Colombia
Quick Facts:
Colombia Prayer Coordinator
Peggy Wallace
nicodemo@etb.net.co
Full country name: Republic of Colombia
Area: 1.14 million sq km
Population: 45 million
Capital City: Bogotá (pop: 5 million)
People: 58% mestizo (of European-Indian descent), 20% European descent, 14% biracial (African-European descent), 4% African descent, 3% African-Indian descent, 1% indigenous
Language: Spanish
Religion: Catholic (95%), with the remainder a mixture of traditional, Episcopal & Jewish faiths
Government: republic
Facts for the Traveler
Visas: Visitors from Australia and New Zealand do not need a visa if staying less than 30 days as a tourist. Visitors from most Western European countries, Japan and the USA do not need a visa if staying less than 90 days as a tourist. Other passport holders should check visa status with Colombian consular representation before departure.
Health risks: altitude sickness, cholera, hepatitis, malaria, rabies, tetanus, typhoid, yellow fever
Time Zone: GMT/UTC -5
Dialing Code: 57
Electricity: 110V ,60Hz
Weights & measures: Metric
Culture
Colombia is an ethnic mosaic, reflected in its culture, folklore, arts and crafts. The different roots and traditions of the Indians, Spanish and Africans have produced interesting fusions, particularly in crafts, sculpture and music. Pre-Columbian art consists primarily of stone sculpture, pottery and goldwork. Indian basketware, weaving and pottery date back to pre-Columbian times but now fuse modern techniques with traditional designs. Colombian music incorporates both the African rhythms of the Caribbean, Cuban salsa and heavily Spanish-influenced Andean music.
Colombia's literary giant is Gabriel García Márquez, whose works mix myths, dreams and reality in a style critics have dubbed 'magic realism'. García Márquez insists his work is documentary, which says a lot about the nature, rhythm and perception of life in Colombia. The best of Colombia's exciting new writers is Moreno Durán, who has been burdened with the reputation of being the best Latin American novelist to emerge since the regional upsurge in literary talent in the 1950s.
Spanish is Colombia's official language and, except for some remote Indian tribes, all Colombians speak it. There are also about 65 Indian languages - and nearly 300 dialects - still used in the country. While the education system includes English in its curriculum, it remains little known and rarely spoken.
Catholicism remains the dominant religion although over three million followers have recently left the Catholic faith and hooked up to other congregations (Anglican, Lutheran, Mormon, etc) or various religious sects.
Colombian cuisine consists largely of chicken, pork, potato, rice, beans and soup. Interesting regional dishes include: ajiaco (soup made with chicken and potato which is a Bogotano speciality); hormiga culona (a sophisticated dish, unique to Santander, consisting largely of fried ants); and lechona (whole suckling pig, spit-roasted and stuffed with rice and dried peas, which is a speciality of Tolima). The variety of fruit and coffee is astounding.
Environment
Colombia is the fourth-largest country in South America and the only one with coasts on both the Pacific and Caribbean. It shares borders with Panama (to the northwest), Venezuela (east), Brazil (southeast), Peru (south) and Ecuador (southwest). Colombian territory also includes the San Andrés and Providencia island groups, 750km (435mi) northwest of the mainland, in the Caribbean Sea. The archipelagoes are 230km (140mi) east of Nicaragua.
The western part of the country is mostly mountainous: the 8000km (5000mi) Cordillera de los Andes runs the length of South America and, on reaching Colombia, splits into three ranges (Cordillera Occidental, Cordillera Central and Cordillera Oriental). Two valleys - Valle del Cauca and Valle del Magdalena - are sandwiched between the three cordilleras; their rivers flow northwards, more or less parallel, until the Cauca River joins the Magdalena River and flows into the Caribbean. Apart from the three Andean chains, Colombia boasts the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the highest coastal mountain range in the world. Over 50% of the territory east of the Andes is lowland or covered by thick rainforest crisscrossed by rivers and their tributaries.
Among Colombia's geographical curiosities are deserts in the northeast; the jungle of the Pacific coast (which holds a record for highest rainfall); and the Serranía de la Macarena, an isolated mountain formation rising 1000m (3000ft) from the eastern plains.
Colombia claims to have the highest number of species of plants and animals per unit area of any country in the world. Its animals include jaguars, ocelots, peccaries, tapirs, deer, armadillo, numerous species of monkey and the rare spectacled bear. There are more than 1920 recorded species of birds (more than in the whole of Europe and North America combined), ranging from the huge Andean condor to the tiny hummingbird. Equally abundant marine life includes the predacious piranha and the electric eel. Colombia's herbariums have classified over 130,000 plants, including Victoria Amazonica, which is similar to a water lily and has leaves large and strong enough to support a child.
Colombia has 34 national parks, 12 state-run nature reserves and 120 privately owned and administered nature reserves. The combined area of the national parks and state-run reserves constitutes 8.1% of the country's territory.
As the country lies close to the equator, the average temperature varies little throughout the year. Temperatures do, however, vary with altitude; as a general rule, the temperature falls about 6 degrees centigrade with every 1000m (3280ft) increase in altitude. Colombia's equatorial climate features two seasons: verano (dry) and invierno (wet). But because of the country's complex geographical and altitudinal factors, there is no universal pattern of seasons. One area that does have a definite pattern is Los Llanos, in the east, where the dry season falls between December and March and the rest of the year is wet