High in the Andean foothills, in a region bathed equally in sunshine and a cloud forest, we follow Dale from The Maritime Explorer as he shares his recent experience on an Adventures Abroad Colombia tour Thank you kindly to Dale for allowing us to reshare his experience on our blog.
This is my ninth post from a recent trip to Colombia with my favourite travel company, Vancouver based Adventures Abroad. In the last post, after traveling by plane and bus to the remote town of Salento, we visited the nearby El Ocaso coffee farm and I finally got a taste of just how good real, fresh coffee can be. In that post I commented that I wasn’t that enthused in advance about the coffee farm visit, but certainly changed my mind after being there. The subject of this post is just the opposite. From the time I looked up ‘hiking in the Valle de Cocora’ on my web browser after seeing it on the itinerary, I thought it would be a highlight of the trip and I can now confirm that it was. Please read on and I’ll explain why.
Salento Colombia – A Great Introduction to the Colombian Countryside
Ever wondered what a rural town in the heart of Colombia's coffee region would be like? Join us as we follow Dale from The Maritime Explorer to verdant hills with a quaint village on a tour to Salento Colombia. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, Dale!
This is my seventh post from the country of Colombia and the first outside the environs of the capitol city of Bogota. Our Adventures Abroad group spent an amazing two days in Bogota, so much so that I was able to generate six different posts on just our time there. You can read them on this website. However, it is now time to venture into the Colombian countryside and see if the place is as safe and civilized as we found Bogota. Frankly, despite my extensive travels, I have very little knowledge of rural Latin America and am a blank slate waiting to have new experiences, good or bad, written upon it. Our initial destination is the small town of Salento Colombia in the heart of the Colombian coffee growing region. I hope you’ll come along for the journey.
Botero Museum Bogota – Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
Not every piece of art is beautiful to every person. But it almost always can invoke some sort of emotion and usually, a conversation. We're pleased to present a blog written by Dale of The Maritime Explorer on a recent tour to Colombia with a stop at the Botero Museum. Thanks for sharing with us Dale!
This is my final post from the great city of Bogota, Colombia, an underrated and under-appreciated South American capital that is undergoing a renaissance ever since the end of the drug cartel wars over a decade ago. Alison and I are in Colombia on a tour with Canadian travel company Adventures Abroad and the first two days have been an eye opener for both of us. Colombians are very friendly, open minded and inviting towards the few tourists that have ventured back to their country after decades of internal strife made it unsafe for travel. In the last post we visited the incredible Gold Museum, of which I doubt anyone could quibble about its status as a great tourist attraction. The next one on the list is definitely in the “You either love it or you hate it” category. We are headed on foot through central Bogota to the Botero Museum which features the works of Colombia’s self-proclaimed greatest living artist, Fernando Botero. Come along and find out if you are in the love it or hate it camp of this controversial artist.
Gold Museum Bogota – Why Colombia was Home to El Dorado
Have you ever been on the hunt for El Dorado, the lost city of gold? Perhaps we all have been intrigued by this precious metal over the years.
We're so excited to have another post from Dale of The Maritime Explorer to have a closer look into one of our Colombia tours he recently embarked on. Have a look at his wonderful details of the Gold Museum, below. Thanks for sharing this with us, Dale!
This is my fifth post on a recent Adventures Abroad trip to the wonderful country of Colombia where I found the people extremely friendly and outgoing, the food amazingly good and the variety of things to see and do off the charts. The first four posts all deal with the city of Bogota and surrounding area. You can read them on my website. In the last post we wandered by foot into the oldest part of Bogota, La Candelaria, where the street art made me rethink everything I thought I knew about Latin Americans. In this post our group is going to visit the most famous museum in Colombia, the Gold Museum that houses over 55,000 works of which over 6,000 are on display. But first, we have some time for lunch and a quick look around the area of Bogota where the Gold Museum is situated.
La Candelaria Bogota – Where Bogota was Born and Street Art Reigns Supreme
Have you ever took the time to appreciate the street art while travelling? On a recent Colombia tour, we did just that. In another instalment from a wonderful trip to Colombia, we join Dale from The Maritime Explorer as he describes the street art encountered on his travels through La Candelaria Bogota. We hope in sharing his blog written from a recent departure, you enjoy this piece as much as we do.
Monserrate Colombia – Bogota’s Sacred Mountain and Top Attraction
Time for another wonderful installment from a member of our recent trip to Colombia. Written by travel writer Dale Dunlop who joined our intrepid group on a remarkable exploration early 2018.
Dale originally wrote the piece for his followers on his website The Maritime Explorer and was kind enough to let us share his first-hand experience with our own travellers.
This is the third post from Colombia during the ongoing eleven day trip to that country with Adventures Abroad. The First Post was an introduction to Bogota and the wonderful Paloquemao Market, while in the second we headed to the small city of Zipaquira to see the Catedral de Sal and play a game of tejo. It was a jam packed first day and the second promises to be no less so with visits to two museums and a walking tour of the oldest part of the city, Candelaria. But first we are going to start the day off with a funicular ride up to the top of the mountain that dominates the Bogota skyline, Monserrate. Won’t you join us for the ride?
