In no particular order, here are the five things or places that I have found most overrated on my travels.
1. Taganga (colombia). Lonely planet describes it as a "fishermen´s village" and I`ve lost count of the number of backpackers who say they went to Taganga and ended up staying for a month or more because they loved the laid back, authentic feel to the place. It is nothing of the sort. Taganga is a dirty, grimy, ugly beach side "settlement" full of Gringo´s looking to do drugs and the beach is horrible as well. Go to Parque Tayrona, it is much nicer...
2. Cocaine. When your average Colombia thinks of cocaine they think of blood, civil war and a drug that has ruined their country`s reputation abroad. In Guatemala it fuels a gang culture that results in at least 14 murders a day in the capital, leaves narcos in charge of many key institutiosn in the country and results in many ordinary Guatemalans wanting an authoritarian army figures in power to improve security in the country. Needless to say, the people of these countries generally hate what the drugs trade means for their countries. Yet somehow, a surprising number of "travellers" seem to think doing cocaine in these countries is somehow cool and don´t seem to make much effort to hide the fact. Sometimes, I wish people would think a little bit before doing cocaine - the downstream impact of the cocaine trade is truly horrific and destroying many countries. Luckily, Colombia seems to be overcoming some of these problems and I can only see tourism growing here in the coming years.
3. "Chicken buses". Westerners seem to love chicken bus rides in Guatemala and I have to admit it is quite an experience the first few times. However, after five months of squeezing 3 or 4 people on a two person seat, having babies crying or throwing up next to you or watching kids eat their Pollo Campero (Guatemala´s KFC) the novelty soon fades.
4. Colombian rum. Colombians are very proud of their rum. Guatemalan rum is much nicer - a good bottle of Barcelo añejo or Botran beats colombian rum all the time and is cheaper. And then there is Ron Zacapa - the winner of "best rum in the world" four years in a row in the early part of the decade it is as my mate Mario says "the best rum in the world". Colombia does many things very well, but rum isn´t one of them.
5. Doing South America in four months. A lot of people try to do to much of S. America in too little time and end up coming away a little disappointed or complain that they´ve spent the whole time hanging out with other Gringos. I´ve been in Colombia for three months and don`t feel that I´ve missed anything by not trying to go to Peru, Bolivia and Argentina in the time I´ve had. A place like Colombia merits three months and I would have come away disappointed if I´d only been to the big cities and Carribean Coast. Sometimes, travelling less and doing more in one country is better than doing the whistlestop tour of S. America...
