Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
87 kilometres per day, every day. So far, I've gone through one pair of
snowshoes, 15 pairs of joggers and the pair of hiking boots that I wore
in the Darién. I have a sore shoulder from my fall on the mossy road
when I got lost in El Salvador, and my right knee, which I hurt seem-
ingly a lifetime ago in the ice of the North Pole, still gives me hell. The
pain in my knee is increased by the camber of the road, always run-
ning at an angle.
colombia
As I've run through Colombia, I've had no sense of the
turbulent history of this country. It has hosted the usual revolutions,
insurrections and civil disturbances; and, in the past two decades,
drug cartels, notably those led by Pablo Escobar, have waged a
terror campaign against the government and the police, manifesting
in brutal kidnappings and executions. Guerrilla outfits like the FARC,
whoinhabittheDariénGap,havealsocausedbloodymayhem.
President Alvaro Uribe, with the support of the US government,
curbed the violence, although hostage taking and murders continue
and will do so for as long as the terror outfits exist.
Slowly, though, tourists are daring to discover the delights of
Colombiaagain:itsquainthistoriccitiesandtowns,nationalparks,
beaches, fields of flowers, and fauna including toucans, manatees,
alligators, snapping turtles, spectacled bears, jaguars, anteaters
and armadillos. When I met with the Colombian ambassador in
Canberra in 2009, he mentioned to me that the common perception
of Colombia as bristling with murderous drug lords is an image
from the past. Today, he said, Colombia is focusing on being a
tourism destination with excellent hotels, good roads, friendly
people and the most beautiful churches and landscapes. It also has
adventure sports like hang-gliding. I can only agree, because since
I've been here I've seen all of that. I've run past many people hang-
gliding from the mountain tops to the valleys. The coffee is the
best I have ever tasted, and when you see the rich hillsides where
it's grown and experience the climate, you can understand why.
I've run through a number of old towns and have noticed that the
churches are always the main attraction, with beautifully rendered
and painted steeples.
