The Pacific Coast Overview

By Richard McColl

The Colombian Pacific region, made up of four departments (Choco, Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Narino), remains a largely unvisited and unknown part of Colombia. That shouldn’t dissuade you from visiting, however. From the religious and colonial splendor of Popayán to the steamy nightlife of modern Cali, western Colombia offers travelers a variety of things to do, from adventure and eco-tourism to cultural experiences and attractions.

The region itself is dominated by two rivers, the Atrato in the north and the San Juan in the south, and is cordoned off from the rest of the country by the spine of the Andes in the east. In the extreme north, the border with Panama is defined by the famous Darien Gap.

While inroads are being made into the more unknown areas, many journeys to this part of Colombia (including trips to eco-lodges on the Choco coast) require one to take costly internal flights and then be transferred by boat. Most of the roads here wind their way toward important ports while the tangle and mesh of rivers serve as highways for chalupas and canoes. So dense is the jungle, and so extreme are the climatic conditions here, that it seems highly unlikely for roads to be constructed any time soon.

Security remains an issue throughout parts of the region, especially the mass of land extending from the ports of Tumaco and Buenaventura near the border with Ecuador to Bahia Solano and the border with Panama in the north. The inhabitants of this region—mostly descendants of African slaves and Embera Indians—increasingly find themselves in the crossfire between the government troops and leftist FARC guerrillas. For this reason, it is advisable to use common sense and to plan ahead.