CATCH-UP: Colombia

Catch-Up this week curtesy, USA Today breaks in Colombia by spotlighting on 10 of the most unique things to see and do in the country which is geographically located in South America. 

Officially the Republic of Colombia the country is transcontinental, spanning South America and an insular region in North America, according to Wikipedia.

Just a decade ago, Colombia was in the news for different reasons: drug running, gang violence and the legacy of Pablo Escobar. These days, it has become one of South America's most prosperous countries and is beckoning travelers with a deluge of outstanding sights, from sand dunes and turquoise water to charming towns, coffee farms, exotic birds and some of the most diverse landscapes in the hemisphere. Here are 10 reasons why you should be making a beeline here now.

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Most travelers visit Colombia for its beaches, nightlife and warm weather, but those looking for a real escape will want to head up to El Cocuy National Park, where you'll find the Andes' most northern glaciated terrain. El Cocuy is home to some of Colombia's highest peaks, and while you can't climb any of the mountains due to them being on sacred indigenous land, you can go trekking here and see a side of Colombia that few visitors ever do.

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Frailejones, which means "big monks," are known scientifically as Espeletia. They're unique plants in the sunflower family that are found in "páramos," the high-altitude tropical regions of the Andes in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. Best seen on the beautiful Páramo de Oceta trek out of sleepy Mongui, these amazing plants capture huge amounts of water and are becoming highly endangered due to the destruction of páramo land for planting potatoes. This area is protected though, and it offers a surreal landscape well off Colombia's normal tourist circuit.

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It's not all nature in Colombia. The country is home to some of the best coffee grown anywhere in the world, and in the small towns of the aptly-named Cafetero region, you'll find colorful plazas with vibrant cafe life, Many folks turn up throughout the day to drink coffee, as well as beer and aguardiente, and watch the world go by. The tiny hamlet of Jardin, just a three-hour bus ride from Medellin, is one of the Cafetero's most picturesque and charming towns, and it's a great place to start your coffee and cafe touring.

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Santa Cruz de Mompox is a steamy town set on the Magdalena River that was a flourishing port during the Spanish colonial times. When the river shifted course during the mid-19th century, the town lost its economic importance and became difficult to reach. However, its outstanding riverside architecture was given UNESCO status and Mompox has emerged again as one of Colombia's best off-the-beaten-path attractions.

In addition to the fabulous architecture, there are wetland tours along the river. Most come here just to laze in the shade along the riverside while enjoying the breezes, friendly locals and new boutique hotels and eateries that have sprung up as this classic town comes back to life.

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As one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, Colombia is home to almost 2,000 bird species, which is the highest number found anywhere on Earth. It's a birder's paradise, as you can go from the cloud forest to the páramos and lowlands and constantly see different birds.

One of the world's most magnificent and unique birds is the Andean cock-of-the-rock, noted for its colorful males performing a "lekking" ritual, where they dance and squawk in order to attract a female mate. The loudest bird with the flashiest moves gets to mate with the surrounding females! While it's often very hard to spot these colorful birds, due to their inhabiting trees in thick forest, Colombia is home to places like Jardin, where several families have leks right in their backyard, and visitors can come check out this slice of bird heaven.

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 In Colombia's northern Santander Department, you'll find the sleepy village of Guadalupe, where just a short walk away, mineral deposits have created a red stone riverbed, home to "Las Gachas," deep jacuzzi-like holes in the middle of the stream.

They make the perfect place to spend time cooling off from the heat, but you want to choose your pools wisely, as some of them are actually quite difficult to climb out of and are very deep. The surrounding countryside is gorgeous, and Guadalupe sees few visitors spending the night, with most of the crowd here being Colombians staying for the weekend.

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Set near the pretty coffee-growing town of Salento, the Cocora Valley is part of Los Nevados National Park and is home to one of Colombia's most beautiful hikes. The valley is noted for its wax palms, which are Colombia's national tree, and are only found in forests of the Andes here and in northern Peru. The palms grow up to 200 feet, towering above beautiful jungle and farmland.

It takes around five hours to do a full circuit of the valley, and this is one of Colombia's easiest-to-access hikes. Not to mention, the surrounding towns like Salento and Filandia are great places to enjoy colorful and charming traditional village life and tour some of the region's famed coffee plantations.

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Small towns in the highlands of Colombia are some of its most captivating attractions. Head north of Bogotá to spend a few days in Villa de Leyva, a Colombian National Heritage Town, noted for its 16th century buildings and its immense cobblestone plaza. Known as Plaza Mayor, it is the largest public square in the country and might be the largest cobblestone square in all of Latin America. Villa de Leyva gets very crowded on weekends due to only being a three-hour drive from Bogotá, so you might want to consider some of Colombia's other gems, such as Barichara or the previously mentioned Santa Cruz de Mompox.

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No visit to Colombia is complete without a visit to the astounding Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá. This unique church is built almost 700 feet underground in the tunnels of a salt mine. Miners originally built a small sanctuary in the 1930s where they would pray for their safety, but it eventually collapsed. A government company built a new cathedral further down in a deeper shaft of the mine, which opened to the public for services in the 1990s.

Today, this is one of Colombia's most visited and revered attractions, drawing thousands of pilgrims, especially on Sundays and during Easter week. Easy to reach from Bogotá, you can marvel at the sculptures carved out of salt, the eerie caverns and the cool mood lighting.

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In Colombia's far northeast, the Guajira Peninsula is South America's most northern point. It's a harsh, desolate and dramatically wild place where sand dunes and desert meet the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. This stunning landscape is inhabited only by the semi-nomadic Wayuu people, who live in mud huts, graze animals and, more recently, have started to run eco-tours for adventure travelers.

Travel here is only by 4x4, you'll most likely sleep in a hammock and it is very hot, but the rewards for coming here are getting to see Colombia's wildest stretch of coast, fantastic beaches without development and realizing why you'll probably return to this amazing country again and again.

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