from that moment on, i was like, whatever this is, i love it. >> anthony: this is a good place to both experience a fantasy and reality. beer, explosives, and food? you can't beat that. muy gracias. see, you just stand here in the street, and random strangers bring you delicious foods. this is a great country.

♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la ♪ >> anthony: colombia. ordinarily and for all too many years, when this country makes the news or appears in a film or a television drama, it's not for

its looks, which are, i should say right upfront, spectacular. it's not for its people, who are -- everyone i've ever met anyway -- warm, proud, generous, and fun. or, for its food, which is truly great. i don't even know what this is, but it's good. food in this country, excellent. i'm no stranger to this place. generally speaking, it's a particularly vibrant mix of spanish, european, afro-caribbean and indigenous people. these are deep waters, my friends, that no new story or episode of "miami vice" has ever come close to navigating. it is and always has been a fiercely, fiercely proud country. and its people yearn to see international coverage of something other than cocaine and violence. but that isn't a legacy that's easy to ignore.

its decades of civil unrest have left vast swaths of colombia relatively unknown, even to its own citizens. to reach a place previously considered a no-go area, i'll fly out of an airport in villavicencio, 45 miles southeast of the capital city of bogota. on first inspection, this is an airplane bone yard, where unwanted props from "romancing the stone" corrode artfully. but in reality, this sleepy hangar is an important gateway to the more impenetrable parts of the country. the remote settlements in the amazon basin are cut off from the country with neither rail nor roads connecting them. there are only two ways in -- either boat for several days down river, or aboard a jungle bus, which is what locals call the world war ii-era dc-3.

i've flown worse. i've been brought here by pablo mora, a teacher at medellin university and a particular enthusiast for this classic of golden age aviation. you've taken this flight before? >> pablo: yes. every time i have a chance, i come here and fly one. it's a romantic thing. >> anthony: he sees the work that these hulking great airships and their pilots do as daredevil humanitarian missions for the more remote colombians. do they have an in-flight movie? >> pablo: no, no, no. nor first class either. >> anthony: what? >> pablo: no, no. >> anthony: the planes travel with their own mechanic to cobble together anything that might go wrong. and stuff can go wrong. the risk is that we'll be able to land but not take off again, so this guy is our return ticket out of the jungle.

our captain is joaquin sanclemente, something of a legend in these parts. and his copilot, captain constanza. >> pablo: it's mystical. you know, and they -- they develop this sensibility with the plane. there's no intel inside here. there's no software. they have gps, but that's about it. it's beautiful. you know, they have to sense everything. they know when the sound of the plane is not right. it's just man and machine. >> anthony: the weather is the big unknown around here. it's changeable enough to ground planes in remote places if they hang around for too long.

we have to make one stop on the way to pick up more cargo. vital cargo, by the way. the land we're passing over is beautiful and lush. but the life for those below has been anything but. >> woman: colombia seems to be trapped in a bitter -- >> man: farc has used the territory as a haven for kidnapping. >> anthony: until recently, most of the news coming out of this part of colombia was not good. it was a frontline in the war on drugs, for lack of a better term, and colombia's long struggle with the farc, a marxist guerilla force financed by drug trafficking, kidnapping, and covert assistance from venezuela.

50 years of very dirty war. the stakes not about drugs, per se, but about the ability of ordinary colombians to live without fear. we land in the jungle outpost of miraflores in the southern province of guaviare in the amazonian forest reserve. the heavy presence of army and special police is a result of its strategic location and recent history as a one-time center of coca production. farmers here would grow this stuff and make leaves into paste. traffickers would come and buy it. the farc had this area under its sphere of influence for years. nine years ago, the government moved to expel the farc, the traffickers, and any paramilitaries, with apparently much success. overnight, however, its

