INTERVIEW: Inge Swinnen – Travel Easy with Colombia Fácil

Today we featuring an interview with Inge Swinnen, a Belgian living in Colombia that has been completing an exciting project over the past few months…

Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Inge aka Inez (in Colombia) and I am Belgian. I live at the Caribbean Coast in Colombia. I wrote a handy pocket travel guide ‘Colombia Fácil’ which comes in two languages​​, English and Spanish.

Why Colombia and why a guide?

I came to Colombia on the first of January 2011 because of a job opportunity of my husband. It was my first time in Colombia so I started by discovering all the regions. Very quickly I noticed how beautiful and how untouched this country still was. I tried to find practical information about transport, distances, prices, accommodation of unknown destinations like Islas de San Bernardo for example but I got frustrated. I only could find a bunch of information (most of the time in Spanish) with descriptions of how beautiful everything was. Practical information about time schedules, entrance prices or how to get there wasn’t easy to find.

I realized soon enough that there were still many opportunities availble in the field of tourism in Colombia. For example I was in Riohacha once and found a small nice hotel. I was traveling by myself and asked how much the price was a bed a night. The owner showed me a room with 6 bunk beds and told me: “Price a person? No that is not possible, you can only rent the room and not only one bed”. I started talking about a dorm but he didn’t know what that was.

I love traveling and saw this adventure as a great opportunity.

Challenges you faced?

I started working on a database of all destinations where I came and set up all nice accommodations spread throughout the country. I started traveling from the Amazonas in the south to the desert in the north, I visited the virgin beaches on the Pacific Ocean and went diving on the Caribbean coast. I met interesting people and places and began really to fall in love with the beautiful country, its many cultures, the great variety of flora & fauna and its heartwarming population. Soon I realized how the country from region to region could revolve 360 ​​degrees in the fields of culture, climate and nature. I saw my project growing and growing and it tickled from all sides.

Everywhere I was I saw options which could be useful for my guide. The difficulty was that my Spanish knowledge wasn’t too extensive and me as a Belgian did not have the right contacts. Communicating with emails (which was so common in Europe) was not that succesful. In Colombia all was arranged by telephone or direct conversations. There was always a little suspicion of the partners in advance because of the corruption in the past.

But little by little every piece of the puzzle fell into the right order and my contacts got more professional. The frustration for me was the communication with the governement. They weren’t open minded about my project and were only focused on publicity abroad (even though my website offers the guide too, even for free). The government even told me in person that traveling in Colombia is complicated but to be honest … I think using the public transport for example is a piece of cake. You can always get where you want with the bus, plane or taxi. They are right in terms of finding useful information on the net; a year ago that was more difficult. But tourism in Colombia is making progress every day! I continued with my project without any support from the government and did my best to prove 100% that I can do it without their help.

What will it offer readers?

Colombians, tourists… everyone who likes to travel can find useful information about destinations, activities and accommodation in Colombia. With the hard copy of Colombia Fácil you can claim free beers when you check-in or receive a discount when you travel on public transport, taking Spanish class, etc… In general it is more about low budget traveling but on the other hand my goal is to show the whole of Colombia. There are also destinations like an eco-lodge in Bahia Solano or unique experiences in the Amazon where prices are slightly more expensive but definitely a must see. The guide will therefore offer everyone something interesting, from backpacker to luxurious traveler. In short, for anyone who likes to discover a country that have not have been trampled by tourism yet.

Colombians themselves can start to discover their own country because of this second language and improve their English. The same for the “gringo’s who like to pimp up their Spanish. You can buy the guide for the price of one beer, 3.000 Colombian pesos (cop) or download the guide for free in PDF-format via my website http://www.colombiafacil.com to prepare your first destinations at home. The guide aims to make travel in Colombia easier to proceed without taking the surprise too much away. The big difference with other guides is that I live and traveled in Colombia for a longer period than perhaps just three months per year. In this way I have collected more insiders and less touristy destinations to enjoy only the pure Colombia.

Are there things you’d change about living here?

Me as a vegetarian traveling throughout Colombia can be frustrating because there is meat in every dish. Lucky at the Pacific and Caribbean Coast there is enough delicious seafood to find! I hate the food in the bus terminals…Only sweet and unhealty stuff.

Once I needed to wait 3 hours in the bus terminal in a small village Chiquinquirá, close to Villa de Leyva. Incredible how hectic and loud this was. All employees almost jumped on me and asked where I wanted to go. I know they all want to help but sometimes this is really annoying; the same thing with the air conditioning in the bus.

TIP: Always take a blanket with you when traveling because it can be very cold.

What is so great about Colombia?

What I find the most amazing thing in in Colombia is that the country offers something for everyone. For young and old and for every type of traveler. I also think it is wonderful to be able to surf on the Caribbean coast with snow peaks on the background! It is also amazing that you can still find real Indian communities in Colombia. And above all that planning a barbeque NEVER fells in the water in the nothern part of Colombia because of the endless summer phenomenon!

Check out Inge’s travel guide here: http://www.colombiafacil.com

Paul