Bradt Colombia

Sarah Woods is a member of the Royal Geographical Society, the Society of Authors and British Guild of Travel Writers. She has spent extended periods in Central and South America and writes regularly for newspapers, magazines and online publications about her experience of Latin America. As the author of more than a dozen travel books, Sarah received the Guidebook Writer of the Year Award from the British Guild of Travel Writers in 2005 for Panama (also by Bradt). Sarah spent three years as the travel expert on Alan Titchmarsh's sofa (on ITV) and as a holiday presenter on BBC Radio Scotland's morning show. Sarah lectures on South American themes in the UK, Spain and America and has given talks on Colombia at the Royal Geographical Society, bookshops and travel shows. Sarah won the PSA award (2013) for broadcasting and the Kenneth Westcott Prize in both 2007 and 2008. In the past few years she has worked on a documentary about Colombia's former president Alvaro Uribe (2012) and the centenary of the Panama Canal (2014). Sarah's compelling travel narrative On a Wing and a Prayer: One Woman's Journey to the Heart of the Rainforest was published in hardback in May 2015 and is available in bookshops worldwide. She is currently working on a documentary about Colombia's extraordinary ancient tombs, standing stones, catacombs and funerary chambers in San Agustin.

This edition has been updated by Richard McColl, a British-born, Colombia-based freelance correspondent, guide and hotelier. After studying modern languages at Exeter University, he pursued an MA in International Journalism in London and later became a Conflict Resolution Specialist at the Universidad Pontificia la Javeriana in Bogota. He has been based in the Americas for 17 years and for the last ten years has made Colombia his home, travelling between the capital and his guesthouse La Casa Amarilla in Mompox. He currently freelances for a variety of publications around the world, is studying for a PhD in Bogota and hosts a weekly podcast called Colombia Calling.