Colombia: Coffee, Cities & Cloud Forests

Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries on Earth, and it is testing how farming and cities can live with that wealth.

In Bogotá, students join the Ciclovía, when main streets close to cars on Sundays and holidays, and study the TransMilenio bus system. In Medellín, the Metrocable cable cars and the Green Corridors project, which planted trees and shrubs along roads and waterways to cool the city, show how urban design can reduce heat and widen access. In the Coffee Region, students stay on a coffee farm in the UNESCO-listed Coffee Cultural Landscape to see shade-grown production, and hike the Cocora Valley, home of the wax palm, Colombia's national tree.