ever heard Salsa music?  I assume you did. Now a more difficult question, do you know where does it come from? some will say the rhythm comes from Cuba eventhough it was called differently; others will say Puerto Rico. For most New York will be the right answer and even some will call Colombia salsa's birthplace. There is more than one city in the world that claims to be the place where salsa was borne.
But when it comes to the world's capital of salsa, there is only one answer (so far): Cali. The city will host this year's international festival and judging by the number of dancing schools in the city, it will be a BIG event. 

BOGOTÁ: the Athens of South America

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It's time for me again to visit a large city, Bogotá. Colombia's capital is located at 2.600 meters above sea level. With more than 7 million inhäbitants, also the country largest city. Founded in 1538 by the spanish colonizers, it was later the capital of  the Viceroyalty of New Granada until the independence  from Spain and capital of the Republic of Gran Colombia until 1831.
Our tour guide said Bogotá is also called "the Athens of America" due to its large numbers of students in one of the many local universities and its many libraries; I would add "and traffic jams".

MANIZALES: in the land of coffee

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Coffee! one of the most popular drinks in the world.  About 7 million metric tons were produced last year world wide, with Brasil and Vietnam as the two major producers. Depending on the coffee type Colombia comes next, and has being very successful creating the Juan Valdez brand.
Manizales is the capital of the  Departamento de Caldas in Colombia, and is considered the center of the country's  coffee production region. It's spring-like weather and the inviting coffee haciendas around the city makes it a nice place to visit.

MEDELLÍN: once the most dangerous city in the world

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Named the world's most dangerous city only two decades ago with about 380 murders per 100,000 people, Medellin has improved in a big way since the drug lord's death in 1993. Also known as the "City of Eternal Spring" due to its near-perfect climate, it has 2,5 million inhabitants (3,5 million for the metropolitan area), is the capital of the Departamento de Antioquia and the second largest city in Colombia after Bogotá.. 

Located in the northern part of the Andes, Medellin was outside the main colonial gold, silver and pirate routes. This was perhaps the reason why it did not get the same attention from the Spanish conquistadores as let's say Cartagena, and it wasn't until the Medellin Cartel illegal activities in the 70's and 80's that the city got worldwide attention, in a negative sense.

CARTAGENA DE INDIAS: a place in most pirate story books

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Founded by Pedro de Heredia in the name of the spanish King in 1533, Cartagena rapidly became a strategic stop for the spanish vessels on their route between Spain and the colonies. Combined with its slave market, one of the biggest in southamerica, Cartagena became a rich and prosperous city, So much that it turned into an attractive plunder site pirates and corsairs could not resist.
All this past has left visible signs everywhere in Cartagena, from the wall and fortifications, to its people, to its houses and neighborhoods. The city is very photogenic and lives now from tourism.

TAYRONA NATIONAL PARK: forest, fauna and beach

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The Tayrona National Park is a protected area in the Caribbean region of the Department of Magdalena 35 km east from Santa Marta. The park is about 150 square Km big and has a geography that goes from sand beaches to tropical forest and mountains as high as 900m. It is the second most visited national park in Colombia and home of some small Tayrona indian villages. The rain fall last year was extremely low and the park vegetation shows the results of this drought. This year's rain season is just starting.

SANTA MARTA and TAGANGA: at the caribbean see

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Santa Marta is a well known colombian city at the Caribbean coast. It is third in size in the region after Cartagena and Barranquilla. Quoting Lonely Planet: "Santa Marta is the place where colombians go when they want sun on their backs, sand under their feet and rum in their glasses". Sounds like a good place to be! After 4 months, around 20.000 km and 7 countries I'm now there, at the Caribbean sea.
For many travelers Santa Marta is also the base for reaching Taganga beach, the Tayrona National Park and Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City).

TABATINGA and LETICIA: a (too) short stop

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Tabatinga in Brazil, Leticia in Colombia and Santa Rosa in Peru are the towns at this three-countries border in the Amazon. Not part of the initial plan, leaving Brazil through Tabatinga and entering Colombia through Leticia turned to be the best route to skip Venezuela considering cost, time and also flexibility to flight to Lima via SantaRosa/Iquitos if the situation required as my father was at the hospital and it wasn't clear for how long.
Fortunately he recovered fast and I could continue travelling keeping my stay in Tabatinga and Leticia very short, too short perhaps.