Colombia travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

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!

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.

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!

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.

Colombia is bordered on the northwest by Panama, on the east by Venezuela and Brazil, and on the southwest by Peru and Ecuador. Through the western half of the country, three Andean ranges run north and south. The eastern half is a low, jungle-covered plain, drained by spurs of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers, inhabited mostly by isolated tropical-forest Indian tribes. The fertile plateau and valley of the eastern range are the most densely populated parts of the country.

Official Name: Republica de Colombia.
Capital: Bogota.
Independence day: July 20, 1810.

NATURAL FEATURES
Area: 440,831 square miles (1,141,748 square kilometres), includes the San Andres y Providencia archipelago.
Climate:Tropical. Varies according to the altitude.
Highest Peak: Pico Cristobal Colon, 19,020 feet (5,800 meters).
Major Rivers: Magdalena, Cauca, Meta, Guaviare, Caqueta, Putumayo, Atrato, Vaupes, Vichada.
Mountain Ranges: Occidental, Central, Oriental.

PEOPLE
Population: 39,309,422 (July 1999 est.); 89.2, people per square mile (34.5 people per square kilometer); 73 percent urban, 27 percent rural.
Major Cities: Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Cucuta, Bucaramanga
Religions: Roman Catholicism, 95.4%.
Language: Spanish (official).

Leading Universities: National University of Colombia, University of the Andes, Javeriana Pontifical University, all in Bogota; Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia, Tunja; University of Valle, Cali; University of Antioquia, Medellin; Industrial University of Santander, Bucaramanga.

GOVERNMENT
Form of Government: Unitary republic.
Chief of State and Head of Government: President; elected to four-year nonconsecutive terms by direct national vote.
President:Alvaro Uribe Velez
Legislature: Congress consists of Senate and House of Representatives; members elected to four-year terms. Voting Qualification: Age 18.
Political Divisions: 32 departments since July 1991, 1 capital district.

ECONOMY
Main Agricultural Products: Crops; sugarcane, potatoes, plantains, rice, bananas, cassavas, corn, coffee, flowers. Livestock; cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens.
Main Mined Products: Petroleum, natural gas, gold, coal, iron ore.
Main Manufactured Products: Foods, textiles, chemicals, machinery, electrical apparatus, transport equipment, metal products.
Main Exports: Coffee, petroleum and petroleum products, fruits, flowers, iron and steel, textile and apparel.
Main Imports: Machinery, chemicals, transport equipment.
Monetary Unit: Peso.
Coffee for Colombia, Cartels for Colombia, Cocaine for Colombia – cliches can’t conjure the diverse terrain of mountains, valleys, deserts, beaches, lowlands and jungles all tossed together into a delicious scramble. Have absolutely no doubt that the Colombians know their international reputation. The truth is that most of them lead very normal and peaceful lives. Exercise caution when you are in Cali and Medellin, the drug dens, and your visit should be memorable.

Colombians have very strong family ties, which makes it easy to explain why the world’s most (in)famous cartels belong to Colombia. They are hospitable people and the best coffee “tinto”, well sugared, is offered to the revered guest with extraordinary courtesy. Colombian jewellery is incomparable and the emeralds are among the most perfect in the world. Add to this the temperate climate all year long of its capital city, Bogota, and you have every reason to visit the country.