Posts Tagged ‘colombia’
It’s surprising how many people don’t know Colombia has a flagship airline. Let me be the one to tell you: Avianca paves the way.
Avianca has been taking people to and from Bogota and points in Colombia for nearly 70 years, and for the modest way they have of doing business they certainly maintain solid operations. With 18 destinations in Colombia and 18 more internationally they have a solid route map. We flew from Los Angeles to Bogota, a 7 hour flight (only slightly longer than it takes to get from New York to LA), and were made to feel quite comfortable. The planes for this particular route were not updated yet with the seatback entertainment but I was told this would be happening before the end of the year. They also have plans to be the first South American carrier to fly Boeing’s new 787s once they go into production—they have 10 on order!
Cartagena is like a hot tamale, it looks innocent but its flavor and wicked heat makes you dance when you bite it. We arrived in Cartagena still wearing jackets, which was a mistake. While Bogotá may be equatorial, the elevation keeps it cool. Cartagena on the other hand stays toasty, with an average temperature in the mid 80s all year round, usually with a 90% humidity. So the first lesson is, dress for it.
Winter home to Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez (with a surprisingly modest house), Cartagena has the trappings of your average Caribbean tourist city, but without the cliché–or the tourists for that matter. While it is still on the cruise circuit, it’s less of a destination than other island ports and when the ships are gone, there’s definitely a feeling of an undiscovered country.
Bogotá has seen a lot in its 500-year history. Growth, retraction, invasion, crime, calm, innovation, sights, sounds and always beautiful scenery. Now with over 7 million inhabitants (as of 2005) these days the city is not simply a metropolis, but more of a conglomeration 
where the arts, politics and industry all play off one another in a safe and civil fashion. I couldn’t have felt more comfortable swimming around in that cultural soup, as if all the negative talking points I’d heard from foreigners who are exposed only to hearsay and speculation were in fact just the opposite, liike all the unfortunate events of the previous decade had never even happened. Or chalk it up to President Uribe’s Communidad Segura, a social contract placing heavily armed policemen in almost every neighborhood.
South America has been a hot topic of late. What with the Olympics finding a home in Rio, the inclusion of Machu Picchu in the “New 7 Wonders of the World” project and the overall positive growth of travel and tourism to that side of the equator, it seems like everyone’s talking about it. Last week I had a rare chance to visit the country of Colombia over what would turn out to be a very enjoyable and fascinating 6-day educational trip.
Let this article dispel any fears you may have about traveling as a woman in Colombia. Going there is highly recommend!
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