Minister Barrett to the Acting Secretary of State.
Bogotá, August 1, 1906.
Sir: I have the honor to report that all arrangements are now completed for my departure from Bogota August 3 for my overland trip to Guayaquil, Ecuador, where I am to meet the Secretary of State, Mr. Root, and accompany him to Panama and thence to Cartagena, Colombia.
I shall go first directly to Medellin, the capital of Antioquia; thence to Manizales, the capital of Caldas; thence to Cali, the principal city of Cauca; thence to Popayan, the capital of Cauca, and thence via Pasto, Ipiales Tulcan, Ibarra, to Quito, where I should arrive about September 12, and then to Guayaquil.
President Reyes has taken much interest in this journey, which he says will, through my reports, be of great benefit not only to the development of Colombia and Ecuador, but to the commercial opportunities and foreign financial investments of the United States. It will entail considerable hardship and discomfort, requiring nearly forty-five days’ traveling on mule back over a distance, with its variations, of 1,000 miles, but I look forward to it with interest as affording me an opportunity to study carefully an important section of South America now little known to the outside world.
I have the honor to be, etc.