Five and a Half Times Gracias

So it’s time to say hasta luego to Colombia. Tomorrow I return to Helsinki (promising -20C tonight).

There is much to praise in this country, but here are my top five reasons to be grateful:

The People

Que buena gente! Already two years ago in Peru and Bolivia I was hearing praise of Colombia from other travellers. And each praise started with: ”The people are wonderful!” Indeed I have met so many warm and caring strangers on this trip, that they stop feeling like strangers in just a few minutes. 

From the lovely lady, who plied me with ginger drinks and chicken soup when I was sick, to the locals who patiently waited 1,5 hours while their driver helped us to fix our car, broken in the middle of the desert. And countless others.

The Animals

My wonderful sloth! A moment not documented, but not to be forgotten. I’m sure when he turned his head (and turned, and tuuuurned...) he gave me a sleepy smile.

The lizards of Punta Gallinas. Beautiful, quick and hard to photo. That didn’t stop me having a merry time trying though.

The busy colibri of Cocoro valley who whipped so close to my face that I could feel the current of air from their flight.

And last, but not least, the wonderful dogs of Colombia. I have seen calm and friendly street dogs in other countries as well, but here the friendliness of people seems to have rubbed off on the dogs as well. They are extremely calm, very friendly and running wild. (As in the curious affair of Toni the dog previousy in this blog).

The Colours

Colours!! The thing that the monochrome winter in Finland is sadly missing. Here it’s an explosion of colour in everything: 

in the flowers 

in the birds such as this masked flowerpiercer 

in the local textiles, bags, hammocks

In the painted houses.

 

Even old recycled tyres are painted!

And all these colours seem to glow under the warm sun, high in the sky.

The half point here goes to graffiti. It’s sort of under colourful houses, and I’ve thoroughly exhausted the topic earlier in this blog, but it’s a thing of joy, wherever you meet it. And you meet it often in Colombia.

The Will to Understand

A special shout out goes to Colombians - and other citizens of countries in South America - for the way they are determined to understand even broken Spanish - and end up understanding it! 

In several other countries, even slightly mispronouncing a word could have people staring at you blankly and refusing to understand. Here you can merrily throw in the wrong verb in the wrong tense and be perfectly understood. This is a definite asset as my ”Español Brutal” as I like to call it, is gramatically... lets say creative, at times. 

I have noticed that the travellers here do usually speak some level of Spanish. I’m rather at the top of that motley range, but even the starters seem to be doing ok. Indeed, I don’t know what the experience of visiting here would be like for someone with no Spanish at all. So grab a language course and buy a ticket!

The Nature

What’s your preference: High mountain ranges? Green foothills? Tropical beaches? The minimalistic beauty of the desert? The Amazon jungle?

Got it. 

This country surely has something for everyone when it comes to nature. It’s a big country though, and in two months I have only seen the Northern half of it. The Amazon and the high mountain ranges will have to wait for another trip.

And for every tale I’ve told, ten are left untold. 

Like the mayor of Bogota, who hired 100 pantomime artists to make fun on busy streetcorners of drivers, who speeded or ran the red light - rightly guessing that the one thing Colombian male drivers couldn’t take was ridicule (the campaign was a success).

Or like the hippopotamuses that Pablo Escobar imported so that he could use the pungent smell of their dung to cover the smell of drugs. These hippopotamuses got loose and there’s now a thriving colony of African hipopotamuses in Colombia.

Whatever Colombia is, it ain’t dull!

And it must be said: Colombia has a bad international reputation as a dangerous country of lawlessness and kidnapping. While this was deserved at some time, not so long ago even, the whole country, not just Medellin, has moved on amazingly in the last few years. Any guide book printed a few or more years ago will have warnings, which are no longer relevant. This place feels as safe as any South American country I’ve been to - meaning about as safe as most big cities in the US. If you keep your wits about you, ask the locals which places are ok to go to and which aren’t and don’t get roaring drunk or roam deserted streets after dark, you’ll be just fine. I have not had one anxious or insecure moment during this trip. 

For the last two months it has been my privilege to travel round this lovely country, documenting the things I see with my trusty camera and sharing these experiences with you. 

Thanks for being along for the ride!