population shrank by 85%, and what remains struggles to survive. so the people here, you're telling me either were born here, or -- ? >> pablo: most of the people came from elsewhere. at the beginning, in the 1950s and '60s, they were -- they were escaping from the violence. from the political violence between the two parties in colombia. >> anthony: so if you were having problems in the city or in -- wherever you were from -- >> pablo: yeah, yeah. >> anthony: -- you came out here? >> pablo: yeah. >> anthony: so, what do you do for a living out here? >> pablo: cattle and, uh, doing some other culture. and, uh, after that, the drug trade began and everything with the, with the coca plantation. >> anthony: this climate's good for it? >> pablo: yeah. it's very good. since 1999, there was no police or army force here. so, it was just occupied by the

farc. and then, by the paramilitaries who tried to -- >> anthony: yeah. >> pablo: so that's when the real violence began. >> anthony: so really, the problems in this country pre-existed the drug trade? >> pablo: what we say here is that the drug trade just made everything war. there's no judge here. there's, uh, few institutions here. >> anthony: right. >> pablo: basically, you know that the state is here just because the army is here. so, i think here we're going to meet the mayor. >> anthony: oh, yeah. >> pablo: anthony, this is the mayor. >> anthony: julio cesar gonzález is the current mayor of miraflores, which has seen much better and much worse days. so, how many people live, uh, in this town? >> pablo: around 1,500, 2,000 in the municipality. the farc were in miraflores for 20 years, and they were the central authority here. >> anthony: if you're running a subsistence farm growing plantains and not much else, you're not even particularly well, you're not particularly happy with the government, somebody comes along and offers

you a nice machine gun and a cool scarf -- >> pablo: yeah. >> anthony: especially if you're 15, 16 years old, that's a pretty attractive offer. >> pablo: of course. it is. >> anthony: even if they say you'll probably be dead by the time you're 25, come on. >> pablo: it is. it is. it is. and they offer you a salary. >> anthony: so what, what is the future of this town? [ mayor speaking spanish ] >> pablo: they're providing, um, free education. and that -- that there's a lot of potential in biodiversity and the ecotourism as well. >> anthony: what a lot of people say is, without the customer there's no -- there's no cocaine trade and there's no violence, right? so, if the -- if the united states and europe stopped buying cocaine? >> pablo: that's so impossible that i can't think about it. about the situation where the demand is not going to be there. >> anthony: but the demand in the states is down 40%. >> pablo: as long as there is a market, there will be people ready to do it.

>> anthony: the united states spends how many billions of dollars a year paying for guns and uniforms, training, etc. where should they be spending it? >> pablo: i will say that the help is very important. but more important is to end the war on drugs. it's just -- it doesn't work. >> anthony: here's my problem. if crack didn't exist, i would have no -- i would absolutely agree with you. but as a former coke addict and as a former crackhead -- >> pablo: yeah, yeah. >> anthony: that is a problem. >> pablo: the thing is that people think that if you think that drugs should be legalized, you're saying that they're good. no. we're not saying that, but just -- we're just getting rid of one problem. the problem the mayor has here. >> anthony: but you're also freeing up a lot of money that you could divert because -- >> pablo: yeah, we have two problems. >> anthony: look, i'm with you. i agree. >> pablo: one is drug addiction and the other is drug trafficking. we can get rid of one. we're not going to get rid of the other. we have to deal with it forever. >> anthony: it's a beautiful country. uh, the people here are -- everyone i've ever met has been really nice. even the bad guys have been charming.

>> pablo: yeah, yeah, yeah. that is true. >> anthony: the food's delicious. the problem is, the united states will never legalize drugs. it will never happen. complicated issues. >> pablo: yeah, yeah. >> anthony: so, uh, the good people of this town could thank us for bringing in their, uh -- >> pablo: yeah. >> anthony: -- fresh supply of -- >> pablo: yeah, yeah, yeah. >> anthony: cerveza. think nothing of it, gentlemen. it was -- it was really our pleasure. well, it was nice to see everyone. i just wish it had been for a better reason.

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>> anthony: bogota, the country's capital, and an almost two-mile-high city with new lofty food ambitions where

previously, a restaurant scene didn't really exist. now young restaurateurs, such as musician-turned-chef tomas rueda, are beginning to make a name for themselves in colombia. >> man on street: please, please, please. >> tomas: this is paloquemao. this is one of the biggest markets in bogota. i love this place. it's very beautiful. the colors. my mom comes here to buy flowers. my grandma, also. >> anthony: did i mention that this city is over 8,000 feet up? hence the altitude sickness i'm feeling. not good. tomas comes here a few times a week for an early breakfast, which i'm hoping will make me feel better. paloquemao market has been running in one form or another since the 1940s. this place is huge.

