Looking for different activities in Bogota? Then how about checking out some of the more obscure museums, markets, hikes and destinations in the Colombian capital?

The drizzle envelops us in Bogota all too reminiscent of a dull October morning in London. As the grey clouds obscure the ridges of the Cerros Orientales, the telltale pines and eucalyptus vanish, and you could be almost anywhere but for the thin oxygen, the red transmilenio buses and towering billboards of Aguila girls.

My thoughts are elsewhere as I clutch at tufts of grass and haul myself up the steep hillside, sweating profusely in the soporific heat all the while desperately trying to keep up with my guide. Each dry discarded or felled tree appears in my line of sight as a possible lurking place for some venomous creature or another, and risking increasing the distance between the guide and me, I skirt around the edges rather than suffer the possible consequences. And then we arrive at the hillcrest, and below us the claustrophobic confines and still Caribbean waters of the Gulf of Urabá open out with clear views west onto the famed Darien region and from up here I can understand why, in 1509, Spanish Conquistador Alonso de Ojeda, chose this spot.

Right up in the north-eastern corner of Colombia, bordering Venezuela and the Caribbean lies the Guajira peninsula. This is a region that nominally belongs to Colombia but remains sparsely populated and out of touch with the rest of the country due in part to its hostile yet intriguing desert environment. Make the trip here now as it is slowly becoming a travel destination for the more intrepid visitor.