Well, I’m delighted to be off on a new adventure and escaping the worst of the great British winter! All being well – and there is risk of me being snowed in – I should be leaving Manchester airport tomorrow morning and come evening I’ll be touching down in Bogota.

It’s hard to say “Bogota” and “Medellin” out loud and not feel the full weight of those words. Decades of frankly terrifying headlines and more lately glossy narco porn have given those locations a certain gravity that can’t be ignored. However, on my last South America trip Colombia was the country I was most looking forward to. At the time the peace process between the FARC and the government looked like it might actually produce something beneficial and the country had a certain confidence that had not been seen in living memory. Check out Simon Reeve’s excellent documentary about this period for more…

It appears that things might not have gone quite as smoothly as hoped, but peace processes are never straight forward and the Global North’s insatiable appetite for the most popular of stimulants means that the lives of many Colombians are still not easy. I’m hoping to learn more.

The plan

So… the day before I fly, this is current plan:

• Bogota for a few days
• Medellin for 6 weeks – learning Spanish at Blink! . This looks an interesting set up – lots of lessons, accommodation and meals provided, plus some cultural activities.
• I’m also hoping to take some Salsa lessons and am even bringing my dancing shoes with me as a real statement of intent!
• Weekends travelling, hopefully some by motorbike. Definitely going to get a flight to check out Cali
• A week on the Caribbean coast with the (long suffering) wife. Firstly to Baranquilla where two awesome things are happening the weekend we are there 1) A massive homecoming gig for Shakira! Shakira! and 2) a nightime carnival which looks great fun – La Guacherna.
• Following that I will have around 5 weeks for further travel, perhaps seeing more of Colombia or perhaps making the relatively short hop to Cuba to check out that unique island.

I will try to blog the trip in much the same way as my first trip to South America so hopefully you’ll get chance to check out the posts once in a while. Also, please have a look at the old stories if you fancy… the South American ones are all set, but I still have some work to do on the European stories which I’ll hopefully be able to sort out and make live properly soon.