>> tomas: you want some juice? >> anthony: yeah, what do you have? >> tomas: i love, uh, the orange juice with carrot. >> anthony: that's probably the healthiest thing i've had in a while. >> tomas: good for the high altitude, no? >> anthony: yeah? >> tomas: you feel better? >> anthony: i'm feeling better every hour. >> tomas: yeah? >> anthony: the first hour was killing me. >> tomas: but you have a better face. >> anthony: i didn't think i was going to make it out of the airport. >> tomas: most of the mornings, early in the morning -- 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning, i climb the mountain. >> anthony: why? >> tomas: fresh air. >> anthony: okay. >> tomas: you have to come with me and -- >> anthony: hell no. it ain't happening. >> tomas: you want to taste some arepa? this arepa is made with corn. hola. [ speaking spanish ] it's fantastic. i love it.

>> anthony: tucked away in a back corner of the fish market is a place that serves breakfast to the market's workers and shoppers. we're talking beef short ribs simmered in an oily broth with potatoes, salt, and scallions. tomas swears by this stuff, a traditional breakfast soup from the andean region. here we go. that's one. [ tomas speaking spanish ] >> anthony: it's okay. ah, gracias. >> tomas: would you like, uh, chili? >> anthony: i do. >> tomas: gracias. [ tomas speaking spanish ] >> anthony: yeah, now we're talking. >> tomas: this is perfect, when you have a good party last night, you get -- >> anthony: i was just going to say, this is hangover food. >> tomas: perfect. >> anthony: i know hangover food well, and this is good. that's a nice hunk of meat in there. >> tomas: yeah.

>> anthony: mm, good broth. >> tomas: yes. >> anthony: the stock, it's good. so what's this dish called? >> tomas: beef stock, caldo de costilla. >> anthony: uh, broth of -- rib broth. >> tomas: yeah, it's a rib. >> anthony: yeah. >> tomas: yes. with potato, of course. everything with potato. >> anthony: caldo de costilla con papas. >> tomas: costi-exacto. very good spanish. >> anthony: i don't speak spanish. i speak a little mexican. >> tomas: mexican. >> anthony: bogota. back in the '90s, a very dangerous and violent place to be. today, not so much. today, in my repeated experiences here, kind of awesome.

but candelaria is the recently renovated old city, where i meet up with hector abad, distinguished author and one of the most important and supremely talented writers in latin america. hector's recent work, a memoir called "oblivion," is about his father, who was killed for his outspoken attempts to change things for the better. >> anthony: so, first of all, where are we? >> hector: puerta falsa. this is a place where many bogotanos come to eat something in the middle of the morning or in the middle of the afternoon. >> anthony: the tamales here are made with chicken and pork belly, combined with vegetables, rice, and masa, wrapped in a banana leaf, and slow cooked for hours. this place has been serving chocolate completo to the politicians of nearby plaza bolivar for a couple of hundred years. >> hector: here are the tamales. >> anthony: it's beautiful.

it is a thing of beauty, isn't it? >> hector: let's see if it is like my mother's. i -- >> anthony: oh, that's a high standard. >> hector: i suppose it is not. >> anthony: i was just in miraflores yesterday. >> hector: yes. >> anthony: what economy there was, was an entirely drug-based economy. i mean, now the drugs are gone, there is no economy. it's a ghost town. it's a military -- and people sitting there staring into space waiting for the beer to arrive, best i can understand. tell me something hopeful. >> hector: i think we are becoming more and more conscious that this past decades of violence have been absolutely useless. and, that we have to -- to change many, many, many things. >> anthony: mm-hmm. >> hector: uh, so, i think it's not as good as my mother's. i am sorry. >> anthony: well, it never is. if you remove cocaine from the

