PBH / colombia (travelguide, pictures) / post

Sitting Amongst the Clouds

An extract from The Colombia Diary 2003
Sunday 3rd August

Tio Ricardo arrived on time, we unfortunately aren't completely ready so he hangs around whilst we finish getting washed and dressed.

We have cappuccino at his apartment and wait for Don Alvaro to turn up. Tio Ricardo has two taxis, he'll be driving one, Don Alvaro, the other. Mami, Abuela and Juan Sebastian go with Ricardo, Liz and I go with Victoria and Laura Juliana in the second one.

Laura Juliana is bouncing around very excitedly, Liz and I try our best to humour her. I frown at another thing I take for granted, seat belts. Back seats don't have any, only the driver and front passenger are required by law to have them.

Whilst we're heading through the City, Vicki phones Ricardo on his cellular and suggests we take Laura Marcela with us. We head to Floralia where Tia Rocio lives.

The two taxis turn off into poorly kept roads, little more than dirt tracks, even though we are in the centre of the city. As we crunch our way bumpily down the road to her apartment, I realise why I recognise the area. It turns out Rocio is now living in Tio Hernando's old apartment. Well he's in the States now so I suppose he has no use for it. The mural of a Lion which Dad painted last time he was here, is still on the wall by the stairs.

Liz and I get out to stretch our legs whilst Mami goes to fetch Marcela. Don Alvaro needs the toilet so we go in with him. Rocio and Jorge Ivan are still in bed, Mum is chatting to them and cooing over the baby. Karen's not in, she's gone to Church. Tia Rocio explains that Karen isn't a Catholic anymore, she's converted to Jehovah’s Witness. I never knew you got them in Colombia.

Mami convinces Rocio and Jorge to come with us. "It's not everyday you see your best sister is it?" she asked. They scrabble to get ready, Liz and I hijack the baby.

The extra passengers requires a redistribution across the Taxi's. Rocio squeezes into Ricardo's, with Marcela. Jorge takes the front seat in Don Alvaro's, Vicki gets in the back with us and Nico, Laura Juliana sits on my lap. She's deceptively heavy and keeps squirming about which is very uncomfortable. At this rate I'll never have kids of my own!

It's quite a cold morning so I'm glad we're heading out of Bogotá, to somewhere warmer. It takes us about an hour to get to the City limits. Our Taxi is ahead of the others and we get stopped by the Police just outside the toll gate. Liz looks a bit concerned. I'm concerned too, to tell the truth, but I tell myself it's just routine procedure. Of course whilst I more or less trust the British police, they don't carry guns. The officer looks at Don Alvaro's license, and there's a bit of a disagreement about it, that I can't really follow. Tio Ricardo pulls up behind, and gets out to talk to the officer. They argue for about 15 minutes but then we're allowed to go on our way. I strain to listen to the conversation but I didn't really understand what the problem was.

40 minutes later, whilst we're heading down the Mountain Roads we get stopped again. There isn't a problem this time and he waves us on after five minutes. Laura Juliana climbs into the boot to sleep, and Vicki hands the baby to me. He's so adorable. I think he looks a bit like me from pictures I've seen of when I was a baby. His hair is all sticky, and he's got a massive bald patch.

It doesn't take that long, driving along the winding Mountain roads before the temperature rise becomes noticeable. It's strange to think that literally speaking we're not that far from Bogotá but the temperature has risen by about 15 degrees.

I watch all the gorgeous scenery as we drive along. I wish we were going back to [the home village] but that’s currently impossible. Its so frustrating being so near and yet so far. It's my mother's birthplace, my ancestral home, it's where so many of my family live, it's where we have our house and land.

Don Alvaro whizzes along the roads. The mountains are lush and green and rise on either side of the road. Sometimes the roads are wide, with houses and shops lining them, other times they're small and narrow with rock face jutting up on one side, and a sheer drop on the other. I take my jumper off because the air is quite sticky. Nico is as good as gold, as I try carefully not to shake him from his sleep as I change.

It starts raining. I love thunder storms, there's something so romantic about them. Being out in a tropical storm probably isn't the safest of things, but I watch it all with wide eyed awe. The roof of the car rumbles as the rain pummels it, and mist rises up off the road and mountains. At points when we reach high bends on the road, we're actually looking down on the mountains and the clouds are almost level with us. I'm reminded of how beautiful Colombia is. I could never get used to taking mountain backdrops for granted.

We pull up by a wooded glade for a bit of a rest. Mum explains the problem with the police is that the Taxi's were licensed in Ricardo's names because he owns them, so there was a discrepancy when Don Alvaro showed them his own license.

The journey takes about three hours. Mum has promised that we'll see the Rio Magdalena, the largest river in Colombia. The rain has stopped for now, but mist still rolls off the mountains. The air smells so fresh, a marked contrast from dusty Bogotá.

We catch a glimpse of the Magdalena briefly as we cross into Departmento Tolima and head for the town of Melga.

We're stopping in the town for lunch. The streets are wide and there are lots of restaurants and shops, with residential houses rendered in the old traditional style. It starts to rain again but it is so hot, you can see it evaporating off the streets as it falls. My clothes are wet, but they don't feel uncomfortable. We go into a big restaurant, that's surrounded by palm trees and order a large basket of chicken and potatoes.

Afterwards we climb back into the Taxis and head out of town, up to a bridge which crosses the Magdalena. We get out and have a look just as it starts to pour down heavily again.

The river is dark blue and black, thundering and swirling in the rain as it crashes against the rocks that jut out it's surface. Spray rises and fizzes in the air itself. It's a beautiful sight to behold.

By Cockney Colombian on Apr 19, 2006, 03:36 in Friendly Talkzone.