In Latin America, it would seem that every city & town has at least one central square/plaza, and there is at least one church overlooking all of those squares. These houses of worship certainly don't rival the great churches of Europe and after weeks of travel in South America, there was a 'sameness' to them that saw us zipping through a number of them. It was somewhat surprising then that the primary reason we were visiting Bogota was to see yet ano...

For years Columbia has been something of a no-go zone for travelers. Between armed-to-the-teeth drug cartels, FARC rebels, corrupt police, heavy-handed military, and right wing paramilitary groups there was the potential for the sort of unplanned adventure that made the relative safety of a stroll through Afghanistan, Nigeria, or Scarborough much more appealing (around the dinner table, the only thing Columbian bad guys could agree on was that robbing and/or kidn...