equation, if you remove the drug trade as a financial engine, you would still have serious divisions, uh, over ideology here. uh, is that improving? >> hector: things are changing in a good direction, but very slowly, i think. you know, 10 years ago in medellin, they killed 7,500 people every year. and, uh, three years ago, this number came to 700 people, uh, killed in medellin in the year. so, the situation changed. >> anthony: right. >> hector: i have only questions. i have no answers. i am so sorry. if i were the president, i really -- i don't know what to do. >> anthony: you wouldn't know what to do? >> hector: no, i wouldn't. i wouldn't. >> anthony: to suggest that a nation should expand its social services, do its best to lift people out of poverty, uh, to provide medical care for everyone, as you well know, that made you, in the minds of many,

as the same as a communist. are those as dangerous and potentially deadly ideas as they used to be? >> hector: well, 25 years ago, my father was killed just because he was asking for these basic things like clean water, a glass of milk, and, uh, and arepa for every child. that was -- we still don't have that. and we need that. now, we in colombia, maybe we are trying. i think there are some people here, even in the government, who are working for that. "why are you checking your credit score?" "you don't want to live with mom and dad forever, do you?" "well...i'm not changing." "how do i check my credit score?" "credit karma. don't worry, it's free." "credit karma. give yourself some credit."

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>> anthony: bogota is the largest city in colombia and the economic heart of the country. about a fifth of the population lives here, many of them very well, but some, not so well. it's a city with a marked north/south divide. chef tomas rueda's tabula and donostia restaurants sit side by side in the macarena neighborhood, where the city's center meets the north.

the lunch tomas is serving us here at tabula is defined more by high-quality fundamentals than by high-concept theories. if there's a theme here, it's that ingredients this good, meticulously prepared, are the essence of great eating. it's a beautiful space. so, how's the restaurant business in, uh, in bogota? >> tomas: it's a very good business. a lot of people with money, they don't know how to cook. >> anthony: nobody cooks at home. maybe their cook does. so they eat out a lot? >> tomas: yeah, it's a new part of our culture. everybody wants to go to a restaurant. >> anthony: so, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, what, traditional, casual food, uh -- >> tomas: yeah. >> anthony: -- a few fine dining, you know, white tablecloths served with what, french or continental or italian? but this is new? >> tomas: yeah, it's a new stuff. it's a new business. it's a new world. but i think the two great values from colombian food -- the

mixtures of the culture, yeah? >> anthony: right. >> tomas: black people, indian people, white people, that mixtures is beautiful. and the other one is all of this region, all of the mountains, all the valleys, all the rivers, all the sea, we are like a big farm. a beautiful farm to send all these products to the world. i believe more in a beautiful carrot than a great recipe, yeah? >> anthony: right. >> tomas: this one is a crab salad. >> anthony: right. >> tomas: and this one is our homemade pasta. >> anthony: thin sheets of handmade pasta are filled with labneh cheese and finished with a chorizo sauce. mm. so, you used to be in a band? you used to be a musician? is that right? >> tomas: yeah, i'm still. >> anthony: still? so, what happened, man? how -- how did you go from music to restaurants? >> tomas: rock and roll don't give me money. >> anthony: good. >> tomas: it's good, yeah.

it's really good. >> anthony: well, it's great that business is good because generally speaking, the only worse idea than, "i think i'll try to make a living making music" is "i think i'll make a living, like, opening a restaurant." i see why that's so popular. good stuff. >> tomas: thank you, tony. >> anthony: tomas' take on osso buco uses beef shank instead of veal, which is braised overnight with vegetables, wine, and broth in a wood-fired oven. >> anthony: oh, whoa. it's got a -- it's huge. yes. oh, yeah. >> tomas: you don't need the knife. only with the spoon. >> anthony: you're right. >> tomas: sorry. >> anthony: mm. now do you cure this first in salt or -- ? >> tomas: no. >> anthony: dry it? salt it?

