Can you imagine an experience as enriching as taking a secondment from your 9 to 5 grind in an office setting in London and moving to Colombia for six months to work with an NGO?

This is precisely what Briton Sarah Hornby has done and through her job at GSK she now finds herself nearing the end of a six month stay in Colombia which has seen her travel into some of the most remote and off-limits parts of Colombia to aid local communities with Save the Children.

Telling her story and sharing her effervescent love for Colombia one wonders how easy it will be for Sarah to return to London after an experience such as this. Tune in and find out about some of the projects that Sarah has been involved in here in Colombia.

How does a young man from Bonn in Germany end up in Colombia, living in Bogota and starting up a new internet platform to facilitate the purchase of real estate here in Colombia for international investors? Well, this and many more are the topics for a lively conversation with Michael in Episode 121.

The idea behind Hallo Casa (www.hallocasa.com) is to create a space where people can get in touch directly with vendors and indeed real estate agents and then rate the quality of service provided. I for one have seen a need for some new blood and new ideas in the property market here since international investment is increasing, yet, the way real estate is brokered on the whole, remains very folkloric. This is where Michael comes in!

So, if you are interested in hearing Michael's story and indeed are interested in the Colombian property market, this is a show for you.

In this Episode 120, the English voice of Colombia, Richard McColl, takes the opportunity to share some thoughts about some worrying situations afoot in Colombia. First, McColl discusses the plight of US-Colombian citizen Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, the star of the documentary "startup.com" who has been jailed in Colombia for accusations of security fraud in the US and is awaiting extradition to NY in the horrific conditions of Bogota´s La Picota jail.

And then secondly, McColl challenges the Mayor elect of Bogota Enrique Peñalosa to make good on promises, explain to the people why he will not be investing in an underground metro system which the country´s capital is so desperately in need of, and ask him how he plans to improve the city´s security situation.

McColl has declared that "he will eat a hat shaped cake" if Peñalosa is able to turn the fortune of Bogota around.

How comfortable would you be signing up to a list, paying a fee and dining with 10 other strangers? Well, there's a new culinary and social movement which is opening up private homes as venues for dinner parties. This is exactly what Sara Lisa Orstavik (a one time employee for the World Food Program) in Colombia is doing.

So, tune in to find out how Sara Lisa - with her Italian and Norweigan roots - came to be in Bogota and creating the underground dining event known as BogotaPopups.

If you are curious and want to know further details, of course tune in, but also check out the website at www.bogotapopups.com

Netflix's hit series "Narcos" chronicles the rise of the Medellin Cartel and the U.S.-led manhunt to bring down its notorious kingpin, Pablo Escobar. Finally, as a foreigner living in Colombia I grew tired of the show and that's when I read Steven Cohen's excellent piece for the New Republic magazine.

Cohen has spent time in Colombia, two years in Medellin working for the Colombia Reports news site, and has clearly seen the damage done by this perpetuating of the Escobar myth and so it is a breath of fresh air to read and enjoy a coherent article about the series.

Listen to the show and read the article

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123287/what-narcos-gets-wrong

In Episode 117, I am well out of my depth talking with the renowned Art Advisor and Curator Sandra Higgins who has recently moved to Colombia from London to pursue various projects here for the next six months.

Sandra is an expert in the field but exudes a humility unbecoming of someone so professional and well-known. Check out her websites here: http://sandrahiggins.com/
http://www.discoverartnow.co.uk/

We discuss the influence and techniques used by many artists here in Colombia and some of the issues they face working in a country in conflict and heading towards a possible peace agreement with the FARC guerrillas.

Be sure to tune in to learn more about contemporary Colombian art. Just one more thing, there's not one mention of Fernando Botero!

This week we shake things up a little and talk to marketing expert and entrepreneur Viviana Cardozo de Rubiano a Bogotana who moved from her home city with her family to Los Angeles a little under a year ago.

We explore how Viviana has adapted as an expat in her new home and how she is faring as a location independent business owner. Check out her businesses (www.edu4kids.co and www.hablaingles.com.co) designed at improving English levels in Colombia.

Viviana makes for a great interviewee and she talks openly of the challenges that she has encountered in the USA and what she misses from home and hopefully this interview will appeal to our Colombian listeners who are now living far from home.

Viviana's professional website is: www.vivianacardozo.com

So who is Brian Ward and why is this current resident of Sacramento, California writing a book about his experiences in Colombia? Episode 115 offers a frank and at times revealing chat about Brian's new book available on Amazon: "48,000,000 Colombians Can't Be Wrong: Finding Love In The Land of Shakira, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Fernando Botero and Sofia Vergara."

