Colombia

Sarah Woods is a member of the Royal Geographical Society, the Society of Authors and British Guild of Travel Writers. She has spent extended periods in Central and South America and writes regularly for newspapers, magazines and online publications about her experience of Latin America. As the author of more than a dozen travel books, Sarah received the Guidebook Writer of the Year Award from the British Guild of Travel Writers in 2005 for Panama (also by Bradt). Sarah spent three years as the travel expert on Alan Titchmarsh's sofa (on ITV) and as a holiday presenter on BBC Radio Scotland's morning show. Sarah lectures on South American themes in the UK, Spain and America and has given talks on Colombia at the Royal Geographical Society, bookshops and travel shows. Sarah won the PSA award (2013) for broadcasting and the Kenneth Westcott Prize in both 2007 and 2008. In the past few years she has worked on a documentary about Colombia's former president Álvaro Uribe (2012) and the centenary of the Panama Canal (2014). Sarah's compelling travel narrative On a Wing and a Prayer: One Woman's Journey to the Heart of the Rainforest was published in hardback in May 2015 (Bloomsbury) and is available in bookshops worldwide. She is currently working on a documentary about Colombia's extraordinary ancient tombs, standing stones, catacombs and funerary chambers in San Agustín.Russell Maddicks is a BBC-trained journalist and travel writer who has spent the last 20 years exploring the countries of Latin America and publishing his experiences in print, online and in social media. A graduate in Economic and Social History from the University of Hull, England, he is fluent in Spanish and loves nothing better than mastering the country-specific slang of the Latin American countries he visits.He has worked as a reporter and editor at the Daily Journal newspaper in Caracas, the editor of a webzine aimed at the Latin American youth market called Loquesea! (Whatever!), and as a regional specialist at BBC Monitoring covering political developments and general news across Latin America.You can follow his Latin American travels on Twitter and Instagram: @LatAmTravelist