no? >> tomas: no. >> anthony: just fresh into the -- >> tomas: yes. >> anthony: delicious. so, you're never getting this off your menu. you'll have to keep this on your menu forever, right? >> tomas: forever. >> anthony: yeah. >> tomas: oh, the best part. >> anthony: mama didn't raise no fool. santiago de cali, or just cali as everybody calls it in these parts, is a city in the southwest of colombia known for its proximity to the pacific coast and its semitropical temperatures. but i'm not really here for the climate. i'm here for tejo. it involves alcohol and explosives. colombian mario galeano, ex-pat will holland and their bandmates

are to be my guides in this ancient and traditional colombian sport. [ people yelling and cheering ] >> anthony: how do you play this game? >> player 1: yeah! >> anthony: i guess that's how it's done. what do you call this object? >> mario: el tejo. >> anthony: el tejo. >> mario: tejo. >> anthony: hence -- hence the name of this. >> mario: exactly, tejo. >> anthony: i should be good at this. i've been throwing pots into the dish sink from across the room for years. >> will: you win more points if you get it in the middle without hitting them. >> anthony: oh. >> will: yeah, so -- >> anthony: yeah, but that doesn't sound like any fun. >> will: everyone has a different style, it seems. so you got to do, like, one step and then another and swing.

>> anthony: i don't think that style's going to work for me. after some early success, it turns out, we all pretty much suck at this. not enough beer. that's my problem. time to bring in some outside muscle. >> will: we're going to mix in now the experts. >> anthony: hey. >> eduardo: eduardo. [ player 2 speaking spanish ] >> anthony: who am i with? i'm over here. with these guys. whoa! [ will speaking spanish ] >> anthony: is he on my team? holy crap. two in a row? this is dismaying. oh no, wait. one of those guys had to be on my team, right? >> will: so the guy in the white striped t-shirt, his name is el pollo viejo, which is -- >> anthony: the old chicken. >> will: the old chicken, yeah.

>> anthony: i need a poultry name. he's calling himself the old chicken. i should be the enormous cock. chicken dude is killing it. yeah, he's -- every time. must beat the chicken. that's what i'm talking about. but i wanted something to blow up. tejo is hungry work, but the kitchen here is up to the challenge, making a colombian picada. this is a huge selection of fried pork, pork rib, steak, cassava, potatoes, and deep fried plantain. i smell food. oh!

oh, thank you. oh, that's good. you got a beer, explosives, and food? you can't beat that. [ man speaking spanish ] >> anthony: oh, yes! nice. yes! >> audience: oh! [ anthony laughs ]

>> anthony: if bogota is colombia's financial heart, then cali is its shaking hips. people here like their music. my tejo buddies mario and will are the founders of a collective called ondatrópica. their idea was to reinterpret the tropical music heritage of colombia. what often sounds like salsa in style is actually cumbia. [ singing in spanish ] >> anthony: if there's one type of music that could be

classified as distinctly colombian, this is it. [ singing in spanish ] >> anthony: cumbia draws on the music of the african, indigenous, and european mix that makes up the country. so will and mario created something a long way from the pop music that's a staple here. they brought together musicians who'd been famous on the cumbia scene in the '50s and '60s and matched them up with younger counterparts. as if the impressive amount of fried meat we ate at the tejo courts wasn't enough, we go for dinner at one of the band's favorite spots. >> will: the recording that we made, which we did for three weeks in medellin, had 42 musicians. so it was a big sort of ensemble. and there were musicians from, what -- i think the youngest was 25, maybe, and the oldest was 82. >> anthony: so, old school and new school mixed. is that an oversimplification? >> mario: yeah, because the idea is so we can meet, not only doing music, but like, also exchanging lots of like, uh,

information about how music was made, how music was recorded -- >> anthony: right. >> mario: -- what was the spirit of the music. >> will: so that's the idea. it's to get back to the roots. >> anthony: first up, the cali version of ceviche. cooked shrimp slathered in mayonnaise, ketchup, and worcestershire sauce. essentially, a '70s shrimp cocktail. native to the mangroves of the pacific coast, the mollusk is a staple used in everything from tamales to stews. so it's rice and like, a concha? >> will: like a mole -- >> mario: the mollusk. >> anthony: some kind of a -- it's not a clam. >> will: ah, it's like a rock mollusk pretty much. >> anthony: mm. it's delicious. >> man: ooh-sa. >> anthony: wow. >> will: so this is like --

