Santa Marta was the first city founded by the Spaniards when they invaded what is now Colombia. It is where Colombians go when they want sun on their backs as it is on the Caribbean Coast. The mix of indigenous, Spanish and African is there to see in the people, the food and the chaos of the city. Close by is Parque Nacional Tayrona which has spectacular forests and beaches. I spent two days hiking including the difficult and eventful climb to Pueblito. I slept ...

They say Cartagena de Indias is the most beautiful city in Colombia and I would agree. It is an intoxicating place and was the main Spanish port on the Caribbean coast. The Spaniards made the old town impregnable to attacks including one by Sir Francis Drake by building walls and forts to surround the whole city which survive to this day. Having roughed it for a few days in hostels I booked into Casa Lola, a colonial house converted by a Madrid architect into ...

To Villa de Leyva for a few days where Oscar Gilede of Colombian Highlands Ecotours -www.colombianhighlands.com took me on an amazing hike through jungle to see where the indigenous people, the Muiscas, used to live and to experience some of their untouched, ancient lands . What this man does not know about the region's history, culture and environment is not worth knowing. Oscar has also been instrumental in promoting the high quality hostels which are springin...

I travelled to Zipaquira to see the beautiful salt cathedral,now reckoned to be the foremost tourist attraction in Colombia. It replaced an original salt cathedral carved by the miners in the salt mine decades ago,allowing them to pray while they worked underground. When it became unsafe it was decided to hold a national competition to design a new cathedral underground. It is spectacular. The mines , which have enough salt left for a further 500 years of produc...

To Bogota, the capital of Colombia,where I arrived on Monday evening. The eight million people do not enjoy the best of weather with lots of rain and heavy cloud as the city sits at a very high altitude of 2600m, something I was reminded of as I became very breathless jogging through the streets . The residents of this city are fiercely proud ,as are all Colombians. They have been through a lot in their history, most recently a series of civil wars, the birth ...