Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category


Holiday in Colombia (7): Pereira to Medellin

September 2nd, 2018 by Roger Darlington

The next stage of our holiday in Colombia was a transfer from Pereira to Medellin. Now, as the crow (or, in this case, the condor) flies, the distance between these two cities is similar to that between Bogotá and Pereira. Howev er, Cox & Kings had decided that, while the journey to Pereira should be […]

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Holiday in Colombia (6): Cocora Valley

September 1st, 2018 by Roger Darlington

Today we visited three locations in the Cocora Valley located just south of the city of Pereira.  We set off at 9 am and returned to the hotel about 6.30 pm, so it was quite a long day but an immensely enjoyable one without too much time in the coach. The first visit was to […]

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Holiday in Colombia (5): Coffee Region

August 31st, 2018 by Roger Darlington

Today we left the capital Bogotá and flew west to the city of Pereira  – a flight of only 30 minutes – where we were met by our second local guide, a young man called Christian who illustrated his provision of information with an iPad. The local company for which he works is called Living […]

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Holiday in Colombia (4): Bogotá (part 2)

August 30th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

For Silvia and me, Wednesday evening should have been a quiet farewell to Bogotá after a short visit to the capital, but we had finished the afternoon alone in the city centre while the rest of our British group took an optional cable car ride. We needed to return to the hotel and find somewhere […]

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Holiday in Colombia (3): Bogotá (part 1)

August 30th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

Our one full day in Bogotá started at 9 am when we were collected from our hotel in the north of the city and driven into the city centre for a museum visit, a walking tour, and another museum visit. There was so much traffic that the journey took three-quarters of an hour. First call […]

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Holiday in Colombia (3): Zipaquira

August 29th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

Tuesday was a light day in terms of tourist sights since essentially we were travelling from the town of Villa de Leyva (which we left at 9 am) south to the capital city of Bogotá (which we reached at 5.15 pm).  We broke the journey three times: a comfort break where we had breakfast on […]

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Holiday in Colombia (2): Villa de Leyva

August 28th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

After a difficult night’s sleep because of jet-lag, today was spent around and in the town of Villa de Leyva, with a morning trip west to two interesting locations outside town and an afternoon walking tour of the town itself. The valley in which all these places are located is some 7,000 feet (2,144 metres), […]

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Holiday in Colombia (1): arrival

August 26th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

My latest overseas visit is with my sister Silvia on a tour of Colombia organised by the company Cox & Kings. In my 70 years, it is the 73rd country that I have visited – the 13th in Latin America.   Now, if you travel outside your own continent, there are bound to be challenges, […]

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An account of my recent visit to Cyprus – before a new trip to Colombia …

August 24th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

This year, my foreign travel seems to be to countries with names all beginning with C:  China fourth time), the Czech Republic (28th time), Cyprus (first time), and now Colombia (another first time). As I’m about to set off to South America for my latest overseas trip, you might like to check out the account […]

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Are you a middle child? If so, it’s your day.

August 12th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

As you probably know, the Americans have a day for almost everything and today they celebrate National Middle Child Day. Two thoughts occur to me. First, it is widely thought that birth order influences personality and this idea is discussed on the Day’s web site. But I’m not sure how much scientific evidence there is for […]

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