Traveling alone (female) in Colombia? / Viajando sola en Colombia

Hi Nicki,

I was in Colombia 2 years ago and met a young French woman who was touring by herself. Colombia was the very beginning of her bicycle travels in S. America and her first-ever tour. I contacted her after her tour. She rode from Bogota to Bucaramanga and a bit of the Caribbean coast. I met her in a small town north of Bogota. She didn't have any problems in Colombia, but that is just one datapoint. Unlike you, she does not speak Spanish. She wrote me that she preferred the mountains of Colombia to the Caribbean coast because of weather and traffic, though she had some traffic issues north of Bogota, too. She continued on to other countries south of Colombia (but not all by bike; she flew & took many buses, including in Colombia). She said that if she were to do another tour, she would choose Colombia.

I was planning my own bike tour in Colombia for this past Jan/Feb with a friend, but we had to abandon it for family reasons. Based on all of the research I had done (largely by reading trip reports on crazyguyonabike.com), the "Zona Cafetera" south of Medellin seems to be a very good region for touring. A female cousin of mine in her 20s traveled by bus in Colombia with a female friend of hers last July/August. They were very much off-the-beaten-track at times and went all over the country. They both speak Spanish. They loved Colombia, and the Zona Cafetera was one of their favorite regions.