Cali, Isla Gorgona, and South out of Colombia * Oct 6 to 11

Time to catch up on the news. After the Operation Smile mission in Cali, I spend a few days there then decided to go diving on Isla Gorgonas for a few days. I had heard that the diving here was spectacular. It was good, but not quite what I had been hoping for. I was looking for whale sharks and hammerheads, and didn´t see either. But did see lots of other big fish, and huge schools of tuna.





The island itself used to be a prison, kind of like Alcatraz. The only inmates now are tourists and a few ¨family¨.











There were some particularly large schools of baracuda, looking like sharks at the surface. We dove in to watch (very impressive) but alas, no underwater camera.












On the return from Gorgonas I was waiting for the plane in a restaurant and the owner was feeding a small animal. Turned out it was a baby anteater, a month old. They are found (or stolen) in the jungle and sold for pets. This woman buys them when she can and raises them long enough to let them go in the wild. A truly cool animal!




From Cali I headed south. I spent the night in Pasto with Camilo, a friend of my friend Jacqui, a brit who rode her Enfield 500 from India around most of the world and stayed with us in Panama for a few days (Jacqui... there´s your plug!)

Then it was across the border into Ecuador. In all, I was one month in Colombia and loved it. It´s a great country, beautiful, and the people are wonderful and friendly. Don´t let the old reputation scare you off; Colombia is a great place to visit and as safe as anywhere else. Put it on your list.