Spirit of Colombia

While on the 32,000km Pangea One World Expedition from Arctic to Antarctic, the celebrated explorer and author, Akhil Bakshi, traversed Colombia from east to west - from Cartagena to Medellin to Cali and further south to Pasto - crossing all three cordilleras of the Andes before entering Ecuador. Extracted from Arctic to Antarctic: A Journey Across the Americas, the principal travelogue of the expedition, Spirit of Colombia engagingly narrates Colombia's violent past - how centuries of political and ideological rivalry between the Conservatives and Liberals shaped the country's cruel history. The narrative is lifted with amusing stories of pirates, marauders, conquistadors, merciless slave traders, selfless missionaries - and salsa. A chilling account of the long reign of terror of Pablo Escobar, the drug-dealing don of Medellin Cartel whose liquidation shaped America's Latin American policy for decades, the mass murderer who still divides opinion as no one else does, evokes despair. Burying the ghosts of the past, compassionate and inclusive public policies are taking the progressive people forward. Spirit of Colombia arouses hope in Colombia's future. It is a delightful book written by a spirited traveller. Over 50 colour plates enrich the text.