Brian comes up against up it in Bogota in his quest for true love, he falls into work as an extra in some Colombian soap operas, travels some of the country and from what I could tell, plays a fair amount of ping pong in a downtown hostel before he meets a young lady from Cartagena who becomes his wife.

Tune in to hear a tale of do's and don'ts in Colombia and check out Brian's book.

This week we receive a very welcome return to the studio by Dave Proctor, a Briton who has been based in Cali for some years, and who, with his team have successfully launched the cross Colombia mountain bike race called: The Legend of El Dorado.

Dave talks us through the seven stage race - not for novices - which takes in some of the most spectacular scenery that Colombia has to offer from deserts, to high altitude vistas and volcanos, jungle and coffee plantations.

This has been a labour of love by Proctor and his team and we wish him all the success necessary to make this one of Colombia's cornerstone mountain bike events. It's about showing off the country, biking and pushing tourism and sporting events to a whole new level.

For further information check out their website at: http://legendofeldorado.com/

In the light of the agreement reached by the FARC guerrillas and the Colombian government on Wednesday September 23 to sign a definitive peace accord on March 23rd 2016 bringing 51 years of conflict to an end, an interview with the Director of Save the Children couldn't have been timed more appropriately.

We get to sit down with Director Jez Stoner in the NGO's Bogota offices and talk about the possibilities of a post conflict situation in Colombia and learn about the realities and complexities of the Colombian conflict in an area as isolated and overlooked as Guapi on the Pacific coast.

It will not have escaped anyone's notice here in Colombia that more and more shows, series and films are coming to these shores to film and one company deeply involved in this process is Screen Colombia (www.screencolombia.com) run by Briton John Paul Lancaster and his Colombian wife Luna. Together they scour the land and beyond for ideal places for film sets.

In fact, I can only imagine that most of you out there have indeed watched some of the shows produced by Screen Colombia - without perhaps knowing that they were filmed here - because they include series such as Naked and Afraid and Banged Up Abroad.

So, I am thrilled to be able to share this interview with you and to be able to provide you with an insight into how Colombia is moving forward, why people are coming to film here and what's in the pipeline for the future.

Sometimes you get the experience to explore a city to a profundity that is unexpected and last week I was able to visit the off-limits (drugs, prostitution, homelessness and misery) areas of Santa Fe and Martires to attend some presentations given by the Colombian department of National Heritage at the Teatro San Jorge. 

We can take the Teatro San Jorge (which opened her doors in 1938) as a central architectural piece displaying how the centre of Bogota has fallen into decadence since the 1940s. It's a socio economic change that has come about through communication, transportation access, the change in the economy and more...all issues and topics for discussion in Episode 111. 

If you are interested further in some of Bogota's hidden stories you can check them out here on my blog: 

http://www.richardmccoll.com/bogotas-forgotten-history/

http://www.richardmccoll.com/teatro-san-jorge/

All too often friends and loved ones move away and in this case it's the turn of Tara Daze and Rafael Santamaria to bid us farewell. 

This couple, having met in Manchester UK and then married and moved across the world together, Colorado and Bogota amongst their homes, are now starting a new chapter of their lives in Houston, Texas. 

Listen to this Anglo Colombian couple speak of challenges bested in Bogota and their love for Colombia, the adventure ahead and more on this Episode 110 on Colombia Calling.

Taking the reins and enjoying his newfound fame as "The English Voice of Colombia", Colombia Calling host Richard McColl takes the show all alone in this Episode 109 talking all things Colombian. 

Having taken a short break in Miami Richard is back in Bogota and rearing to go, he discusses Tom Cruise's visit to Medellin to film yet another movie about Pablo Escobar, and apparently Sylvester Stallone is on his way too to look for places to film an inexplicable fourth instalment of The Expendables. 

The economy and the devaluation of the Colombian Peso are also a hot topic this week with the exchange rate swinging dramatically in favour of those wishing to invest funds from overseas into Colombia or to come and visit the country. 

And finally, we discuss the implications of the recent diplomatic spat between Venezuela and Colombia as Colombians living in Venezuela become the latest scaegoats of the Maduro regime. 

Tune in and enjoy!

Canadian surfer Brian Rea is living the dream. 

