(*First days – in Bogotá)

Before leaving I had neither time nor desire to prepare my trip in detail. It was enough to know that I had a list of ideas and recommendations for each country and that I wouldn’t run out of possibilities on the spot. After a few movies and episodes during the 10 hours from Madrid to Bogotá I finally started discovering my guide for South America, Colombian section (thanks to Emmanuel Termine for lending it to me!). I felt overwhelmed by the quantity of information! Clearly, I would ask friends there in order to know where and when to go… But a program was already being made for me, as my host, Alexandra, wanted to go visit Villa de Leyva with a friend and her Barcelonian visit. I loved it, a decision was taken for me, taken me to my first colonial town!

The guide had taught me that the average temperature in Bogotá is 14 degrees, which relieved me a little because I was under the impression that I had come right at the wrong time, frightened by the weather forecast (and the info saying that October is one of the wettest months). I must also specify that Bogotá is at an altitude of about 2500m, making it the 3rd highest city of the continent, and it’s really not the case of the rest of the country (whose coastal cities are at sea level, for example). After having a look at a map indicating the altitude of several capitals and major cities, I understand that I must adapt my mental habits about geography (generally already not so developed…). South America is made of highs and lows, and within the same country I’ll go from swimsuit to polar jacket. A chance that I managed to keep everything within 10kg of backpack and 6,5kg of hand luggage!

These first days in Bogotá, ex Santafe, were a crazy mix of new stuff, smells, visions, noises and culinary discoveries. The first days in a new place are often a huge quantity of new data to absorb. Cooking with gas, whose smell reminds me of Italy. Getting on a bus and seeing the top of the head of most passengers (because I’m taller than average). The tropical climate and several common traits with Jakarta (I think I’ll tell you more about that in a further post), but also numerous differences. A man spotted from the bus, apparently dressed as a mummy and standing on a pillar in the middle of the road. I had lunch with a lady who told me about life in the city, I also saw a man on the street, wearing a cape demanding peace for his country.

Besides, I saw a march for peace, agroup of people dressed in white and holding candles. And wherever you look in the city, you find signs to vote YES (to the plebiscite for the peace agreement). It’s only when my friend Alexandra said that it almost made her cry to see the march that I finally understood the importance (among other, emotional) of the peace process in Colombia. I talked about it a bit with my friends from Bogotá and grasped the width of my ignorance on the topic. I’ll tell you more, I need to digest the information before speaking politics to you.

The first hours and days in the country have allowed me to refresh my Spanish, and to realise that I’m super happy to finally have time to practice seriously! As I was already firmly convinced, simply attendinga class regularly and for long enough always bear fruit (at least for me), even when you don’t take the homeworks or exams extremely seriously. And I feel a bit like at the beginning of my stay in Italy, surrounded by people who only speak that language, completely immersed, and going with the flow. That’s great!

Among the anecdotes of my time here, which I already started collecting, this one takes place at the very beginning when, having just set foot on Colombian ground and awaiting the arrival of my backpack, an agent with dog comes close and asks if I’m carrying food, and of which sort. I pretended like nothing but my brain was shouting “drugs drugs drugs he’s looking for drugs I hope noone put anything in your bag!!!” – but I don’t believe it’d have much sense for someone to try and enter Colombia withdrugs, I feel like the usual route would rather go the other way. Well, everything ended well as the dog wasn’t really interested in my ham sandwich nor in my chocolate.

One thing I noted is that where we, Europeans and/or English speakers say “precolombian” (to speak about a civilisation, a period, a people), in Spanish (or in Latin America) they say “pre-hispanic” – comparison between what my guide and the museum say, for instance. The latter seems historically more correct to me, as I checked the etymology of precolombian and it doesn’t mean “before Columbus” but “before Colombia”. While the term of the invadors describes an age that only started after their arrival (…), the one used here specifies that it’s from a period before colonialism, before the Spanish. A lingusitic detail that’s worth its weight in gold.

Speaking about gold, it was one of my first contact with the Southern American continent (the Spanish would have envied me), because I spent my first afternoon at the Museum of Gold, very well done, extremely furnished and super interesting! These photos will give you a good idea of the visit. After this, I met friends that I know from Jakarta (they were also doing an internship, but in the embassy of their own country) and we went out together for my first night of Colombian travel. I’d say it was a success, since I almost killed a man playing tejo (sort of national sport similar to the French petanque, but where the risk is great to shoot the little but heavy metal disc in the face of someone playing in the adjacent line), partied in a stranger’s house and ended up sleeping for 3 hours in the building of the friend who hosts me, but in front of her door for an organisational mistake of mine. A first night worth Colombia, I believe! But don’t worry, I’m whole and had a lot of fun, without any serious risk – although I should check whether I won’t be sued for attempt of involutary homicide due to my poor skills of throwing stuff across a room.

During the weekend I went to visit Villa de Leyva, a small, very well-preserved and charming colonial town (post-hispanic? hehe) with Alexandra (my host, met back in the days in the student house where I spent my first years in Zurich) and her friends. It was my opportunity to start tasting typical dishes, from the cereal soup to the spicy sauce strongly tasting like coriander (delicious!), accompanied with the inevitable potatoes, portion of rice and tapioca (here called yuca). We also toured the region to see, among others, a splendid dominican monastery, a huge cronosaurus fossile (sort of reptile similar to an alligator), or the small town of Raquida, specialised in ceramics and where you’d want to buy everything to decorate your whole house. Great first Colombian experience!

These fews days obviously allowed me to visit Bogotá. I walked around for hours in the old area of La Candelaría, and I looked for street art works, of whom the city is completely full, virbant and colorful. A form of art that Switzerland is missing, in my opinion! I also visited a few museums and discovered a bit of Colombian art, among others through the painter Botero, which I always knew but whose nationality I didn’t know. I also had no idea he was still alive and that some of his work dates back to only the 90s! I find it very interesting to see to which point artists are inevitably linked to their origins and their culture. It’s sometimes fun; of course, for a Colombian painter, a still life will be composed of fruit that are exotic to us, sometimes touching; colonisation and the conflicts that tore the country marked the local artistic production for ever. In any case, it transports you and makes you put in perspective the concept of normality (what is normal for me, what for others? what is normal? the eternal question of traveling Aude).

Next steps: a salt cathedral at Zipaquirá, then a bus to Armenia, to the West, where I’ll go discover the Zona Cafetera (area where they grow coffee, which I unfortunately don’t drink) and mountains called Los Nevados (because they have an eternal snow hat).

For more photos, click here