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The Atlas Obscura Guide To Colombia

84 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Colombia

Updated August 22, 2023

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Of the 151 species they studied, all of them, including this tree frog, Dendropsophus rhodopeplus (shown under blue light), displayed some level of fluorescence.

Biologists Threw a Fluorescent Frog Rave in the Amazon, for Science

Turns out many of the frogs glow, maybe to communicate.
by Roxanne Hoorn
The rugged and infamous terrain of the Darién Gap as seen from the Pacific, off the coast of Panama.

Podcast: Darién Gap

An infamous break in the Pan-American Highway has been in and out the news for more than 100 years.
by The Podcast Team
This tribute to Manuela Beltrán stands in Socorro. It has long been believed that Beltrán, a town merchant, tore up a Spanish edict in the town square, sparking the Colombian Comuneros Revolt of 1781.

Manuela Beltrán Is a Colombian Hero. What If She Never Existed?

Historians have found little evidence of the revolutionary icon.
by Juliana Castro Varón

Podcast: Hacienda Nápoles

Medellín cartel founder Pablo Escobar built himself a sort of Jurassic Park-meets-Disney World resort. Now it’s overrun by hippos.
by The Podcast Team
Vendor Mónica Adriana Quimbayo has sold herbs and other plants at her stall in Plaza Samper Mendoza since she was 16.

This Bogotá Market Comes Alive Only at Night, Full of Ancient Plant Lore and Astonishing Biodiversity

Farmers and foragers set up at sunset to sell hundreds of species valued in traditional medicine and ritual.
by María Paula Rubiano A.

The Forgotten Female Revolutionaries Behind Latin American Independence

Perhaps fiercest of all was Manuela Sáenz—spy, archivist, prankster, and companion of Simón Bolívar.
by Sarah Durn
Soriano and Beto, one of his two burros, set out into the Magdalena countryside with books for children who live on isolated farmsteads.

Luis Soriano Had a Dream, Two Donkeys, and a Lot of Books

The schoolteacher’s long-running Biblioburro program delivers reading materials to children in Colombia.
by Jordan Salama
FARC rebels in their field kitchen during breakfast hours at the 10th Guerrilla Conference, where the peace accord was being ratified by on September 23, 2016.

How to Feed 10,000 Rebel Fighters for 50 Years

Researchers are studying the cooking traditions of the FARC, Colombia's disarmed guerrilla group.
by María Paula Rubiano A.

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