Sometimes academics we meet are guarded with their knowledge but this is not the case when we take to the airwaves with the Director for the Global Heritage Fund for Latin America Santiago Giraldo and talk about everything from anthropology and archeology in Colombia but mainly focus on the wonder that is the Teyuna Ciudad Perdida or Lost City.

From the elegant offices of the GHF (globalheritagefund.org) we discuss the overall work and mission of the entity, their projects around the world and indeed the issues surrounding the Lost City.

This really is a not-to-be-missed episode that will draw some light on the challenges bested and indeed yet to be confronted when it comes to protecting and managing a project of this type in Colombia and Giraldo is responsible for creating the Master Management Plan for Teyuna-Ciudad Perdida Archaeological Park in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountains of Colombia.

So, have you hiked to the Lost City or is it something you wish to do in the future? If so, you will definitely enjoy this interview.

This week we get to talk to Erin Donaldson of the widely read website www.openmindedtraveler.com and learn about her quite extraordinary life in Colombia.

Have you ever traveled off-grid, but really off-grid where the journey takes five hours over rutted and potholed roads in a chiva bus before then having to continue on a motorcycle before alighting and then finding a horse to take you the rest of the way? I thought not. And if you have, did you do it with a baby on your lap? Erin wins hands down and I have to say that I am quite envious of her lifestyle!

We talk about the region of the Choco, her life in Colombia, childbirth, in fact, almost nothing is off-limits and Erin responds in kind in a careful and relaxed manner that you would associate with a cowboy character as if plucked from a novel by Louis L'Amour.

It's no exaggeration to say that Erin may well be one of the most independent and adventurous people we have had on Colombia Calling and I am thrilled that she shared her insights with us.

Be sure to tun in to Episode 124 and find out why Erin travels down a notorious cocaine transshipment highway with some regularity.

In this first episode of 2016 (no.123) we take a look at the key events of 2015 with regards to Colombia and how thes might pan out and affect this country in the coming 12 months.

What of the peace dialogues with the FARC guerrillas, will a final agreement be reached with the rebels to be signed in March? What are the probabilities of this and hear me explain that a final agreement does not mean peace in Colombia....yet.

Will tourism take up the slack on a faltering economy? Can it? With the Dollar at roughly 3200 pesos and the Pound at almost 5000 pesos there may never have been a better time to be a traveller or visitor to Colombia. Will oil prices continue to affect the country?

And finally, an update from Mompos and what is going on in my corner of paradise where I am running my little hotel (www.lacasaamarillamompos.com) over the high season before returning to Bogota to pick up my pen and pad and write more articles and indeed start on a new adventure of pursuing a PhD.