Since the announcement of my “trip of a lifetime” several readers have assumed that it begins this summer. Not so. The Road Scholar World Academy: Around the World in 115 Days begins January 22, 2019. I started my research early because there is much to learn.

Our first port of call on January 25, 2019 will be Santa Marta, Colombia. Santa Marta sits on the northern coast of Colombia about 600 miles from Bogotá and not far from the border of Venezuela. Founded by Spanish conquistador, Rodrigo de Bastidas, Santa Marta is the first Spanish settlement and oldest surviving city in Colombia. It is most famous as the place where Simon Bolivar died of tuberculosis in 1830 at the age of 47.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela to wealthy parents, Bolivar was educated in Spain after he was orphaned at a young age.  While in Europe he was a friend of Napoleon. Bolivar, who envisioned a South American country much like the USA, was instrumental in the liberation of many South American countries from Spain. Bolivar’s home in Santa Marta is called La Quinta de San Pedro. I hope that is one of the places I will get to see. If you come back to this site in January, I will be warm (unlike today) and I will let you know what I have seen.