Las Lajas Cathedral, built in 1916, is located in remote southwest Colombia, deep down in a gorge of the Guaitara River. An example of Gothic revival architecture, the cathedral is memorably framed by stark mountains and 100 feet waterfalls. The name Laja comes from the name of a type of flat sedimentary rock similar to floor tiles found in the Andes Mountains.

The church was built to commemorate the appearance of the Virgin which legend has it, her image appeared on an enormous vertical rock 45m above the river. Apparently, an image of Virgin of Las Lajas was painted on the side of the cliff. As a result, the altar is located here and the rest of the church is built jutting outwards  from the cliff.

The story of the cathedral’s creation is that in 1754 an Amerindian named “Maria Mueces” and deaf-mute daughter “Rosa” were caught up by a very strong storm. They found refuge between the gigantic Lajas.

This image was imprinted on the rocks of a gorge above the Guaitara River. The image is situated inside a cave very high in the mountains, and was completely unknown until it was discovered in the mid-18th century by an Indian.

Parque Tayrona is truly a magnificent natural park located at the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The Park covers an area 300 square kilometres in size. Off the coast are a number of coral reefs, and nearby is the archaeological site. This little delightful spot is located about 30 minutes from the city of Rodadero, with beautiful beaches and hammocks to rent. Park Tayrona is about 45 minutes East of Santa Marta.

The park covers some 30 square kilometres of maritime area in the Caribbean sea and some 150 km² of land. One nature reserve where there is an incredible variety of dry and wet tropical forests, coral reefs and seagrass beds. The park boasts fascinating wildlife including black howler and “titi” monkeys, red woodpeckers, iguanas and jaguars.

Places of interest include Canaveral (camping area), Neguange, Arrecifes, El Cabo beach, Playa Linda and La Piscina . Arrecifes is centrally located to explore many of Park Tayrona’s beaches. The scenery is breathtaking: verdant jungle sloping down to meet the Caribbean sea at white sandy beaches. Most beaches right next to the camping grounds are relatively unsafe for swimming due to heavy currents.

Bahia Cinto, Parque Tayrona- Nested within the Tayrona Park, this hideaway bay with exclusive bungalows serves as an ideal base for diving in the Tayrona Park.

La Piscina- La Piscina is mostly a place to swim and hang out.

The accommodation is very natural: you can enjoy traditional camping hammocks between palm trees and overlooking the majestic mountain. Or private, two storey huts perched on a hillside overlooking the sea. Tayrona Park has just one genuine hotel, called “Eco-habs”.

The Sierra Nevada del Cocuy is a National Park and a set of highlands within the Cordillera Oriental mountain range in the Andes Mountains of Colombia.  The Sierra Nevada Del Cocuy, about 8 hours from Bogota, has over 20 snow capped peaks and some forty lagoons. Temperatures oscillate in the lower part at around 23º C and go down to 3º C in the snow covered peaks.

The Sierra Nevada del Cocuy is a 306,000 km² protected area from which rise 23 snow peaks surrounded by waterfalls, lakes, parama vegetation. Also and tapirs, spectacled bears, Andean condors, eagles, and paramo deer.

The Park area contains several high peaks covered with snow: Pan de Azucar (5120m), Diamante (4800 m), el Pulpito del Diablo (5100 m), Toti (4800 m), Portales (4800 m), Concavo (5200 m), Concavito (5100 m) and others. Some peaks are inaccessible to man; for example, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta , on the Caribbean Coast.

Cano Cristales lies in the Serrania de La Macarena, Colombia. Often called “the most beautiful river in the world” as well as “the river of five colors,” Cano Cristales is one of those destinations you almost have to see to believe. Cano Cristales is about 100km in length. During Colombia’s rainy season, the water flows fast and deep as rivers are wont to do.

Depending on the time of year, the amount of colorful algae found in the river gives it an impressively technicolor appearance.

Blotches of amarillo, blue, green, black, and red–and a thousand shades in between–coat the river. It is indeed a unique biological wonder.

The bed and rocks of this river are covered with mosses and algae which for much of the year appear as dull green and brown water plants.

Cabo de la Vela is a headland in the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia with an adjacent small fishing village. Facing the Caribbean Sea and Venezuela in the northern most part of South America. The department capital city is Riohacha.

Cabo de la Vela is the most visited tourist destination of La Guajira. It has paradisaical beaches and an excellent landscape.This truely special region is well worth a visit. From Riohacha you have to go by car over to Cuarto Vias then up through Uribia to Cabo de la Vela probably another 70/80 km.

There’s over 60 guesthouses  in Cabo de la Vela – all offer pretty basic accommodation in either cabanas with beds or in hammock. Seafood is the number one and only option and lots of beach restaurants have fresh langostas and fish on the menu.

