Reflections, A Colombia Blog

 From the cool, 2000+ meter air of El Dorado and the Sierra Nevada, we dropped down to the Caribbean coast and Tayrona National Park.  Tayrona is a seaside gem of sand beach coves and coastal forest land. Another birding paradise. We stayed just outside the park in a posh-ish resort, a welcome change from the relative rusticness of El Dorado.  A bar, a pool, an electronic bracelet to record any and all purchases, no need for money … being pampered has its place! Tayrona’s beautiful coastline and the beach where we swam. Some nasty currents and  undertows make for dangerous swimming, but we found a section protected from the waves by some big rocks. We did two half-day guided tours while at Tayrona and were delighted that they were each led by guides we had while in Minca and El Dorado … always a joy to see a familiar face and hear a familiar voice while a stranger in a strange land. Jaruen (pronounced like “Har-win”) was, in the 1980s, the first Audubon-trained birdi...

Most of our trip will be in one of the three fingers of the Andes that stretch across Colombia from west to east.  For a week or so, however, we breathed the warm, humid air of the Caribbean … though to get there, we had first to traverse the reputed second “largest” canyon in the world. From Barichara, we drove a four-hour long, curvaceous route to Bucaramanga, where we would catch a plane to Santa Marta on Colombia’s northern coast (Santa Marta is where the Spanish first landed on this continent).  It’s hard to describe the driving behaviors along the way - our drivers have all been cautious and safe compared with some daredevils on the road, especially those on motorbikes - but suffice to say for long stretches we inched along behind lines of cars stymied by a very slow-moving truck and then somehow found ourselves in front of that truck!  The prize for the arduous journey was the views of Gran Canon del Chicamocha, an awesome geologic formation that, at 2000 meter d...

Here’s a few of the 100+ species we’ve seen so far… Glowing puffleg, seen at Mt. Monserrat, Bogota Santa Marta Antpitta, shy little bugger Red-crowned woodpecker Golden-olive woodpecker Vermillion flycatcher Crowned woodnymph Crimson-crested woodpecker, clown of the forest Safron finch … not in cage Santa Marta brushfinch Cinnamon flycatcher Tropical kingbird Keel-billed toucan Rufous-tailed jacamar White-tipped quetzal Scarlet-fronted parakeets Band-tailed guan

Two sights have brought back memories of travels past: the expansive views offered by the high Andes here, where one can see far across a steep river valley to the next village and the path scraped out of the forest that will take you there, perhaps a day away; and young backpackers, especially these two young men I saw a few days ago with big packs on their backs and daypacks slung on their chests. The yearlong trip I took with my friend Jim (who died earlier this year, for many getting this blog an all too familiar occurrence of a life-important soul who no longer inhabits our world) was filled with such images, especially on our 20-day trek around the Annapurna Range in Nepal. The expanse of the Rio Suarez below Barichara, a view much like the Annapurna mountains in Nepal Traveling has changed a lot since then … and I don’t mean to sound like an Old Fogey (“In the good ole days, blah, blah, blah”).  It’s just different.  Where 40 years ago, we looked out for a copy of the I...

As a country near the equator, weather varies not by season but by altitude. Our first week found us going from fall or spring (Bogota, 8000’) to early summer or late fall (Villa de Leyva, 6000’) to mid-summer - hot, very hot, and dry (Barichara, 4000’).  We’re now at 2000’, in the town of Minca in the foothills above the Caribbean coast, definitely summer on the muggy side. But I’ve gotten ahead of the trip… Our drive out of Bogota passed by numerous suburbs - as the city continues to expand - and then endless huge greenhouse complexes.  What did they contain, we asked?  Flowers, fresh flowers, gazillions of them.  Our guide told us that flowers were cut, brought to the airport for night flights, and ended up in American cities the next morning.  Fresh-cut flowers, voila! The main stop on the half day drive to Villa de Leyva was the Salt Cathedral.  Turns out this mountainous areas was under seas for millions of years and, as the seas receded and evaporate...