On my way to visit the Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal, my taxi driver told me how life in Panama seems to be dominated by the canal.
Recinto del Pensamiento is one of the best attractions in Manizales. It’s a peaceful nature park with a very relaxed and easy guided walk that can be done by people of all ages. Recinto del Pensamiento is located within the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia.
Los Yarumos Ecopark (Ecoparque Los Yarumos) is a nature and recreational park near the city center of Manizales. Admission was free when we visited and there were great views of the city, but the rest of the park was kind of a waste of time. The easiest way to get there is by taxi.
For over 2000 years, the native Muisca people performed a ritual in a small circular mountain lake located north of what is now Bogotá. In this ritual, the newly crowned Muisca tribal chief covered himself in gold dust and took a raft to the center of Lake Guatavita (Laguna de Guatavita). He then offered treasures made of gold to the gods by dumping them into the lake.
Cuicocha Lake (Laguna Cuicocha) is a large lake that sits inside a volcanic crater. It’s part of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve (Reserva Ecológica Cotacachi-Cayapas).
The Equator monument at La Mitad del Mundo isn’t the only thing to see in San Antonio de Pichincha. There are some very interesting Inca ruins, the crater of an inhabited volcano, and another Equator museum which claims to be the true location of the Equator. You can do some of them on a guided tour booked at La Mitad del Mundo or it’s possible to do all of them alone.
Covering 519 km² of area of Colombia’s western Andes Mountains is Tatamá National Park (Parque Nacional Natural Tatamá). This lesser-known park is spread out over the departments of Risaralda, Chocó, and Valle del Cauca and is one of the more inaccessible national parks in the country.
If you find yourself in Pereira with extra time to kill, head across the bridge to the suburb of Dosquebradas. This city is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia.
When I first moved to Colombia, all of my Colombian friends insisted that I visit the majestic El Peñol.