This week’s travel dream: Colombia’s untouched frontier

Colombia soon may become the next big adventure destination, said Stephanie Pearson in Outside. Tourists haven’t yet poured into the nation’s astonishing wilderness, but visitors have reclaimed a place in the major cities, and the government’s decades-long war on cocaine trafficking and related violence has begun to make further exploration possible. When I recently arranged for an 11-day tour of Colombia’s outback, I expected great wonders. After all, what other country can boast of coastlines on both the Caribbean and the Pacific, three large mountain ranges, and “whole regions of untapped Amazon rain forest?”

The land’s beauty is evident by air as my plane passes an enormous waterfall in the central part of the country—an area that until recently was controlled by guerrillas. We land in a village, La Macarena, then travel a short distance by canoe to Caño Cristales, a river that takes on Technicolor hues when a local plant drops its tiny flowers into the water. As we hike, “I count 25 vacationers splashing in the fresh pools and picnicking along the shore.” Given the area’s recent history, “the whole scene is surreal.” And this won’t be the last time that Colombia’s recent past will seem remarkably distant. We spend one day hiking under towering wax palm trees in a national park before driving to an evening tutorial in coffee making. In Chocó, a poor region still known for cocaine cultivation, I step outside my lodging to behold paradise: “the turquoise Pacific, black-sand beaches, and so much greenery that even the volcanic boulders sticking out of the ocean are covered in ferns and sprouting palm trees.”

“The country’s extreme makeover is especially evident in Medellín.” Though hardly crime-free, the city has seen its murder rate drop 89 percent since 1991, and even residents are embracing its recreational potential. The surrounding hills offer great mountain-biking trails, and I meet an engineer who organizes a monthly group ride that draws 5,000 cyclists. Our group skips the cycling, but on the eve of the city’s Fiesta de las Flores, we do take a ride on one of the amazing gondolas that connect the city to the poor barrios that surround it. In our gondola car, the air smells like roses.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Multi-day tours with Voyage Colombia (voyagecolombia.com) start at $3,820.