Wild Charm and Historic Cities: Discover Colombia from the Mountains to the Coast

Dawn is breaking. Our car, a shiny Suzuki Vitara with a friendly driver and an almost perfect German-speaking guide, lies battered and dirty in the ditch. We are on the road in the northernmost part of the Andes, in an area that is considered to be the main place where Colombia's famous emeralds are found. It's a classic kidnapping situation - the guerrillas are about to emerge from the bush. But fortunately, the days when up to 35,000 kidnappings were recorded in Colombia every year are over.