Any Travels

With dramatically beautiful rainforests, mountains and beaches, lovely cities and enchanting people, Colombia should be a magnet for travellers. Unfortunately, the activites of guerillas and cocaine thugs have pushed 'Locombia' (the mad country) somewhat off-limits.

For most, Colombia is unknown territory - a land of myths and threat, thick with thugs, drug dealers and treasure. It's generally seen as a place to avoid rather than as a place to visit. Throughout its stormy history, it has hosted innumerable civil wars and has endured South America's longest guerrilla insurgency.

However, visitors to the country are often struck by how normal and orderly everyday life is, despite all the problems the country is going through. Most leave Colombia safe and inspired. Few experience security problems. If you take the necessary precautions, you'll find Colombia one of the world's most sensual, wild, complex and fascinating countries.

Area: 1.2 million sq. km. (440,000 sq. mi.); about the size of Texas, New Mexico, and Arkansas combined; fourth-largest country in South America. Cities: Capital--Santa fe de Bogota (pop. about 6 million). Other major cities: Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena. Terrain: Flat coastal areas, three rugged parallel mountain chains, central highlands, and flat eastern grasslands with extensive coastlines on the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Climate: Tropical on coast and eastern plains, cooler in highlands.

Colombia is the third most populous country in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico. Movement from rural to urban areas has been heavy. The urban population increased from 57% of the total population in 1951 to about 74% by 1994. The nine eastern departments, constituting about 54% of Colombia's area, have less than 3% of the population and a density of fewer than one person per square kilometer (two persons per sq. mi.). Thirty cities have 100,000 or more inhabitants. Residents of the high Andes Mountains must cope with sometimes deadly volcanic activity--more than 20,000 died in the 1985 eruption of the Nevada del Ruiz Volcano near the town of Armero in Tolima Department. The Galeras Volcano near Pasto (Narino Department) is active and under observation by the Colombian Government.

The ethnic diversity in Colombia is a result of the intermingling of indigenous Indians, Spanish colonists, and African slaves. Today, only about 1% of the people can be identified as fully Indian on the basis of language and customs. Few foreigners have immigrated to Colombia, compared to several other South American countries.

Colombia is an ethnic mosaic, reflected in its culture, folklore, arts and crafts. The different roots and traditions of the Indians, Spanish and Africans have produced interesting fusions, particularly in crafts, sculpture and music. Pre-Columbian art consists primarily of stone sculpture, pottery and goldwork. Indian basketware, weaving and pottery date back to pre-Columbian times but now fuse modern techniques with traditional designs. Colombian music incorporates both the African rhythms of the Caribbean, Cuban salsa and heavily Spanish-influenced Andean music.

Colombia's literary giant is Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose works mix myths, dreams and reality in a style critics have dubbed 'magic realism'. Garcia Marquez insists his work is documentary, which says a lot about the nature, rhythm and perception of life in Colombia. The best of Colombia's exciting new writers is Moreno Duran, who has been burdened with the reputation of being the best Latin American novelist to emerge since the regional upsurge in literary talent in the 1950s.

Spanish is Colombia's official language and, except for some remote Indian tribes, all Colombians speak it. There are also about 65 Indian languages - and nearly 300 dialects - still used in the country. While the education system includes English in its curriculum, it remains little known and rarely spoken.

Catholicism remains the dominant religion although over three million followers have recently left the Catholic faith and hooked up to other congregations (Anglican, Lutheran, Mormon, etc) or various religious sects.

Colombian cuisine consists largely of chicken, pork, potato, rice, beans and soup. Interesting regional dishes include: ajiaco (soup made with chicken and potato which is a Bogotano speciality); hormiga culona (a sophisticated dish, unique to Santander, consisting largely of fried ants); and lechona (whole suckling pig, spit-roasted and stuffed with rice and dried peas, which is a speciality of Tolima). The variety of fruit is astounding, the coffee and beer more than adequate and the wine execrable.

Drinks
When you get served with a drink, you better becareful of whats in side. For example, the ice. HIV. Serious illness.