There are some, though, who always glorify the ruthless, and Colombians are no exception. Popular on the airwaves and at teenage parties are narcocorridos or corridos prohibidos. In the glory days of the Medellín and Cali drug cartels, corridos, old-fashioned folk songs sung in a childlike mariachi style, were commissioned by gang bosses to glorify the narco lifestyle in a Colombian version of gangsta rap or Homeric hymn. A current favourite is one entitled "Hugo Chávez", satirising his ambition to rule in the tradition of the Liberator Simón Bolívar, whose Gran Colombia comprised modern Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Panamá. 

On the outskirts of Bogotá, just past rolling farmlands, sits a South American legend: the Andrés Carne de Res steakhouse-cum-nightclub, a favourite haunt of the wealthy, as well as passing tourists. The serpentine queues give fair warning of the crowds within. The long wait for the loo, whence some emerge two-by-two, energetic and jolly, make me suspect that not all of Colombia's most famous product is for export. I am one tequila, half a mojito and several slabs of steak into my dinner when the trance and house music turns to salsa and the entire clientele breaks into an ad hoc chant: "Ooh, aah, Chávez sí va!" ("Chávez will go!"). 

Another flight takes me to the north-eastern state of Santander, a mecca for the adrenalin junkie. Having survived a white-water rafting jaunt down the Foncé river, I decline an invitation to jump from a mountaintop strapped to a parachute. In the picturesque town of Barichara I rediscover the charms of the Colombia that existed before narcoterrorism and has been reborn under Uribe. Tucked away at the end of several hours of gut-twisting road, its colonial architecture, artisans' boutiques and cobblestoned streets beckon the tired tourist. 

But it is back in the tobacco region of Santander that you can clearly see the victory of concrete over bush and order over chaos. In Floridablanca, the Ruitoque Golf Country Club reminds me of that other great Latin American classic: the class struggle. Designed by Chet Williams, from Jack Nicklaus's design firm, Ruitoque is billed as one of Latin America's top five golf courses. Its main clubhouse has a portrait commemorating the owner's "contributions to golf culture in Colombia". Peppering the course and its environs are a five-star hotel, under construction, and houses for sale for $250,000-$500,000, pricing them more for foreign retirees than the local clientèle.