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We got to meet the Colombian Army

We went on a bus trip from downtown Cali to a Yanacona, a park about 20 minutes outside of town in the moutains behind the Christo Rey statue. It was a great deal at about $7,500 COP ($3.50 USD) for each person including the bus to and from the park as well as entrance into the park for the day.

The road was your typical 1 to 2-lane windy moutain road which the bus navigated well in spite of its bald tires and the lack of pavement for half the trip. About half way up, I noticed a couple of soldiers along the road in fresh uniforms with their old swiss assault rifles. A few minutes later, the bus stops at a control point and one of the soldiers gets on the bus to tell us to all get off and make two lines: Men to the right and women to the left. My first thought was, "wow! this is just like in the movies!. Then it occured to me that in those movies, not too many people got back on the bus."

So, before panic set in, I looked closer at the weapon, a rather old and large assult rifle, but similar to those of all the other soldiers (i.e. they all shopped at the same armory). He had his finger outside of the trigger guard and there was some sort of yellow think stuck in the ejection port above the magazine. He was wearing a new uniform with black leather boots. My Colombian wife says to look at the boots because good, black leather boots are expensive and not usually found on guerillas. I then relaxed a bit.

Getting off the bus, I noticed the other four or five soldiers had new uniforms with the same unit patches (I couldn't read what they said), assault rifles with yellow things in the bolt and black leather boots. Oh, and there was an empanada stand selling food hot off the barbecue. Two soldiers boarded the bus after everyone was in the appropriate line. After a perfunctory pat-down search (like you would get entering a disco), some of the passengers took advantage of the wait to buy some food.

We boarded the bus after about a five minute delay and were on our way bouncing up the muddy mountain road to the park.

Yanaconas park has a terrific view of the valleys to the west of Cali and three large swimming pools. They also have a hotel and some other things. We just played at the pool and did the "zip line" as we were there for just the day.

During the afternoon, more and more soldiers showed up at the park and seemed rather bored. My guess is they were on some training exercise as it looked like many of the training exercises we did back when I was in the army. It's just that we never interacted with the general public during them. But the Yanaconas park was a great deal for just $3.50 USD!

By Crazy4Cali on Aug 6, 2007, 10:39 in Travel tips.

LA_MONA says on Aug 6, 2007, 11:33:

I am there! jejejeje well I will be in January!

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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vicshere says on Aug 6, 2007, 11:37:

crazy that is your typical Colombian military spot check....the yellow restrictor are mandatory when soldiers are in public area so they don't accidentally shoot some poor SOB.....the yellow restrictor can be easily removed if necessary....coming back from Bogotá last week we did this 3 times for god sakes..its tiring but reassuring

listo

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LA_MONA says on Aug 6, 2007, 11:40:

The more spot checks the better jejeje (cute colombian soldiers)

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Aug 6, 2007, 11:53:

I heard that beginning tomorrow, the 7th of August, the Colombian Army will make the definitive switch to the "new" digital camo uniform. For years the Army (and the guerrillas) used the same Woodland camo that was used by the U.S. military for over two decades.

My soldier friend told me the digital camo is not very popular and that it was chosen by a higher-up that's no longer around. Apparently, there's been a lot of debate within the service about whether to return to Woodland camo or something different. His unit has been alternating - one week Woodland camo, one week digital camo for a long time - but I guess beginning tomorrow it will only be digital camo.

I wonder what the FARC, the ELN and the remainder of the AUC will use???

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vicshere says on Aug 6, 2007, 12:18:

Here's a funny one. A couple of years back we drove up to Cucuta. On the way back around 11:00 pm at night in the middle of the mountains this side of Pamplona we were stopped by the military. It was pitch black. I pulled over to the side of the road and was asked to step out of the car while the wife stayed inside. I went round to the back of the car the guy pats me down then asks for me to open the trunk. I open the trunk at the same time another soldier walks around the passenger side of the car checking out my wife in a min skirt. I was keeping my eye on both guys . Any way the guy that was checking my wife out disappears out of site instantly. The next thing you hear is this guy screaming help help. I turned in the direction I had lost site of him and looked down into the dark ground where the screaming where coming from. In the darkness I could barely make his face on the ground. The guy had stepped off the roadway and fallen over the cliff. The next thing you know we have like a whole platoon running towards my car with rifles in hand answering the call for help. I ran over to the poor guy who was handing on my his fingernails to the edge of the concert roadway. I grab his hand and held on to him until his buddy came running over to lift his silly ass back onto the road. The troop arrives at my car as we are pulling the poor guy up. They all break out in laughter. The guy has a bad rash on his chin and face and swearing in Spanish. His buddy points his flashlight down the side of 20 foot drop-off while laughing his guts out. Anyway they all shook my hand and sent me on my way. My wife during all this is shitting bricks cause she wasn't aware what was going on. All she knew was they was some guy calling for help and a bunch of soldiers rushing the car. We had a good laugh on the way back to Bucaramanga.

listo

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houstongal says on Aug 6, 2007, 12:21:

ahh Mona and her cute Colombian soliders! ;-) jeejee!

"It is now official: there's no place on earth where you will not find a Peruvian band." David Sedaris

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Crazy4Cali says on Aug 6, 2007, 12:35:

RE: Digital cammo. The soldiers at our spot check had the new digital cammo uniforms. Overall, they were pretty well dressed: clean uniforms, good (not polished) boots, unit patches, etc.

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thur says on Aug 7, 2007, 00:30:

Although everyone said the roads were safe and travelling by bus was ok, seeing military checkpoints is reassuring. I travelled around the country by bus and it was all ok; got checked twice, stopped several times and those soldiers look as if they were 14 years old, but were friendly and polite. It's reassuring seeing those big canvas signs with "Viaje seguro, su ejercito está en la vía" (or similar) and knowing they're near.
Greetings,

- www.pbase.com/thur

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