Trekking the “Camino Real” from Barichara to Guane A quiet hamlet gathered around a plaza dominated by a small church
During our Round The World, we traveled to Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile & Uruguay but bypassed Colombia, since we were not sure about safety traveling overland. We deeply regretted it, when we listened to the first enthusiastic reports from travelers arriving from there. So we used the next possible opportunity to make up for that mistake and traveled Colombia intensively for 45 days in July and August 2009. Our main destinations were: Pereira & Salento – Popayan, Tierradentro & San Agustin – Neiva & the Desierto de Tatacoa – Bogota – Villa de Leyva, San Gil, Barichara & Bucaramanga – Medellin – La Guajira – Santa Marta, Taganga & the Parque Nacional Tayrona – Cartagena. Unfortunately we had no time to go to the Pacific Coast and missed out on scuba diving with baby whales. The Amazon we never intended to go to, since we spent quite some time in Bolivia in the Amazon basin.
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- Salento, a small colonial village, Zona Cafetera, Quindio, Colombia
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- The benches along this street are popular hang outs for local men who preferably dress in robber boots, ponchos and a smart hat. Carrying a crop seems a must.
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- Wax palm trees (Copernicia alba), Valle de Cocora, Salento, Zona Cafetera, Quindio, Colombia, South America
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- Colonial city, colonial architecture, Popayan, La Ciudad Blanca, the White City, Cauca, Colombia, South America
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- Colonial city, colonial architecture, Popayan, La Ciudad Blanca, the White City, Cauca, Colombia, South America
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- Blue skirts, thin hand-woven ponchos and a bowler hat, Guambiano Indigenous Market, Silvia, near Popayan, Cauca, Colombia, South America
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- Blue skirts, thin hand-woven ponchos and a bowler hat, Guambiano Indigenous Market, Silvia, near Popayan, Cauca, Colombia, South America
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- Tombs dug out of soft volcanic rock to place urns filled with bones, Segovia site, Tierradentro, Cauca, Colombia, South America
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- Colourful Chiva buses, old dodge buses, always completely full, Guambiano Indigenous Market, Silvia, near Popayan, Colombia
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- 5000 year old scultures, in San Agustin, Alto de Los Idolos, Huila, Colombia, South America
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- “Laberintos de Cusco” (Cusco Labyrinths), dotted with different cactuses. The little towers, cliff and ravines were sculptured by the wind and infrequent rain – Desert de Tatacoa, Colombia
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- What makes this place (close to the “Swimming pool”) very special are the bizarre rock formations that leave little room for interpretation: these are ghosts or ?Fantasmas?
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- Visiting the Desert de Tatacoa
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- La Candelaria, Bogota
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- La Candelaria, Bogota
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- Plaza de Bolivar, Bogota
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- Who has ever seen a plaza 120 meters x 120 meters in seize, all cobble stone with a tiny fountain in its center, surrounded by beautifully restored colonial homes? Villa de Leyva, Colombia
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- Who has ever seen a plaza 120 meters x 120 meters in seize, all cobble stone with a tiny fountain in its center, surrounded by beautifully restored colonial homes? Villa de Leyva, Colombia
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- Colombian dances …
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- Folkloristic dances from Cordoba, Argentina
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- Folkloristic dances from Cordoba, Argentina
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- El Fosil, a 120 million year old baby “Kronosaurus” fossil , Villa de Leyva
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- Tobaco Plantation near Curiti – Drying the Tobaco leaves
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- Paragliding above the “Zona Tabaca” in San Gil, “La Tierra De Aventura”
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- Barichara, Colombia
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- Barichara, Colombia
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- Medellin, La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera
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- In the “Zona Rosa” in Medellin
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- THE highlight of the festival is the ?Defile de Silleteros? on the Friday of the last weekend. Huge arrangements of flowers are carried through the centre of town by farmers from Santa Elena, where the ?Silletas? are ?created? of at least of 15 different kinds of flowers. The best are awarded and put on display on the Plaza Mayor for the last two days of the festival
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- THE highlight of the festival is the ?Defile de Silleteros? on the Friday of the last weekend. Huge arrangements of flowers are carried through the centre of town by farmers from Santa Elena, where the ?Silletas? are ?created? of at least of 15 different kinds of flowers. The best are awarded and put on display on the Plaza Mayor for the last two days of the festival
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- Feria de las Flores, Medellin
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- A group of twelve young dancers of the Academy of Ballet performed a medley of different dances (Salsa, Merengue, Tango, Vallenato, Brazilian Samba and even an Arabic dance), Medellin, Colombia
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- A group of twelve young dancers of the Academy of Ballet performed a medley of different dances (Salsa, Merengue, Tango, Vallenato, Brazilian Samba and even an Arabic dance), Medellin, Colombia
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- A group of twelve young dancers of the Academy of Ballet performed a medley of different dances (Salsa, Merengue, Tango, Vallenato, Brazilian Samba and even an Arabic dance), Medellin, Colombia
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- The “Malecon”, Rioacha
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- The “Malecon”, Rioacha
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- Manaure, the biggest “Salinas” (salt fields) on La Guajira Peninsula
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- Who has not been to one of the many ?Ends of the world?? Ushuaia claims that title as many other places, but here on the tip of La Guajira, at the northernmost point of South America, it feels absolutely real.
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- Who has not been to one of the many “Ends of the world”? Ushuaia claims that title as many other places, but here on the tip of La Guajira, at the northernmost point of South America, it feels absolutely real
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- Taroa Beach, near Punta Gallinas, La Guarija Peninsula, Caribbean Coast, Colombia
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- Taroa Beach, near Punta Gallinas, La Guarija Peninsula, Caribbean Coast, Colombia
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- Scenic white sandy beaches, framed by palm trees leaning into the emerald green water, you could not ask for more. This has made Tayrona to one of Columbia?s top tourist destinations. Unfortunately, there has been such an increase in visitors in the last years that the park sometimes had to be closed down…
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- Scenic white sandy beaches, framed by palm trees leaning into the emerald green water, you could not ask for more. This has made Tayrona to one of Columbia?s top tourist destinations. Unfortunately, there has been such an increase in visitors in the last years that the park sometimes had to be closed down…
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- The old town of Cartagena is a maze of beautifully restored colonial houses, churches, plazas or convents turned into luxury hotels
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- The old town of Cartagena is a maze of beautifully restored colonial houses, churches, plazas or convents turned into luxury hotels
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