Just as the Guajira is the ideal place for adventure tourism. Camping, bicycle tours, water sports, cultural exchanges, dances and festivals in the region.

It is a nice place and the sunset in Cabo de la Vela is amazing!

It is one of Colombia’s most attractive natural landscapes! Tatacoa Desert is close to Villavieja, a little town located approx 50 Km north from Neiva. In order to get to Villavieja you will likely need to take a collectivo from Neiva.

The Tatacoa covers a total area of 300 km² mostly covering the municipality of Villavieja.The Desert of Tatacoa has a grey and a red part.

You can find turtles, rodents, snakes, spiders, scorpions, eagles, lizards, and ocelots. In the evening the lighting is particularly beautiful and the area is swarming with interesting species of birds.

The stunning earthly landscape of reds and greys, abundant with cactuses and desert flora and fauna-the locals say here that the desert waters contain special powers.

The Natural pool, spectacularly set in the middle of the desert, where you could bathe and lookout at the dramatic landscape.

Near San Agustin one finds some of South America’s greatest, and most mysterious, archaeological sites. The remains of a mysterious civilisation are found there. There are eagles, snakes, men with clenched teeth and fists, monkeys, salamanders, women giving birth and men worshipping the sun.

The area is dotted with freestanding monumental statues carved of stone left behind by a mysterious pre-Colombian civilization.About 500 statues can be found spread out in groups in the region.

These beautiful sculptures, carved as far as 3000 BC at the Valley of the Statues. San Augustin is actually a collection of ceremonial and burial sites scattered over an area of 250 square miles.

These huge statues are characterized by their great design and dimensions, some measuring up to 5 meters. Most of the statues share a mixture of man and animal features.

There are various Asian and African influences in some of the sculptures – for example statues of Gorillas, statues showing African Elephant, statues wearing Indian head-pieces statues with clearly Asian eyes – which has led the academic community to believe that this culture was so advanced it had extensive contact with Africa and Asia.

Archeologists have uncovered a mere 10 percent of the statues and ruins, and it is theorized that huge mayan-like pyramids and other structures remain buried throughout the area. There is a small museum at the park headquarter and it provides information like literature and maps.

The Chicamocha Canyon, a 1,524-meter-high vertical wall, is one of the most breathtaking sites of Colombia! It is located just 54 kilometers from Bucaramanga by car.

The canyon, which covers over 108,000 hectares, was formed 4.6 billion years ago. The experts will choose the finalists based on: natural beauty, diversity, ecological importance, historical legacy and geographic location.

There is a hiking trail that starts in los Santos town 1500 meters above sea level, and goes down to the canyon and up to the Chicamocha Canyon National Park.

The temperature in the canyon fluctuates from 11°C to 32°C from day to night .The climate is perfect for coffee and very pleasant for pilots,too.

The Chicamocha Canyon is nominated in the contest “New Seven Wonders of the World”.

Malpelo Island and the surrounding marine environment are located 500 kilometers west of mainland Colombia. This vast marine park, the largest no-fishing zone in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. It has a land area of 0.35 square kilometers (86 acres). The highest point, “El Cerro de La Mona”, is 376 m above sea level.

The island is a largely barren oceanic rock. Plant species are few and small: ferns, leguminous and grassy shrubs, mosses, lichens and algae which are also widespread underwater.

Sea birds like the pique, the tijereta de mar and the pico rojo nest on the hilltops, which serve them as a way station.

Malpelo holds a unique shark population; swarms of 500 hammerhead sharks and hundreds of silky sharks.

Endemic to the island are one crab species, two starfish, various species of coralline fish, and two reptiles.

As it is an oceanic island at quite a distance from the continent, Malpelo is a living laboratory, ideal for scientific research, as well as nature tourism-related activities like diving.

UNESCO declared the area a World Natural Heritage Site by virtue of its marine biodiversity!

From old times, Bogota has offered a rich social and cultural live. The Maloka Museum is the first Science Interactive Centre in Colombia, opened in 1998. Also it’s the greater interactive center of science and technology of South America. It allows visitors to learn about all kinds of science, from the way human beings developed throughout the centuries and the way electricity really works.

The museum has 9 rooms in 10,000 m2 of underground construction with different science and technology topics – 300 displays on subjects of City, Petroleum, Natural Gas, Life, Water, Telecommunications, Universe, Biodiversity; also temporal exhibitions. By November of 2006, there is a running exposition about aviation in the museum.

The other section is a 3D movie theater. It has a dome theater where documentaries in dome format are shown. The visitors can experiment with different kind of science-related games.

Nazca Restaurant is located on the new T-zone in Bogota, Colombia. The place is separated in two zones: snacks, bar and VIP on the second floor, dinning and kitchen on the first floor.

 

The project looks to enhance the relation with street level, by overlooking pedestrians from a big stair on the entrance, to sit and watch.

