Sediments deposited in a high-altitude wet zone of the NW Andes of Colombia have been studied in order to reconstruct climatic variations in the tropics during the Holocene (the last 11'500 years). Sediments were studied by palynology and X-ray microfluorescence which can be used as proxies for temperature and rainfall and have a decadal to yearly time resolution. Results demonstrate that the Holocene record in NW Colombia is marked by rapid and very significant changes in temperature and precipitations. Temperatures may have varied (up or down) of a few degrees centigrade over less than a century. Rainfall data and regional comparisons show that the climate mechanisms that have influenced NW Colombia during the Holocene are both Pacific and Atlantic-driven. Rainfall proxies show the influence of both the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Pacific and the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the Atlantic.