Colombia: The only risk is wanting to stay

For many, what comes to mind with the mention of COlombia are visions of kidnapping, war-ravaged villages, treacherous drug lords, and of course: cocaine. But Pablo Escobar´s long since been shot down with his bloody jacket on display as a tourist attraction in Bogota, news of FARC has shifted to frequent hostage releases, and discussion of addictive Colombian exports is of a black powder produced by Juan Valdez.

Though the state department still warns of its dangers, Colombia is ready to show off its treasures. Much like Peru emerged onto the global tourism consciousness more luminous than ever after it put the Sendero Luminoso behind them, Colombia is poised and ready for the world to take notice of its emerald countryside and enchanting cities, each of which appears to be in a national contest for dazzling civic-improvements.

We weren´t instantly charmed by behemoth Bogota. The city seemed to overflow with an unsettling nervous energy, but we found ourselves comfortable in the student-oriented bohemia of La Calendaria with its charming streets lined with vibrant old homes and shops and great access to museums. We loved the oddly coupled Botero, art, and National Mint museums, indulged in great street food, and left hoping to bring home ¨Crepes & Waffles¨, an amazing chain of tast cafes with a conscience (all their employees are women in need).

North of Bogota in adventure sport heaven San Gil, we really fell in love with Colombia. It wasn´t the emerald mountain jungle surroundings, our trip down a whitewater river on boogie boards, or even paragliding over coffee plantations that did it. It was our introduction to a regional past-time: Tejo! This game can only be described as discus throwing target practic with explosives...and beer. The game is played in a VFW-type atmosphere: a large warehouse filled with old men, concrete, and the smell of gun powder. The idea is to chuck a small five-ish pound weight across what felt to me like a football field into a small clay square with an explosive target. I found this impossible, MScott found it his calling. When I moved hastily out of the line of fire, the friendly owner asked surprisedly if we didn´t have Tejo in the States. I laughed, quietly considering the liability lawsuits and the fact we´re still reeling from the lawn darts phenomenon.

The Tejo champion and I moved on to Taganga and Parque Tayrona, on the Caribbean Coast. We loved Taganga´s crystal-clear calm waters, the great fish, live music, and pre-carnaval parade; bust mostly, we loved watching its best business man at work. Taganga´s beach is riddled with peddlers offering any kind of food, drink or service, but the leader of the pack is the beach masseuse. Complete with sales pitch that you´re much too white, he offers to solve your problems with a coconut-oil rub down, assuring you´ll be as black as he is after 10 minutes. Thinking he didn´t quite understand the whole skin cancer thing, we kindly declined and wished the poor guy luck...and then watched in awe as everyone on the beach took the bait. It was amazing. He must have massaged half the beach-goers in Colombia in 2 days, and he´d have gotten the rest if they weren´t four hours away in Cartagena. It was like watching Tori Spellings jewelry line sell out in 20 seconds on QVC. Despite that we didn´t notice an increase in the black population of Taganga as a result of his efforts, we couldn´t help but be impressed.

Tayrona, although lacking Taganga´s business savvy, was almost unbelievable. For a while we were convinced we´d been transported to the set of LOST. But after we settled down and stopped looking for ¨the others¨ we enjoyed the kind of deserted beach meets jungle paradise that we´ve only ever seen on screen. It´s a wonder celebrities can´t seem to find a place to bath topless in private with places like this still in the world. Delightfully undeveloped, incredibly lush, not a vibrant caribbean color missing from the picture...and thank god, paparazzi free! I´ve been getting so sick of being followed by camera flashes.