Blogs from Tolima, Colombia, South America

Armero, a tragedy that has been referred as the second most deadly volcanic eruption of the 20th century Yeah, Armero, a town that was located on the shores of the Lagunillas River; its residents slept that horrible night comforted by the words of their priest on a loudspeaker and their mayor on the local radio. They, I guess, trying to calm the villagers down, told them that there was nothing to fear about, even though the Red Cross had given orders for an evacuation at 7 pm!. And that's how they ignored some of the threats and committed their greatest sin: overlooking the signs of nature, they had to face the consequences of a tragedy that was about to start, yeah that's right, the natives ignored an eruption, which according to reports, was hidden by that ... read more

Salut les amis, maintenant j´ai envie d´écrire en français pour vous raconter que les voyages continuent et que le Tolima était dans mon agenda. Voilá, j´étais a L´Espinal, une ville qui est assez agréable et tranquille; la bas, j´ai appris pas mal d´histoires car elle est pleine de légendes que je vous raconterai si on s´assoit un jour dans un petit café. À l'époque pré-colombienne Cette région était habitée par Los Pijaos, une fédération de communautés d'Amérindiens qui pratiquait le cannibalisme avec ses ennemies. Ca vous fait peur? Bon, je ne vous raconterai plus... Ces groupes étaient des experts dans la métallurgie, la fabrication d'articles en or et des vêtements. Ils construisaient leur maisons communautaires en adobe dans la région de Tolima. . Ils se communiquaient avec ses voisins en faisant des signes de fumée, ce ... read more

Last weekend (yet another bank holiday weekend, or puente), was one of my mate's birthdays so to celebrate a group of us went together to the Tatacoa Desert, about 8 hours by bus south of Bogotá. Having had some unexpected delays on the way there, we ended up having to spend Saturday night in a small town called Aipe. This was a very typical town, well off the beaten trail (as is the desert itself) and having wondered around for a few hours desperately seeking a hotel we finally got ourselves settled and had a brilliant night dancing salsa with all the locals, and drinking the local aguardiente. The next day, off we went on foot ith our tents and all our kit, searching for a river which we knew we had to cross. The scenery ... read more

So I’m a bit behind but I’m going to try to give you the highlights: 1) Jane (proounced Jan-eh) got teeth! She was missing her four front teeth for quite a few years now. She’s already an ex-crackhead, so she’s crazy to begin with and without teeth just completes her nutty character. The Colombians can’t even understand her, and we have to interact with her everyday since she’s the cook! Berenice had bought her teeth for Christmas, otherwise she couldn't afford them. However, I had gotten used to her crazy accent, so now I can’t understand her all over again! But at least I don’t have to worry about meat flying out at me when she tries to use her gums as teeth, which of course doesn’t work. The meat winds up flinging out before her ... read more

Last week, we decided to take the kids from Manos Amigas (my location) up a nearby mountain to one of the waterfalls to ring in the new year. Now this sounds like a grand ol' plan, but this is Colombia here, which means that this plan is really just a tricky situation. I actually almost didn't go that afternoon. The clouds were threatening rain, and I didn't feel like going on a really long hike up the mountain, sogging wet with about 35+ wet and cranky kids; especailly after my first experience with hiking the mountain (see the Stupid Foreigners post). But I decided to suck it up and go anyway, the kids were just too excited to say no, even though they would have gone without me. What started off as a great plan turned ... read more