it's specifically from the pacific. this is pargo rojo, like red snapper. >> anthony: uh-huh. >> will: steamed shrimp. >> anthony: oh, very cool. >> will: and some nice green tomatoes. >> mario: you always find the patacones everywhere. >> anthony: patacones is, uh -- >> mario: plantain. like a big plantain. with all of this food, you have to accompany it with some viche. >> anthony: yeah, i'm learning that. >> mario: it's the best way to just handle this. >> anthony: from cane sugar. >> mario: yeah, cane sugar. like, homemade. homemade. >> will: like a rural firewater. >> mario: so i'm just going to take one right now. >> anthony: so, where -- what are your favorite places in colombia? >> mario: colombia is like, uh, five countries in one. when you come to colombia, you definitely are going to have to go to some pacifico experience. it either would be in cali or go straight to the coast. you have to have, like, an atlantic or caribbean experience. rio ancho. you definitely going to have to have, like, a mountain experience, which would be like medellin or bogota. >> anthony: right. >> mario: another would be, like, just go to the amazon. you know, like, just go to the jungle and just check out what's going on there. >> anthony: so i'm planning a vacation.

should i come to colombia? should i come to cali? >> mario: most definitely, man. like, you will find great music, great partying, great food, beautiful views, beautiful nature around. >> anthony: yeah, yeah, look. the country's beautiful. we know this. okay. but, most americans, they're afraid to come. is colombia any more dangerous for a tourist than rio or puerto rico or -- ? >> will: south central. >> anthony: i mean, my impression is, no. you know, when you go to rio, you don't wear a big watch. you don't wear an expensive suit. you don't -- you don't behave like an idiot. and life is going to be good. >> mario: like, maybe i'd be lucky, but i've never been either mugged or kidnapped or robbed. most people tell you that, "we had an amazing time. we heard some great music. we met some beautiful girls, or guys. uh, we drank some great drinks, and, uh, we just hung out. and we went to the beach and we -- it was great. and we, we want to come back." you know? >> anthony: i mean, there's a lot of heart here. people feel very, very deeply --

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>> anthony: i leave the subtropics for more extreme climes. riohacha is a city 600 miles northeast of cali on colombia's caribbean sea. the guajira is the most northern part of south america and borders venezuela in the east. it's home to the native, semi-nomadic people of colombia called the wayuu. the wayuu are a tough, autonomous tribe who've never taken sides with either the government, the farc, or the paramilitaries. as a result, they remain independent politically and live pretty much by their own code. i'm meeting juan pablo mayorga, a chef from bogota who comes to this spot on a regular basis. this is not another country. this is colombia. uh, but it's a very different part of colombia. >> juan: the guajira is a very rugged terrain. it's desert. uh, there's not that much water.

so, that's part of why the spaniards, they weren't able to colonize them. >> anthony: you've been coming here for some time. >> juan: i became very interested in guajira because i began dealing with, uh, fresh fish, and, uh, fresh lobster, fresh shrimp. and for, uh, goat meat to take back to bogota. >> anthony: is it good? >> juan: it's very good. >> anthony: goats are important to the wayuu, as they're used for food, for bartering, and even as dowry payments. rancho owners come to the old market in riohacha to sell, slaughter, and cook goat in the mornings. today we're having friche. >> juan: friche's a traditional dish from the wayuus. it consists of the tripes -- the heart, the intestines, and the offal of the goat. so, it's really fresh because they slaughter them back here. >> anthony: uh-huh. >> juan: and this is where the wayuu women cook it.

