After a refreshing trip back 'home' we were eager to get back to our journey. Our first goal: to get the rig (and ourselves) shipped from Panama to Cartagena, Colombia, our port of choice for the South American phase of our plan. We had created a detailed schedule to chase the best weather possible, through as many countries as possible, over the next two years. It was time to Go Big or Go Home.
Colorful Cartagena

Santa Marta and the Caribbean Coast

La Guajira

Colonial Colombia, Part One

Magical Medellin

Colonial Colombia, Part Two

The Eje Cafetero

Pretty, Peaceful Pijao

Colonial Colombia, Part Three

Tolima, Cundinamarca and Santander

The Eastern Plains

South to Ecuador

Ecuador

Colorful Cartagena

Welcome to Colombia
After over a year of overland travel through the US, Mexico and Central America, we were now ready for phase two of our most excellent adventure: South...
Santa Marta and the Caribbean Coast

Santa Marta
I had long dreamed of visiting northern Colombia's Santa Marta mountains. Its two primary peaks, the snow-capped Pico Bolivar and Pico Colon, reach over 19,000 feet only 34...
La Guajira

Salinas of Manaure
North of Riohacha, the Guajira Peninsula juts like a big fat thumb into the Caribbean sea. It's almost as if Colombia had said, "Enough!" and decided to...
Colonial Colombia, Part One

Stepping Back in Time
Colombia's long history of colonial occupation dates back to the earliest days of the Spanish exploration of the New World. Although Columbus never set foot on...
Magical Medellin

Living Large in Laureles
Whenever we visit a bigger city or town, finding a place to camp can be a challenge. We're not really interested in parking on some dead-end...
Colonial Colombia, Part Two

Santa Fe de Antioquia
Three hundred years of Spanish occupation endowed Colombia with numerous colonial cities and towns, many of which still retain much of their original character. The Colombian...
The Eje Cafetero

Phenomenal Filandia
Ever since arriving in Colombia, folks had been recommending we visit the Eje Cafetero. And what might that be? Colombia's "Coffee Axis." Akin to California's "Wine Region,"...
Pretty, Peaceful Pijao

A Surprise Discovery
Usually, the destinations we aim for are fairly well known--a famous city or archeological site, a national park or nature reserve, an historical town (or ten)--and these...
Tolima, Cundinamarca and Santander

Over the Hills and Far Away
On our way south to Medellin and then on to Jardin, Jerico, and Finlandia, our original plan had been to continue on to Ecuador...
Colonial Colombia, Part Three

Cordillera Oriental
As you no doubt can tell, I really like to drive the back roads. The combination of remote countryside, minimal traffic, and beautiful vistas call to me. I'd...
The Eastern Plains

Over the Hills and Far Away
When we were considering our route through Boyoca, we had set it up so we could drop to Colombia's vast, eastern plains at a...
South to Ecuador

Tatacoa Desert
Ever since we arrived in Colombia we'd been hearing about the Tatacoa desert, with its convoluted and eroded landscape, star-filled night skies, and (as we would soon confirm)...
Ecuador

Into Ecuador
After surviving the Trampolin del Diablo, Colombia's "death road", we were keen to cross into Ecuador. Forty years earlier, I had spent a wonderful three weeks hanging out...