Oh pricey! Actually? Are you fairly positive?’ Such had been the reactions of assorted acquaintances to my announcement that I used to be planning a visit to Colombia.
The truth that I’ve buddies in Bogota did not assuage their anxieties. And now even I began to think about eventualities by which, having been kidnapped by some paramilitary renegades, I might probably negotiate some kind of communication line down which I might document scenes for The Archers from my cell in Bogota. Maybe Adam might have been on a visit researching cocoa farming, I mirrored, and located himself deludedly diverted in the direction of coca as a substitute.
Such is the curious blurring between fiction and actuality in The Archers that stranger issues have occurred.
Vibrant spectacle: Dancers at a road competition in Cartagena
Bogota is a dynamic metropolis with a chaotic character all its personal. At 8,500ft above sea stage you’ll suppose the head-rush could be necessary. The push is all within the visitors: buses veer, bikes swerve, taxis vie for fares throughout choked lanes.
However within the tranquil historic neighbourhood of La Candelaria you escape to the town’s Spanish colonial previous. Amid the teeming hordes of scholars, travellers and native Bogotanos, the gold reveals of the Museo D’Oro, such because the pre-Colombian gold raft sculpture from the Muisca period, are dazzling.
Alternatively one can benefit from the whimsical wit of Colombia’s most well-known artist, Botero. His porcine figures are present in a museum named after him and constructed round an enthralling 18th Century courtyard. Additionally housed right here is a part of Botero’s private artwork assortment, together with works by Monet, Renoir, Chagall, Miro, and Dali.
Taking within the view: Andrew on the Iglesia de Monserrate overlooking Bogota
Within the close by Plaza de Bolivar I noticed a llama sauntering by – they’re used to offer rides to guffawing vacationers. On one nook stands the Museo de la Independencia, housing artefacts and reveals that fascinatingly illustrate the story of the 1810 Revolution: how the battle for independence started and the way, some would possibly contend, it’s nonetheless being fought in the present day.
Trying up from the plaza – excessive within the mountains to the east – you see the Iglesia de Monserrate, which is accessible inside minutes by cable automobile. Right here you discover a sanctuary of tranquillity and spirituality, as if one has risen above the town whereas its secular city unreality sprawls magnificently however chaotically throughout the plateau under.
If the tumult of Bogota turns into an excessive amount of, a mere hour away lies Zipaquira and its cathedral, one of the crucial startling buildings on the planet. With ingenuity, imaginative and prescient and audacity, a cavernous expanse 600ft under floor has been carved from a salt mine to kind an area for worship.
Such is the mixture of iconography, pure kinds, colors, and carvings that you simply really feel you are in a sodium-chloride artwork set up.
It is extraordinary to think about that on Sundays and holy days 3,000 individuals come right here to worship.
At Guatavita, the legend of El Dorado resonates from the pre-Colombian previous. Cradled by crater partitions is the lake on to which the Muisca tribe rowed their new cacique (king) on a raft earlier than ritually immersing him, bare and coated in gold mud. In additional homage, hundreds of gold choices had been thrown into the lake by members of the tribe surrounding the shores.
Throughout the mountains, by the valleys, previous polytunnels (Adam would have been happy to notice) the poncho – or ruana – carrying farmers have a tendency the fields, experience horseback or stroll as if time has stopped. Being on the street is an expertise in itself. Away from Bogota, down from the plateau and the temperate excessive floor, the temperature rises.
Roadside grills supply chorizos, rooster and chilly beers to slake the thirst. Canine slumber, sheltering in doorways to flee the warmth whereas cats watch from the shadows.
Saddled up: A llama prepared for vacationer rides in Plaza de Bolivar
If it is historical past you crave, about 90 miles from Bogota, within the Andes close to Tunja, there’s a tiny bridge over the Teatinos River, marking the location the place the Battle of Boyaca was fought.
Right here in August 1819 a decisive victory was received towards the Spanish within the battle for independence – with the assistance of the British – an occasion marked by imposing monuments to the generals Bolívar and Santander.
Quickly you attain the white-washed partitions, red-tiled roofs and cobblestone streets of Villa de Leyva, a preserved colonial city which, since 1954, has been a nationwide monument.
The seventeenth Century structure, that includes cool arcaded courtyards, fountains, and flower-festooned columns, is unspoilt. Dancing within the sq. and consuming aguardiente within the bars round right here appear to be timeless nocturnal pursuits.
Additional afield, an hour’s flight from Bogota on the shores of the Caribbean, lies the Unesco World Heritage website of Cartagena, a fantastically restored jewel of a walled Spanish metropolis with maybe probably the most spectacular fortifications in Latin America, the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas.
The stature of the partitions and the tunnels beneath assist the customer perceive why it was nearly not possible to defeat the Spanish right here, and why they stayed till the nineteenth Century.
At evening the sun-drenched Plaza de la Santisima Trinidad is reworked right into a pure theatre. All life is right here. Kids race, canine strut like horses, people replicate and ruminate.
Locals and travellers combine over a beer purchased from the store throughout the sq. and a sizzling canine from a stand.
In case you fancy a cocktail, maybe a cuba libre, you possibly can attempt to wake the previous woman slumbering behind her stall to combine one.
Colombia is a rustic that defies expectations. It should bewitch and bedazzle you. The countryside is timeless and you will find pure pleasure within the tranquillity and number of the panorama and the appeal of its individuals. In case you’re trying to escape from the greyness of the commonplace, the heat, color and pure great thing about Colombia elevate it to the dimension of one other world. I shall definitely be going again.
Possibly that cocoa farm of Adam’s wasn’t such a foul thought in any case.
Getting there
Journey Latin America (journeylatinamerica.co.uk, 020 8622 8444) presents a13-day vacation to Colombia from £3,292pp. The journey contains visits to Bogota, Lake Guavita, Tunja, Villa de Leyva and Cartagena and contains return flights from Heathrow, transfers, home flights, mid-range lodging, excursions and breakfast.
Kuoni presents an eight-night Basic Colombia personal tour, together with B&B, return flights with Iberia from Heathrow, transfers and home flights with Avianca. It contains two nights in Bogota, two nights within the Espresso Triangle and 4 nights in Cartagena. Costs begin from £3,492pp for journey between June 26 and August 27. Go to kuoni.co.uk or name 01306 747008 quoting LA0495.
