A friend and I are planning to backpack around South America. We plan to sail from Panama to Cartagena and then fly on to Lima, I am keen to see a bit of Colombia and experience the culture, but she is worried about the safety aspect. Are there any precautions we should take or should we avoid Colombia altogether? Cameron Walker, Edinburgh

Times Online Latin America expert Chris Parrott responds: This is not easy to answer. On the one hand, plenty of people in the office here at Journey Latin America rate Colombia as one of the friendliest and most beautiful countries in Latin America; we've just re-introduced an escorted trip (Corsario Journey) which visits Bogota and Cartagena.

I've been to Colombia several times (once with my family) and at no time felt threatened. I speak Spanish of course.

On the other hand, the FCO travel advice is pretty damning. They specifically recommend against all travel to some parts of the country (particularly the southeastern areas, near the Ecuador border and going towards the Amazon lowlands). They also advise against travel in rural areas around Cali and Medellin and in the Pacific lowlands.

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• Hola, Howard Marks here, in Colombia

If it were me, where wouldn't I go? I wouldn't travel in overnight buses, and I'd avoid any state which borders with another country, or those which border the Andes immediately to the east (Amazon).

The FCO website just mentions states (departamentos) - so you need a decoder map.

This link, to a Colombian business website that features maps and statistics on the country, is useful (it's in Spanish).

Chris Parrott is director of Journey Latin America

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