Last year, I decided to take a six-month sabbatical from the corporate world and my job as an international headhunter and went backpacking to South America.
One of the main reasons I chose to pack up my life in Brisbane, Australia (which, as Tourism Australia says, is beautiful one day, perfect the next), was to go in search of the unknown and stumble upon new adventures — and that is exactly what I found in the Republic of Colombia.
Chilled to the bone
After spending the earlier six weeks on the beaches of Brazil, I had arrived in Bogotá wearing a T-shirt, board shorts and flip-flops.
As I stepped outside El Dorado International Airport, I realised how underdressed I was as a cold wind chilled me to the bone.
The fact that Bogotá is 2,640 metres (8,661 feet) above sea level and located on a high plateau in the Andes Mountains, hence averaging only 16°C all year round had not registered while I was working on my research.
Over the next few days, however, I quickly adjusted to the climate and happily meandered through Bogotá, enjoying museums and art galleries (Museo de Arte Banco de la Republica was definitely the highlight), delicious coffee and numerous parks.
In the evenings, I met up with friends and sampled the throbbing nightlife of T Zone and the cosmopolitan restaurants of G Zone.
Friendly locals
As I left Bogotá and headed north in search of the next adventure, I couldn't stop thinking how friendly the locals had been and how proud they were to be doing their bit in helping put Colombia on the world tourism map.
I then flew north to the Caribbean coastline of Colombia and a town called Santa Marta, in search of the remote Tayrona National Park.
At Santa Marta, I jumped into a taxi and went to a local market to board a bus to my destination.
After a short wait, I was on a bus teeming with people and chicken — not to mention reeking of body odour.
Now I really was a long way from home.
After a few hours of chugging through misty mountains and negotiating numerous military checkpoints, I finally arrived at my stop — the entrance to the national park.
Tight security
I purchased a ticket, after which I was taken to a back office and searched by a member of the Colombian army. Even my bags and their linings were searched.
Though I didn't have anything to hide, it didn't stop my heart from racing at a million miles an hour.
Finally, my friend and his AK-47 were satisfied I wasn't a member of Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel and let me go.
After a 15km ride in the back of a beaten-up old Chevrolet pickup truck, I finally arrived at the supposedly tranquil accommodation by the beach.
However, I soon realised there were still a few more hours of jungle trekking to go, and that, too, through jungle tracks ankle-deep in mud, thanks to some recent heavy rain.
I finally made it to the wonderful paradise by the beach and spent the next week sleeping in hammocks at an eco-lodge, swimming in the ocean and trying to avoid the FARC paramilitary guerrillas lurking in the mountains.
There were a number of walking tracks along the coastline, which led to remote beaches.
Each day, I would try a new path and find a secluded little piece of paradise to spend the day in and appreciate this beautiful corner of the world.
During my stay at Tayrona, I met a Canadian couple and we decided to leave the national park together. We boarded a bus for the five-hour trip along the coast to a town called Cartagena.
Upon arriving at the bus station, we got into a taxi and were driving into the city centre when we encountered problems.
I looked up in horror and couldn't believe what was happening — I was in the front passenger seat of a taxi and all I could see was the searing bright lights of an oncoming bus bearing down upon us.
Close shave
People talk about one's life flashing before one's eyes in the gap of a second — that was exactly what was happening to me.
Our driver (yet another crazy Michael Schumacher wannabe) was speeding and trying to overtake a bus, which, at the time, was trying to overtake another.
So there were four lanes of traffic trying to squeeze into two and we were right in the middle of the action.
The next thing I knew, the oncoming bus smashed into our taxi and sent us spinning out of control, clipping one of the other buses before finally coming to rest on the footpath.
We weren't wearing seat belts (they weren't working) but luckily had our backpacks resting on our laps, which cushioned us from the impact.
Our driver ended up with a few cuts but, thankfully, it was nothing too serious.
The taxi was smashed and in a state to be completely written off. Thankfully, however, we could still walk.
While Cartagena gained notoriety in the 1984 film Romancing the Stone, it really is a gem of Colombian architecture and historical buildings.
In fact, its colonial walled city and fortress were given the status of a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1984.
The old city is surrounded by massive stone walls erected by the Spanish to protect their treasures from the likes of Sir Francis Drake, who repeatedly attacked the city during the 17th century.
Slice of paradise
The walls and the Castillo de San Felipe still stand, surrounding the old town, separating it from the not-so-well-preserved district of Getsemani. It is there that we stayed.
Cartagena boasts an average temperature of 28°C, with humidity as high as 90 per cent. It has some beautiful islands, accessible by day boating trips, and beaches on which to cool off and escape the heat.
However, the highlight is definitely a small active mud volcano (Volcan del Totumo) just outside Cartagena.
It is about 15 metres high and has a rickety path leading to a mud-oozing crator at the top.
Once inside this mud bath, you can actually lie down and experience the weirdest sensation — you can't sink in it, it buoys you up out of the mud.
After a wonderful month of enjoying everything Colombian, it was time to move on. I set sail from the Port of Cartagena on a 40-foot yacht bound for Panama — but that's another story altogether.
— Andrew Croft is a UAE-based freelance writer
Go there . . . Colombia . . . From the UAE
From Dubai
Air France flies via Paris.
Fare from Dh8,690
Info courtesy: The Holiday Lounge by Dnata. Ph 04-4298576
HIGHLIGHTS
Must-dos
- Visit the Bolero exhibition at the Museo de Arte Banco de la Republica in Bogotá.
- Visit Tayrona National Park (near Santa Marta).
- Swim in the active mud volcano outside Cartagena.