Colombian Land Rovers

In 2004, we visited Colombia in South America.

Our base was in the capital city, Bogota, which is a very large city approximately the size of London and is home to a large proportion of the country’s population. The main roads in the city tend to be wide dual carriageways with no lane markings, full of pot holes and carrying nose to tail traffic at most times of the day. Four or five lanes form where we would have only three in this country and cars, lorries and buses weave between them with little regard to other road users.

A large percentage of the vehicles are 30 to 40 years old and this is where the Land Rover comes into its own. During our two week stay we saw only two British cars (both old Minis) other than Land Rovers. There were a number of Discoverys and a couple of Range Rovers, but Series Land Rovers were to be seen in abundance. Most of these were shabby and battered and obviously owned by the less well off. They could be found in the city as well as in the shantytown-like suburbs on the surrounding hills.

Our trip also included visits to the historic coastal resort of Cartagena and the tourist island of San Andres, where the Land Rovers were 'Santanas'. There were plenty of old Land Rovers to be seen in these places as well, and tended to be maintained in better condition than those in Bogota.

Undoubtedly, the most interesting vehicle was found in Zipaquira, a small town 30 miles from Bogota which is the home of an amazing underground cathedral carved out of a salt mine. At the time of our visit during the evening of Palm Sunday, a religious event was taking place, and parked on the edge of the square opposite the church was a Series III from the local Fire Brigade. The photograph does not do it justice, but it was in pristine condition.

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