Many people’s first impression when they think of traveling to Colombia is danger. This stems from tv shows such as Narcos and what was the very real danger of travel within Colombia 20 years ago. However, this is no longer the reality of travel in this biodiverse country! Colombia is very safe when travelers take normal precautions and research typical tourist scams (much like we would do for trips to countries like France or Germany, which most people feel are “safer”).

I recently returned from a week in Colombia and loved every minute of it. It was a blast, the people were so friendly and helpful (despite me not speaking much Spanish!), and the flora and fauna were breathtaking. There is more biodiversity in a square meter of Colombia than in any other country, so if nature is your thing, you’ve got to put Colombia on your bucket list!

Although the nature was gorgeous, my absolute favorite part of my trip was interacting with the local culture - we got to learn about and spend time with the Guambiano people near the town of Silvia. I shared a typical snack in a local’s home, conversed with a woman who sold me some handcrafted jewelry, and learned about their cosmology by their Taita (shaman). It was fascinating and one of the best travel days I’ve had to date.

If you’d like a more in-depth recap of what I did while in Colombia, I did a Facebook live on November 1st that you can check out here. Don’t have Facebook? No problem - check out the video recording on Youtube.