Colombia, most famous for its coffee and cocaine! But there is so much more about this beautiful country and it would be no exaggeration to state that, if not for its unstable and unsafe general conditions, Colombia would be one of the top tourist’s destinations of South America. There is a lot to see and enjoy in this country of extremes and I would say that there is something for everyone.
What does the CIA world fact book tell us about this country? “Colombia heavily depends on energy and mining exports, making it vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices. Colombia is Latin America’s fourth largest oil producer and the world’s fourth largest coal producer, third largest coffee exporter, and second largest cut flowers exporter. Colombia’s economic development is hampered by inadequate infrastructure, poverty, narcotrafficking, and an uncertain security situation, in addition to dependence on primary commodities (goods that have little value-added from processing or labor inputs).”
Very much true of course, but we are more interested in the other facts and faces of this country. Of course we want to know about its coffees, but Colombia really is a special case and it’s worth taking a closer look at this very special country. Let’s start with its geography. Colombia has six very different natural regions, all with their own unique characteristics.
In the center we find the Andes mountain range region shared with Ecuador and Venezuela. Who hasn’t heard and dreamed about the Andes with its towering peaks and volcanos? Part of the so called Ring of Fire, a region of the world subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, in the interior of Colombia the Andes the mountains are the prevailing geographical feature. They can be divided into three branches that are known as cordilleras (mountain ranges): the Cordillera Occidental, running adjacent to the Pacific coast and including the city of Cali; the Cordillera Central, running between the Cauca and Magdalena River valleys (to the west and east respectively) and including the cities of Medellín, Manizales, Pereira and Armenia; and the Cordillera Oriental, extending north east to the Guajira Peninsula and including Bogotá, Bucaramanga and Cúcuta. Peaks in the Cordillera Occidental exceed 4,700 m, and in the Cordillera Central and Cordillera Oriental they reach 5,000 m. (Wikipedia).
Apart from the mountains we have the Pacific coast; the Caribbean coastal regions (with the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range with the country's highest peaks and the La Guajira Desert), the Llanos (plains) in the east; the Amazon Rainforest (or jungle) region in the south east and the Choco jungle in the northwest; and the islands of both the Pacific and Caribbean.
And if that wasn’t enough or did not impress you; how about Colombia being one of the most ethnically, linguistically AND bio-diverse countries in the world!
Colombia is the country most densely bio diverse per square kilometer; it has the highest rate of species by area unit worldwide, the largest number of species that are not found naturally anywhere else (10% of the species of the Earth live in Colombia). Over 1,900 species of birds can be found in Colombia and that is more than can be found in Europe and North America together! So talking about Colombia isn’t only about coffee and narco-traffic, it’s a beautiful country with very special and nice people and a unique place to visit and enjoy.
With all this (bio)-diversity you would expect Colombian coffees to reflect the same: wildly exotic varieties, flavors and scores of unique plants and coffees .. Well, actually this is not the case and in the next article we will see why.
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