Introduction

"You must be crazy!" said family and friends when we told them we were going to backpack through Colombia for six weeks. "Colombia is a dangerous country!" they insisted. "You can be robbed and even kidnapped." They continued. But we had done our homework and we would prove them wrong. We partied on the streets of Barranquilla during Carnival, spent Valentines day in colourful colonial Cartagena, and went fishing for piranhas in the Amazon.