 

Through a stair guests will arrive to the second floor, and after passing through the terrace they will bump into the bar area. From there, down is one level onto a more protected and intimate space, on which is the main dining area which opens to an inner patio.

Stone was used relating to traditional inca works, contrasting with red glass.

This Library Park in Colombia consist a system conformed by three contained, rotated, squared modules that turn, adapting themselves to the landscape. The landscape gives the urban geography continuity through the paths and the building of public space on the rooftop, a landscape constituted by paths, theaters or inclined plazas, a spatial network with connection multiplicity and meeting places. Amazing....

 

The Leon de Grief Library has four basic containers!

 

1. CONTAINER 1 - COMMUNITY CENTER - User: individual and in groups. Time: 24 hours. Multiple Salons (quarter meetings), my quarter, gymnasium, sieve, technical substation (optimizing the land cut left by housing).

 

2. CONTAINER 2 - LIBRARY- User: individual. Time: Attending from 8am to 8pm. Foyer, reception, catalogue, collection, reading rooms, navigation centers.

3. CONTAINER 3 - CULTURAL CENTER - User: Organized groups. Time: Scheduled events. Auditorium, workshops.

4. CURVED CONTAINER - 24 hours. Can be used as support. Exposition rooms (as obliged path for all users), cafeteria, management, bathrooms, ludotechs (will be used as kinder gardens 24 hours).

Each container is structurally independent from the basic connector. Modules are conformed by screens in the ends to compensate the projection afore mentioned and in the center 2 axes of rectangular columns in concrete.

 Vinyl floors in different colors and shapes covered the areas. Visible roofing in white concrete with inferior cake and wooden panels of 5 cm planks. White antique concrete walls. Crystal plates in sandwich with colored resin on the inside to mark and provide some color to the pedagogic areas.

 

The Library Park proposes the usage of natural air cooling systems, nurturing the inside of the library with fresh air. In addition to this, they put mobile blinds to cover the windows that face the sunset so that the effect of sunlight can be minimized. On top of the roofing-view points are the plantation of trees that provide shadow.

 

Cartagena is tropical Colombian seaport city with its cocaine days in the past. The city beats like a salsa party with fancy gorgeous restaurants and old-school style plazas. Wonderful parties and festivals keep the city swinging after dark. But Cartagena city has its quiet part as well. Just a short stroll away, tourists will find out white beaches and crystal clear water.

Cartagena is also a city for walking with its Spanish colonial buildings grouped together along brick streets. The sea breezes make the city feel quite comfortable even in the 90-degree heat. The city also features a rich culinary palate, combining flavors and ingredients from the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and even Asia.

One of the reason to leave the old city is to climb the massive Castillo de San Felipe, which is a huge fort built over the 17th and 18th centuries by the Spanish. The fortress contains an ant farm of hidden tunnels that you can explore with or without a guide. A taxi from the old city is about 5,000 pesos; admission, 13,000 pesos.

Cartagena is a musical city. In the late evening, a sea breeze freshens the air and the rhythm of trotting horses blends with the laughter and singing of friends gathered in bars, clubs and public squares. Take a table outside Donde Fidel (Plaza de los Coches 32-09) and order a Club Colombia beer. Then again, to hear live music, there’s no reason to leave La Vitrola, where on most nights a talented combo performs merengue, salsa and Cuban music. Sit at the bar and sip an aguardiente, the anise-flavored drink that’s a national favorite.

Barranquilla Carnival is not just a parade. It’s a wonderful action around the city with traditions that dominate to the 19^th century in Columbia.

The routine takes four days and during this period the whole city is paralyzed due to the busy streets of dancers, musicians and happy crowd. The carnival is second in size to Rio’s but is not so extraordinary, sophisticated, unique and the preparation didn’t take such a long time either.

The Barranquilla Carnival includes dances like Spanish paloteo, African congo and mico y micas. As well as many styles of Columbian music had been playing with instruments such as drums and wind ensembles.

The city of Barranquilla is an industrial, portuary, located in northern Colombia. The capital of the Atlántico Department, it is the largest industrial city and port on the Colombian Caribbean region and the fourth largest city of Colombia. It lies strategically by the delta of the Magdalena River, serving as port for fluvial and maritime transportation.

Photography by Jan Sochor

Eighty percent of the exported bananas in the world are grown in Latin America (Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia). A local farmer has no other alternative than to sell for a price offered by the multinational company. When working conditions and ecology is in question, these companies (Dole Food, Chiquita,…) have nothing to do with it – the plantations are not theirs, they are only buyers.

Local governments in the attempt of organizing banana export provide low duty taxes on export, they try to influence social and environmental politics, they attract the big companies to their countries. If the local governments did not do it by themselves, the big companies would threaten with going somewhere else…

Photography and esseay by Jan Sochor