Having dropped out of university, he became a beach bum with a difference in Colombia. Using his skills and his brother Colm's knowledge they started the Costeno Beach Surf camp (www.costenosurf.com) along the Colombian Caribbean coast near to the pristine beaches of the Tayrona National Park. 

And the success story continues, running almost at full capacity all year round, later in 2015 these Toronto natives will be expanding their operations to include further palm frond huts and facilities for their guests in their corner of heaven.

Can it get any better you ask? Well, at the end of August Brian will be getting married to a Colombian pop star! People dream of this kind of lifestyle! Check out his fiancee Liliana's band Bomba Estereo when you get a chance. Described as psychadelic cumbia they are one of the most popular groups in Colombia at the moment (www.bombaestereo.com). 

But, it could have all gone terribly wrong just a few month ago as Brian was attacked by a huge crocodile after a surfing trip. Fortunately, he made it out alive and is here on Colombia Calling to share the tale with us. It's a jaw dropping account of survival, not to be missed!

I for one believe that there is a dearth of quality contemporary literature out there available about Colombia and while author Tom Feiling would clearly shy from the accolades at having successfully started to stop this gap, a routine search for informative and interesting books about this country would inevitably lead you to him. 

Feilings books "Short Walks from Bogota, Journeys in the New Colombia" (2012), and "The Candy Machine: How Cocaine Took Over the World" (2010) are two fascinating books and are highly recommended. So we track down Tom in London and get to discuss his latest project set for publication in 2016 all about the history of the Colombian Caribbean island of Providencia. 

Check out Tom Feiling's website here (www.tomfeiling.com) and inform yourself on Colombia before coming to visit!

Joining us this week from Asheville, NC is David Seth Miller. To most travellers David will need no introductions as he's a familiar face on the travel writing scene as Matador's Senior Editor and Director of Curricula at MatadorU. Check out the Matador page if you don't know it and reap the benefits of some serious inspiration! matadornetwork.com

David is the winner of two consecutive Lowell Thomas awards for excellence in travel journalism (2010, 2011) and we get the opportunity to pick his brains about the travel writing industry, Matador and of course his new book out there available on amazon: "23 Writing Prompts that Make you Work Smarter: a radical approach to skill building for writers of all kinds". 

It's a real pleasure to listen to David's insights and this show is highly recommended for anyone possibly considering living the dream and becoming a travel writer/ blogger and so on. Find out how David broke in to the industry. 

And yes, buy the book!

Sitting down with Karen Attman is an education of encylopedic proportions, she knows her subject matter and so it is a delight to have her on the show. Her website www.flavorsofbogota.com is an unmissable resource for those coming to Colombia and those already here wishing to enjoy some of the finer cuisine on offer in Bogota and the rest of the country. 

But, this episode is not only about food, Karen brings with her a wealth of knowledge about northern latin america having lived in Venezuela for over a decade. I do not want to spoil the suprise, but we talk about jail time in Venezuela (both her and her Colombian husband!), travels and more.

The other day I was able to interview a hot-shot Colombian start-up entrepreneur Alex Torrenegra over the phone to San Francisco. I had been alerted to Torrenegra’s existence through a Wall Street Journal piece and then a startlingly and refreshing article he has written on his website (Read: It’s Difficult to innovate in Colombia, Especially when the Government does more harm than Good.). At the end we discussed the fact that Colombia should be attempting and striving to create its own “Arepa Valley” and not mimic poorly the actual Silicon Valley.

And he’s right, but then Torrenegra is a shining example of a new and refreshingly altruistic generation of social entrepreneurs, just read the tagline on his website:Working on enabling humankind to reach its full Potential.

We also talk this week about the Bogota Book Fair and launching our book "Was Gabo an Irishman? Tales from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Colombia" and how you can win a copy.

All too often perhaps we can allow ourselves to get wrapped up in the great lifestyle that one lives out here in Colombia and forget about the day to day realities of life. So, with this in mind we invited Briton Claire Austin back on to the show to talk about how it has been raising her son here in Bogota and finding out the reasons why, after just over three years, she will be returning to the UK. 

In a fresh and personal interview, Claire shares with us the trials of raising her son, her hopes and feelings about having to return home and indeed the issues raised by the UK government about trying to secure a visa for her husband Juan. Frankly, once you listen to the difficulties encountered by this young Anglo Colombian family. you'll immediately sympathise with Claire and Juan and their predicament which, I am sure you'll agree, is far from unique but all the same no less shocking. You can read more about Claire's experiences on her blog: https://clairejayne.wordpress.com/

As a future parent, this show is of special significance to me as well and I find myself wondering if I want my son to be raised here, to attend school here and thinking about other issues such as healthcare. These are things which I took for granted back in the UK and now, they are very real considerations. 

