Colombia's History:

Beaches, the Andes, Indian culture, the Amazon, the Old City in Cartagena, historical sites, fishing, desert beauty, Bogota's Gold Museum, national parks and scuba diving are Colombia's foremost attractions. However, Colombia will appeal only to adventurous travelers who have a good appreciation of Latin American history and want to explore jungles and beaches and historical sites. The drug trade, guerrilla attacks and the frequent kidnappings of foreigners have made it one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

Under the leadership of Simon Bolivar, Colombia became the first South American country to fight and win its independence from Spain. Although the young nation began with constitutional government and regular elections, its subsequent history was marred by violence and military dictatorship. For its first 10 years it was part of Gran Colombia, a federation of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela (you'll notice the similarity in their yellow, blue and red flags). The federation broke up over issues of local sovereignty. As Colombia, the country has experienced two bloody civil wars between Liberals and Conservatives, the two predominant political factions. A later struggle, simply called La Violencia, lasted from 1948 to 1957 and took 300,000 lives (in the Americas, only the U.S. Civil War and the Mexican Revolution were more destructive). La Violencia spawned FARC, which is now the world's oldest guerrilla group. (The other major group is ELN, which is still overshadowed by FARC. To further complicate things, there are a number of smaller guerrilla groups, as well as right-wing paramilitary groups.)

Colombia's Climate:

Colombia has an equatorial climate and therefore does not have dramatic seasonal changes. The best time for the country as a whole is December-March -- it rains the least then. Note, however, that this is the high season in the coastal resorts and prices go up accordingly, so a visit in the off-season (August-September) will be less expensive. Avoid May-July and October-December, when heavy rains can fall (though they're usually followed by bright sunshine). The elevation in the country ranges from sea level to 10,000 ft/3,050 m, so temperatures can vary greatly. Coastal cities and Leticia have day temperatures in the 70s-80s F/23-32 C, with nights in the 60s-70s F/17-27 C year-round. The inland cities' year-round day temperatures are generally in the 60s-70s F/17-27 C (nights can get into the 40s-50s F/5-16 C in the winter). A sweater is needed along the coast at night and a jacket in the mountains (this includes January-February and September, with March-April a close second. Bogota, which lies at more than 8,000 ft/2,440 m).

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