Traveling in Colombia

litost says on Apr 24, 2004, 13:04:

Hi Erik,

First of all great job on your sites on Colombia, love the pictures and in general I'm very impressed with what you've put together in such little time. I've recommended the site to friends (colombians and non-colombians) and they like it as well, and we all thank you for showing such positive things about Colombia.

I see you've pretty much covered most of the country, I'd only suggest you visit my hometown Santa Rosa de Cabal, between Pereira and Manizales... ok, it's no Villa de Leyva or Barichara as far as architecture, but it's a fun town to relax and go out for some drinks or coffee. Of course, the main attraction is the natural setting, and namely the thermal waters that are abundant towards the mountains. There are several options, from the orginal overpriced but charming hotel, to the more affordable and recent "balneario" which is just a kilometer before along the same road... and then there's the site that might interest you most, Termales de San Vicente which is farther up the mountains (almost Parque de los Nevados area) on another road and offers a more "isolated" and natural feeling with mudbaths and natural "turcos" included, plus an eco-trail and an impressive waterfall along the way.

Another thing you could have in mind is the different famous "Ferias" in the country, notably the ones in Manizales and Cali... and then Manizales in itself is an interesting city besides the access it has to the Nevado del Ruiz, with its large student population and embeded coffe culture.

As a suggestion, you could in the future include more of the Coffee Region on your tours, with stops in Manizales, Santa Rosa de Cabal and Salento (with jeep up to the Valle del Cocora)for example, I'm sure people would appreciate the scenery and relaxed atmosphere, plus it's not off the main roads and cities.

Anyways, great job!

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fearless7 says on Apr 24, 2004, 14:00:

Great Site thanks for giving us the site on touring Colombia. it's the vacation package I was looking for. I'm planning to make a trip to my country after 23 years after I left the country. I will definitely keep in touch with the website in the future. As the previous comment stated, the site pointed out several beautiful areas of Colombia very few people know about. I will defintely pass this site to others who are interested in visiting South America's secret treasure.

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Erik says on Apr 25, 2004, 08:41:

Thanks for the great comments and the recommendation to other people.
While I have already seen a lot of parts of Colombia there are still some places missing like the area around Manizales. Thanks for the advice. I really like the area around Los Nevados (I have seen the areas around Ibaqué, Armenia and Pereira and they were very nice).
Yes the ferias is a good idea, there are some very nice ones in Colombia and if possible I will include them in my tours.
I hope to see you in Colombia.
Erik

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cali373 says on May 19, 2005, 12:23:

What kind of insurance are you referring to? How is it going in Colombia so far. Constantly I think about leaving it all behind and living in Colombia myself.

When you set the average Living costs per day at 25 Euro. What does that include?

thank you

Smile if you are a thinker!

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