Several of my children enjoy traveling to one extent or another. Just as their personalities are all unique, so are their travel styles. Andrew is still learning his, though I know he prefers to hike and explore nature and outdoor venues. He also enjoys interaction with other travelers. Like me, he truly enjoys learning. At this point, Andrew seems to have an interest in exploring many different places, and he doesn’t mind going with me. He has toyed with the idea of doing some mission work in South America, or just going there for some time to improve his Spanish. I think he walked away from this trip with a much stronger interest in Scandinavia, for reasons that may have to do with the travelers he met in Colombia on this trip, but that’s another story.

Late in the summer of 2025, Andrew broached the idea of a trip to Argentina or Colombia. I was game for either of these. Andrew had decided to go back to school, so his times were more limited in duration and flexibility than mine. He had a couple of weeks between Christmas and when school restarted. At the time, he was most excited about Argentina. I have always wanted to go to Argentina, but Argentina is a huge country. Patagonia and the glaciers in the south could merit a couple of weeks alone, not to mention Buenos Aires, the wine country, Iguazu Falls, and many other nice places to visit in the Andes. I convinced Andrew that with just two weeks, a visit to Colombia might be a better fit.

One interesting aspect of traveling the world as a middle aged or older person is that in my lifetime, so many places have waxed and waned in terms of their “visitability.” Back in the eighties or nineties, Colombia would have been a no-go. Pablo Escobar and his drug cartel made it a very dangerous place. A Marxist rebel group also involved in extortion and drug trafficking called the FARC fought the Colombian government on and off through 2016, making parts of the country quite dangerous. A 2016 agreement quelled that animosity for the post part. In the subsequent years, tourism in Colombia has made a slow resurgence. Most of the increase in tourism has been from Europe and other places. Despite the popularity of programs like Narcos, most Americans aren’t aware enough of changes in the world scene to know that Pablo Escobar has been dead since 1993.

As of 2026, Colombia is a safe and pleasant place to visit. Since Andrew needed to return to the U.S. on January 10th, I looked for some ways to extend my trip and see some other sites in the area. I had read that some people enjoyed taking small sailboat cruises through the San Blas Islands from Cartagena to Panama. I thought this might be a nice extension to my trip. It would also be nice to visit Panama’s fortified Spanish ports, and of course, the Panama Canal.

By the time we left, we knew that Andrew and I would fly from DFW to Bogota on December 28th, and that Andrew would return from Cartagena directly to Lubbock on January 20th. I planned to fly back to Dallas on January 23rd. That last part of the plan did not come to fruition as you, the reader, will learn if you follow this trip through to the end.