Guyana!

Why go...Rain forests!  Waterfalls!  And Lily pads! 


Cara Lodge.    Pretty hotel that will take you canoeing through the mangrove forests, as well as out to see absolutely everything else in Guyana!  
 

Suriname!

Why go...Amazon Rain Forest!  Awesome mixture of African, Native American, and Dutch cultures!

Swim in beautiful water falls, visit native villages, hike through the jungle, canoe down rivers, visit sea turtles at the  beach, spot caiman on the river at night and dolphins during the day!

  

Kabalebo Nature Resort.  Situated in the rain forest, you can camp at the river's edge or stay in the lodge. 

Suriname Rum House!  Tours, tastings, and cocktail classes!  Learn how rum is made and how influential it has been in Caribbean history! 

Colombia!

Why go...the Amazon jungle, extreme bio-diversity, a melding of ethnicities, bunches of festivals, yummy and unusual fruits and sweets, the beautiful Cano Cristales River, scuba diving, tropical islands, salsa dancing, the first Spanish colony in the New World, Carnival, coffee plantations, and hot springs!  I was amazed by how much beauty, fun, diversity, and uniqueness Colombia holds!

Andino region...

Zipaquira.  Salt cathedral and theme park! 

Tierradentro.  Painted Tombs Archaeological Park.  

San Gil.  Beautiful parks.  

Manizales.  Hacienda Vanecia is a working coffee farm/hotel!  Termales Santa Rosa De Cabal is a hotel with a waterfall that cascades into hot springs!  Yey!  And there is a beautiful cathedral in town too!

Quindio!  Parque Nacional Del Cafe!  A kitchy amusement park themed around coffee and traditional Colombian things!  

Villavieja. La Tatacoa Desert!  Paleontology museum and observatory!  The quiet, still desert, without any noise or light pollution, has over 300 days of clear, cloudless skies! Making it a great place for star gazing!

Medellin.  The city of the eternal spring!  Museums, aquarium, full moon cemetary tour,  flower fair.  Charlee Hotel  

Bogata.  Capital city with a ton of museums!  Including the Gold Museum. Marriot Hotel  

Villa De Leyva.  Beautifully preserved colonial town.  Museums.  Kite Festival.  Hotel Duruelo    

Guacharos Cave National Park.  

Corota Island Wildlife Sanctuary.   Cozy little island!

Orchids National Park.  Dreamy.

Cocuy National Park.  Lovely glacial landscape!

Pisba National Park.  Strikingly beautiful arid landscape with pockets of lushness!  

Costa Norte Region...

Barranquilla.  Carnival!

Cartegena.  Cartegena is the first Spanish colony on the American continent.  It a beautiful, walled, colonial city that includes forts (to protect the Spaniards from pirates!), museuams, churches, monasteries, beaches, salsa class, and the chiva bus!  Chiva buses are the open and colorful form of public transportation in the region, but there is a tourist version too!  

Hay Festival!  Hay Festival is where artists speak about their work.  It is a chance for everyone to get together and talk about life!  "The idea behind all of this is to create bridges between normal citizens and great creators, thus giving rise to more open, multi-cultural societies."  Sofitel Hotel.   

Mompox!  They have big festivals for Easter that fuse Catholicism with the indigenous customs. 

Pacifica region...

Cali is the salsa capital of the world!  Intercontinental Hotel.   Petronio Alvarez Festival.  Afro-Columbian folk festival with chanting! 

Island region...

Providencia Island.  A tiny, uncommercial Caribbean island with scuba diving!  Deep Blue Hotel. 

Rosario Islands.  Very close to shore.  Scuba diving and an aquarium!  Isla Del Pirate Hotel.

Orinoquia region...

Sierra Macarena National Park.  The tropical savannas and wetlands of Colombia!  There is a beautiful river in the park called Cano Cristales. For a few weeks every year, a tiny aquatic plant blooms in the river and causes it to become the colorful "river that ran away from paradise!"  Ooh La La!

Amazonia region...

Visit the Amazon Jungle!  Leticia is a town with museums, arboretums, aquariums, and more.  Yoi Eco Tours takes you into the jungle to learn indigenous crafts and skills!  Amazon Bed and Breakfast.  

Falkland Islands!

Why go...I'd love to see what life is like in an remote, sparsely populated place like the Falkland Islands! 

Where to stay...

Port Howard Lodge, Port Howard.  Rural life on the islands. 

New Island.  Currently, it's not possible to fly onto the island.  By sea (with permission) only!  Inter Yacht Charter. 

"After dusk, a true wildlife spectacle may be seen just meters from the houses in the small settlement with thousands of thin-billed prions returning to their burrows under the cover of darkness. These birds turn the sky into a mass of calling birds, each looking for their partner on land. Similarly spectacular are the night skies - the clarity of the atmosphere, and the complete lack of light pollution make New Island one of the best spots in the world to view the stars and planets with unrivaled visibility."

Stanley.  Town life on the islands.  Before the Panama Canal and airplanes, everybody passed through Stanley on their way to the west coast of America!

Malvina House Hotel, Stanley

What to do...

Visit a farm, hiking and wildlife tours, star gazing, fishing, historical tours.

Logistics... 

No snow January and February only!  It stays cold though, but not crazy-arctic cold.  

Also, there are no big, potential man-eating wild animals on the island!  So scaredy cats like me can relax while exploring!