Tune in for a fantastic interview about the culture of the family and the issues of raising a bilingual child in Colombia with Claire Austin.

This week's show takes a different tack and instead of focusing on literary or travel stories we are plunged into the world of entrepreneurship and that of Startups here in Colombia. The term “startup” has been bandied around with increasing frequency over the past few years to describe scrappy young ventures, hip San Francisco apps and huge tech companies. But what is a startup, really? And what is the situation here in Colombia? How is the national government promoting a quiet revolution in aiding small scale businesses and individuals across the country to break into this new world of entrepreneurship? 

We sit down with Juan Novoa, an innovator and analyst for the Colombian Ministry of Technology and Information, to talk about several fascinating stories that have taken place here in Colombia. There are tales of failure and success and from every region of the country from the northeastern deserts to urban centers such as Bogota, Medellin and Cali. 

One thing we can all agree on: the key attribute of a startup is its ability to grow. A startup is a company designed to scale very quickly. It is this focus on growth unconstrained by geography which differentiates startups from small businesses and through the Ministry's focus and promotion and their website APPS.CO Colombia has become a leader in this innovation. 

Tune in to hear some good news stories in Colombia with Juan Novoa

This week we sit down on Colombia Calling with Briton Naomi Dalton, the author of the a fabulously informative website entitled: "How to Bogota." (www.howtobogota.com)

How to Bogota is divided into seven helpful categories including those of, Life in Bogota, Transport, Money, Enterntainment, Food, Shopping and finally, Safety, must be giving the guidebooks on Colombia a run for their money. Dalton writes it as she sees and experiences it as each entry and chapter is both instructional and personal making it an enjoyable page to read and indeed re-visit. 

This is a fascinating interview with someone making a life here in Bogota and who has set out her stall to help others in the same situation. You can read her pieces on how to procure gainful employment, the ins and outs and the bureaucracy of renting an apartment and how to avoid being a target for common crime in the city. 

Dalton's website is highly recommended and is a must read for anyone thinking of coming to Bogota for an extended period of time. I only wish that she had set this up back in 2007 when I had to take on all these challenges alone!

Finishing up the series and Episode 81 of Colombia Calling in Mompos, we sit down this week with Briton Chris Bell and discuss the finer things in Colombia such as the differences between birding, birdwatchers and twitchers, Radamel Falcao's move to Manchester United, traveling in Colombia and what 2015 possibly means for the peace dialogues. 

Hailing from rural Shrewsbury we discover what has brought Chris Bell to Colombia and how he became the editor in chief of the See Colombia Travel blog (www.seecolombia.travel/blog) - voted best blog of the Americas in 2014. The Colombia Travel Blog, the most visited travel blog about Colombia in English and Spanish, was created to smash the widespread and long outdated stereotypes about this astonishing country. Their team of international travelers are passionate about sharing their fresh perspectives about traveling and living in Colombia, traveling around the world and keeping you up to date with what you're missing by not being here.

So, tune in for a frank, enjoyable and amusing chat with Chris Bell.

Clearly, we are all aware that Colombia's Nobel Prize Winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez did not, in fact, hail from Ireland, but, in the first episode for Colombia Calling in 2015, we discuss with authors Victoria Kellaway (Colombia: A Comedy of Errors) and Caroline Doherty de Novoa (Dancing with Statues) a new collection of "Gabo" inspired essays written by Colombians and foreigners alike and due for publication in April of this year.

With submissions from all over the globe and with a number of heavyweight contributors, this new homage to Gabo will be launched at Bogota's Book Fair which runs from April 22 to May 4 2015, and be edited by the aforementioned authors and myself and published by Papen Press. 

Noting the change that is taking place in Colombia, the new year ahead and new challenges for the country, the three of us sit down in the garciamarquian setting of Mompos (www.lacasaamarillamompos.com) and discuss the inspiration and the reasons behind this new book, who it is aimed at and why it should appeal to anyone interested in Colombia. As yet, we are still sifting through the submissions but it is so interesting and exciting to have personal articles from a true variety of backgrounds, countries and contexts and all of which are very different from one another.

Listen in here to an exclusive sneak peak of "Was Gabo an Irishman" and whet your appetite for a fresh look at the magic realism of Colombia.