Colombia

I recently came back from Colombia. Colombia seems to be doing better now than few years ago. People is traveling within the country. Foreigners are coming back to the country, especially from Europe. During a visit to a tropical jungle in near the Magdalena River, I met a women from Wales, England, who was traveling by herself and who mentioned that Colombia is once again a destination for Europeans interested in traveling in South America (in that group I met there were four people from Colombia, two people from England, and one from Israel). In cities like Bogotá, the traffic is not as bad as it used to be some years ago. Authorities in Bogotá had implemented the "pico y placa" system (restricting the circulation of some cars according to their last digit of the license plate) and the Transmilenio (a bus transit rapid system), which had helped solving some of the transportation problems of Bogotá. In terms of violence (guerrillas and paramilitares), the government has been hitting hard the FARC, and this group looks very weak today. It is still operating and harming the country but it probably will have to negotiate with the government soon. The paramilitaries are trying to negotiate with the government prision terms and other issues but, lateley, new evidence linking paramilitaries and members of congress and military officers had emerged. At least, the information is coming out. This is also good for the country.

I did enjoy my days in Bogotá.