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Background: Colombia was one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Ecuador and Venezuela). A 40-year insurgent campaign to overthrow the Colombian Government escalated during the 1990s, undergirded in part by funds from the drug trade. Although the violence is deadly and large swaths of the countryside are under guerrilla influence, the movement lacks the military strength or popular support necessary to overthrow the government. An anti-insurgent army of paramilitaries has grown to several thousand strong in recent years, challenging the insurgents for control of territory and the drug trade, and also the government's ability to exert its dominion over rural areas. While Bogota steps up efforts to reassert government control throughout the country, neighboring countries worry about the violence spilling over their borders.




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Day 735 (03.04.09) Having recharged our batteries it was time to make a move and face the bone thumping journey back to Popayan - not a prospect that brought joy to our morning. We could have carried on south from here but had been advised that both the condition of the road and amount of Guerrilla activity in the area made it better to retrace our steps to Popayan before heading south to Ecuador. Picking up the bus at a military police check point, it seemed that they had upped their activity from our previous journey down with everyone already travelling [View Full Entry]

mark and chrissie - Mark and Chrissie Hayward | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
855 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 1st 2009 | 183 Views | [diary=388299]


I have just crossed the boarder from Tucan (Ecuador) to Ipialas (Colombia) and it was surprisingly easy. We had absolutely no problems, for the first time everything went incredibly smoothly. The night before entering Colombia, I sat at the bar in the Secret Garden Hostel (Quito, Ecuador) nervously discussing the safest approach into Colombia. We talked to other travellers heading south and got information on the current political situation. We were warned not to catch any night buses in the South of Colombia. Apparently you get a lot of shakedown in which the army take everyone of [View Full Entry]

Daz_Crawford - Darren | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
681 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 4 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 27th 2008 | 244 Views | [diary=347935]

Jerry At Immigration
FARC Reward Poster
Sanctuario De Las Lajas

The crossing from Otavalo (Ecuador) to Ipiales (Colombia) went very well; 20 min taxi journey to Ibarra (Ecuador), 3 hour bus ride from Ibarra to Tulcan (Ecuador) then a 5 min taxi ride to the Ecuadorian border. No queues whatsoever so we were stamped out of the country within 5 mins. A short walk then over the bridge where the Colombian flag and sign welcomed us. Again, no queues so we were stamped in and ready to get into a taxi within minutes. This is where it started to go a bit pear shaped. The "legitimate" looking taxi driver was willing [View Full Entry]

Anglo Dutch connection goes Latin - Jurgen Ketel & Yvonne Nelson | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1108 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 3 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: April 24th 2008 | 189 Views | [diary=269678]

Cali center
Plaza de Caicedo

will add blog soon [View Full Entry]

lasobrevivencia - Lindsey Mason & Mario Alvarez Tapia | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
4 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 28 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 8th 2007 | 124 Views | [diary=199082]

Getting ready to sell!
oh the life of an Artesaņa!
Please buy something!

one of final tourist visits in my favourite latin american country so far of Colombia deep in the south on the border with Ecuador in another apparent no go zone according to many from the Uk and the foreign office too. [View Full Entry]

Juanes - Jason Burnett | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
41 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 19 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 10th 2007 | 1160 Views | [diary=209893]

the church of Las Lajas
view toward the church of Las Lajas
the plaques of Las Laja

For more photos including some of actual people check out Katie´s flickr site: KatiesPhotos Colombia has always been something of an enigma to me. Growing up I believed, as I’m sure most you did too, that it was an inherently dangerous place, like it was usually portrayed within the media or by popular culture. In researching the country before I came I even found one red neck American website, that ranked Colombia equal with Iraq as place you are most likely to die while on holiday. But traveling through Central Am [View Full Entry]

Evan Davies - Evan Davies | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
2117 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 11 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: April 7th 2007 | 251 Views | [diary=146082]

Off the pier, Taganga
Katie La Colombiana
Off the pier, Taganga 2

To get our Ecuadorian Visas that will allow us to stay in Ecuador for more than six months, you have to leave the country and file the paperwork in a consulate located in another country. (They prefer that we do this paperwork in the states before we come to Ecuador - The closest US consulate was in San Francisco.) The closest consulate to Quito is in Ipiales, in Southern Colombia. We had heard mixed remarks about the border crossing into Colombia, so were a little nervous. We rode a bus from Quito to Tulcan (in the very north of Ecuador) [View Full Entry]

tonyandkerensa - Tony Allison | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
456 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 12 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 5th 2007 | 144 Views | [diary=145883]

Tony at the Border
View of Ecuador from ¨La Frontera¨
Ipiales Church

First thing was a 'collectivo' - shared minibus taxi - to the border. Then getting an exit stamp from Colombia, before walking through no-man's land to the Ecuador side. Here you pay $200 if you forgot to get your exit stamp, but we were obviously fine so went off and found another collectivo for the few miles to the first Ecuadorian town. When we pulled up in front of the almost deserted bus station we saw the strange sight of a dozen people literally sprinting towards us, all trying to persuade us to travel to Quito (the capital, and given [View Full Entry]

mrandmrssimmonds - Ed and Gemma | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
444 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 2 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 5th 2006 | 259 Views | [diary=93063]

The equator is somewhere near here.