Eight reasons why Colombia is one of my favorite countries
|May 8, 2023|
From the very first time I visited Colombia back in 2009, it has conquered a special place in my heart. I have been five times now (not counting work visits), and I am already looking forward to my next visit. The reasons I like it so much? It has an incredible variety of sights.
- The history. There are several pre-Colombian sites which are absolutely stunning. San Agustín, where you can find tombs with finely carved figures. Tierradentro, which has underground painted burial chambers. Ciudad Perdida, or the Lost City, which is a multi-day trek to a city that the Spanish never discovered.
- The mountains. Colombia has some serious mountains, and the Andes ends right here. It has snow-capped peaks, and páramo landscapes that give a mysterious feel to the high-altitude places.
- The gold museum of Bogotá. Probably the best gold museum in the world, it has a stunning collection of golden artefacts that will leave you speechless.
- The Amazon runs through the south of Colombia, and you can find a wide array of trees, plants, and animals here. Stay here for a few days to explore a totally different part of the country, and unwind in the jungle.
- Colonial towns, where you can still find cobblestone streets and centuries-old buildings and churches. My favorite is Barichara, but also Villa de Leyva, Filandia or Popayán are worth a visit.
- The Tayrona peninsula on the north coast of the country. It takes some hiking along the coast, which will bring you to beautiful bays and beaches for a relaxed time on the sea.
- San Andrés and Providencia – which actually lie closer to Nicaragua – offer a distinct Caribbean experience where you can go diving, surfing or swimming.
- The Colombians – they will make you feel welcome in their country, almost always treat you with respect, are helpful, and genuinely want you to enjoy their beautiful country of which they are rightly proud.
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Re: A related tour business concept that could be of interest.
I’m trying to evaluate the potential for a new business that would involve members of the international tour industry. Recently retired as an owner of a real estate development business and now totally bored, I decided to try something new. For reasons too involved at this time to explain, I decided on a drop shipping business. Knowing how competitive this industry is, I felt I had to have something unique.
Based on my love for international travel and my wife that grew up in New Zealand, I wanted to do something related. Consulting with my friend in Turkey, one of the top guides in Turkey, we thought a business concept based on the following could be highly successful if implemented properly.
A business that would sell consumer products online from the countries of the world that were obtained from the countries of the world. Not ordinary products, but products that were historically, culturally, and geographically significant to the country of origin. Products of the highest quality, rare or in limited availability, authentic, unique, and of financial value.
We also felt that to be successful we had to represent as many countries as possible. This would make our business not only unique, but interesting. We felt that the curiosity factor would be a great motivator for continued visits to our site, resulting in more sales.
As to how to get these products, we felt that tour guides would be the perfect answer. That this could be a way for a guide to have a second income. A second income using off time when they would like to be guiding, but a tour is not scheduled. Spare or off time, but only as determined by the guide as there would be no specific time commitment required. This association would be structured so as not to interfere with a guide’s primarying job, tour guiding.
How this would work is we would like to find a tour company that has access to guides in as many countries as possible. The tour company would select one guide from each country who would be known as the “Country Representative”. In turn, these country representatives would select “Country Area Representatives”. It would be the responsibility of these representatives to establish a business relationship between product sources and our company, Marketplace International SF. Once a source has been established, ninety percent of a representative’s work with that source is complete and the representative can move on to locating another source, again at their timing, enjoying a reoccurring income from each product sold from that source.
This relationship between Marketplace International SF and a tour company would be an association. The tour company and the guides involved in this association would be compensated on a commission basis. A commission on every product sourced and successfully sold that was sourced by the tour company and the representatives appointed, as long as they represented the source.
In conclusion, we felt that this association would be very attractive to a tour company. Using existing resources, their guides, no other investments are involved other than time, they could have a second revenue source. One that could be rather significant. This association could also result in making the tour company more attractive to work for by the potential of a second income for its guides.
There is another potential humanitarian aspect to this business concept. In many third world countries, local individuals with knowledge and access to our products, but have very little means to generate an income, could become country area representatives, thus creating an income potential that they would never have had.
There also could be the potential of a side effect of promoting good well related to a better understanding of the cultures and history of the people of the world as all our products listed will have descriptions related to their significance in our catalog.
My question to you, and totally appreciating the fact that you took the time to read this, do you think this could work? Would your association have any interest? Would you know of any tour company that might be of interest? Would you know of any individual that might have an interest?
If you would have any interest in discussing this further, please email me at:
gshepherd1@cinci.rr.com
Sincerely,
Glenn Shepherd
Cincinnati, Ohio