so this is really fresh and traditional. >> anthony: so this is breakfast? >> juan: this is breakfast for them. the friche. [ server speaking spanish ] >> anthony: and there's a little bit of everything in there. >> juan: yeah. we have heart, we have a little bit of meat of ribs. >> anthony: now, uh -- >> juan: and it's interesting because this one, it's for breakfast and it's always done where they're slaughtered. they have to eat this fresh. >> anthony: freshness is delicious. if not fresh, this would not be so good. >> juan: no. >> anthony: this is where i say something that takes us seamlessly from a discussion about fresh meat to me hauling my aging carcass onto an atv, sugar bear style. tribal members of the wayuu have dual citizenship and can cross the border into venezuela to live or trade there whenever

they need to. luckily for us, it means that cheap gas is easy to come by in these parts. there are no stations as such. you just keep an eye out for the cans. >> juan: most of this gasoline is from venezuela. it's extremely cheap. i think it's like 50 cents a gallon. the government subsidizes a lot of it. they're able to buy venezuelan gasoline and sell, legally, venezuelan gasoline in colombia. >> anthony: having taken on as much gas as can be mouth-siphoned in one sitting, we're off again. let me set the scene. it's hot out here. desert hot. and we plan to ride three hours along the coast to our lunch spot. and i ate salty goat innards for breakfast and i refuse to wear a helmet or sunblock.

we avoid wild donkeys and goats and get lost more than a few times. so a little heat stroke leads to a lot of horsing around, and we decide to open these puppies up.

>> anthony: while a momentary concussion is seldom a good thing, waking up in colombia on a beach almost always is. having abandoned the epic ride, we're back where we started at mayapo, in the guajira, at the blue sea restaurant. well, how come you're all clean? >> juan: i changed. >> anthony: you brought a change of clothes? >> juan: yes. >> anthony: i'm hurt now. i'm feeling every minute, every hour, every month, and year of my age. >> juan: so are you ready for some cazuela? >> anthony: yes. and i trust it will make me feel all better. >> juan: much better. it's a good end to our fun day. >> anthony: oh man, now you can't ask for better scenery. it's beautiful here.

>> juan: beer. [ anthony speaking spanish ] >> anthony: i need the anesthetic qualities of the local firewater. that's probably a really good idea. >> juan: that's going to be a good start for -- for tonight. >> anthony: good start? i'm done. oh man. that dog has the right idea. see, i would be very happy if that was me right now. just, like, laying down in the sand with my chin out like that. man, it's so beautiful here. who comes here? >> juan: it's basically tourists from colombia and a lot of backpackers that are making their way up to the north in guajira. >> anthony: right. but i mean, we saw one tourist all day. and it's nice. you can really just get completely off the grid, you know? >> juan: this used to be a fisherman village. >> anthony: there are definitely worse places to eat seafood than beachside in a fishing village. and the strength of this stew, cazuela de mariscos, lies in the variety of fish available. >> juan: it's basically, uh, like a fish, uh, chowder. >> anthony: right. >> juan: made with, uh, shrimp, clams --

>> anthony: right. >> juan: chipi-chipi, which is a small kind of clam. >> anthony: uh-huh. >> juan: uh, lobster, fish -- >> anthony: yeah. >> juan: and, uh, conch. >> anthony: oh, i need it bad. very clear sky for the caribbean. oh, yeah. oh, man, that looks good. >> juan: it's always accompanied by lemon and coconut rice and plantain. some hot sauce in there. >> anthony: some good food, a few shots of aguardiente, the sounds of waves in the background, a nice sunset. these are things, in my experience, that will set most things right. thank you to guajira, to colombia. >> juan: to guajira. to guajira and colombia. salud. cheers. we had good fun. >> anthony: we had good fun.

cheers. i always find colombia encouraging. they've faced problems more extreme and seemingly more intractable than many of us can imagine. and yet, every time i come here, it gets better. don't get me wrong. problems, serious problems, remain, which is particularly heartbreaking in a country so beautiful, so generous, so proud, so eager to love and be loved back. i come back to my own country from colombia and i think, "if they could fix that, if they can make things better, then surely there's nothing we can't do."

for now, however, i'll settle for fixing mine. that hurt. shocking results for two olympic giants. a young swimmer from singapore clinches gold in the 100-meter butterfly, while michael phelps ties for silver. >> sweden shocks the world by eliminating the u.s. world football team. and a growing hamann tear yann crisis in aleppo. >> plus, fixing politics and sports. the turkish nba player who has been abandoned by his own family. we'll tell you why. from cnn world headquarters in