On solid ground in Colombia

Harbor at Portobelo

Storm clouds over the sea

What luck to have a guitar onboard!

One of the islands inhabited by the Kuna

Really curious about seeing Colombia firsthand, since I've heard so many conflicting things about the country. Appears that all those things could be true, just that different people see different sides. Today I glanced through a book on the subject called Las Dos Colombias (another book apparently not available in English or probably in the States). There are a lot of police and military roaming the streets, but the ones I've seen so far seem no better or worse than those in the US - most seem like decent people and I'm sure they make the streets safer for gringos like me.

Met a Colombian lady who believes that most people here are not truly patriotic but have a regional mentality and are not very concerned about what is happening in another part of the country. The human rights organizations and the UN all say that the level of violence against the poor and indigenous people in the rural areas is the highest in Latin America at this time - akin to the violence in Guatemala in the 80s and most of it perpetrated by paramilitaries who have ties to the military and police. Colombia is also known to have the highest internal displacement (largely due to the violence) in the world except for Darfur - estimates are 2 to 4 million people over the past 20 years.

Streets of Cartagena

Walls around the city

Historic center of Cartagena