Hot chocolate
with cheese, buses with fins, and my first snow in Colombia
Hola,
Well, sorry in advance for
the long update, but there is just so much to say. Two weeks in Colombia
has not been nearly enough for my liking, but Monday, I am off to Quito,
Ecuador . I studied 9 years ago in college so it should be interesting to
see its evolution. I am currently emailing on Friday night because I am
battling stomach malady #2 and hoping that there won't be a #3 on this trip.
Bogota is situated at the
base of the mountains like Boulder and at an altitude of almost 9000 ft.
It is so close to the mountains because in the past, the land below was a
swamp. Although I liked the people, mountains, and climate of Bogota, I
found it an extremely challenging city to navigate and get productive
interviews done. I arrived after traversing the city in traffic, by
foot, and mass transportation four times to find that appointments had been
unexpectedly canceled. One day after attempting to find an office with
the city's new bus system and then a taxi, I realized that I was hopelessly
lost. Finally, I got out of the taxi to call the person and found that
his office is actually in Medellin, not Bogota . I don't know how that
messaged got so crossed, but needless to say, it led me straight to a snazzy
hair salon to treat myself to a fairly expensive haircut. Well, the stars were
not aligned that day for me and after asking for a 2 centimeter trim, I walked
out of the salon with about 8 centimeters less hair cut in but chunks. I
am now trying to embrace the mushroom cloud that is not my hair by pinning it
with several clips and a rubber band into a tiny pom pom that is now my
ponytail.
After these adventures for
a week in Bogot‡, I flew to Medellin, another large Colombian city that is
nestled in the Andes but about half as high in altitude as Bogot‡. As
soon as I arrived, I headed out again with a friend and 9 other people on a
three-day weekend excursion to Eje Cafetero, a big coffee-producing region.
The drive that was suppose to take 5 hours took us 8 and we arrived at 3 in the
morning. Just two hours later we were rolling again to Los Nevados, a
national park that has p‡ramo, super p‡ramo, and high desert at altitudes of
3000-over 5000 meters. So, after just a little nap of sleep we tested
our ability to climb over 15,000 ft. I felt horrible unprepared for this
adventure with just Chacos and a wet pair of running shoes that had been soaked
in a rainy season downpour. So, I set off on the hike in Chacos with two
pairs of socks and plastic bags wrapped around my feet. For those of you
who know the delicate nature of my feet from past frostbite experiences, you
can imagine how well this worked. I made it about an hour and then
turned around to sit in the refuge, chat with the mountain guides, and watch
three children on tours of the area vomit from altitude sickness. Despite
the foot troubles, I did at least get my first snow storm of the season.
After this extreme hike, we soaked in hot springs where our relaxing was
hindered by the fact that we had to vigilantly guard our bags from a group of
rough thugs that sat a little too close to them while we swam. Finally,
we made it back to the farm where we were staying at 2 AM in the morning after
almost 48 hrs without sleep. The next two days brought relaxing by the
pool accompanied by loud music and rum day and night.
My interviews in Medellin
have gone very well due to the fact that I am being helped by two good friends
that I met at a meeting in Cartagena , Colombia in March who are also involved
in the energy sector. But, life here always throws some unexpected
surprises that keep you on your toes. While driving in the city with one
of these friends, we suddenly realized that the car in front of us had a
leaking gas tank that had just ignited a pool of flames that we were driving
through. Worse, the pool was connected to the car by a line of
fire. After we drove through we looked back and saw that the driver had
stopped and opened the hood to find the engine spitting out huge flames.
Several people with fire extinguishers had stopped to help. The law
throughout the region that requires vehicle owners to carry an extinguisher now
seemed totally necessary. When I was pulled over in Nicaragua with my
friend from the embassy and asked where our extinguisher was, I thought that
the law was ridiculous and only created to help cops get bribes.
One cannot do field work
in Colombia without taking into account the drug trafficking activities and how
they have affected the country. At the risk of grossly oversimplifying
the situation, I will try to give you a brief idea of what is happening.
In the 1980s, a few groups called the FARC and ELN emerged with the support of
liberals from the country's universities. They hoped to provide land
reform and improving the life of peasants living in the countryside.
Originally these groups protected the rights of the campesino farmers against
the militant guerrilla groups attempting to take over their land for coca
production. But, as time progressed, the FARC and ELN became aligned
with the guerilla groups and now manage coca fields. In response to this
movement, paramilitares, local, unsanctioned armed forces, emerged to protect
the rights of the farmers. Now, these paramilitares also control the
land for drug trade. Apparently the lure of the lucrative coca trade
compromised the values of all of these groups. Now, these groups compete for
territory and campesinos are caught in the cross fire and used to work the
fields.
This drug trade made
campesinos begin to flood Medellin to avoid the violence in the fields in the
'80s. This enormous uncontrolled population surge caused the city to grow
in an unplanned way with hodgepodge areas of development and overcrowded
infrastructure. The old dump is now a small mountain in the middle of
the city with a community of shacks on top. People cook by simply
inserting a pipe into the trash below and adding a spark to ignite the methane
coming out. You might imagine that this leads to many fires. So,
the government is in the process of relocating these people. (See photo).
The influx of country folk in the city led to organized crime, which
paid even for unskilled labor. The bright side of the story is that the current
president, çlvaro Uribe, has cleaned up the city in three years to the point
where it made the NYT travel section in August.
A friend doing her
dissertation research in China wrote an update explaining a few "China
" moments that made her do a double-take and realize where she was.
In the spirit of that update, here are a few "Colombia "
moments.
Hot chocolate with chunks
of cheese is a national delicacy.
Most offices have at least
one maid in full uniform (think telenovelas) who serves guests tinto (coffee),
perico (coffee with milk), or ‡romatica (herbal tea). In offices, there
is also occasionally a man who will go around to each cubicle or office and
offer shine people's shoes.
One day a week, each car
(defined by the last number of the license plate) cannot drive during peak
traffic hours. This law also pertains in various forms in Mexico City
and Tegucigalpa.
As always, US influence is
ubiquitous and in the countryside, names for children are occasionally derived
from gringo terms. For example, I heard of "Onedolar" and on
the coast "Usnavi" (US Navy).
Throughout the region, I
have found that people can be found on the street doing anything for money.
People juggle fire, wash car windows, and sell coloring books to cars
waiting at stoplights. Others strap stereos to themselves and blare music
to try to sell CDs. The most extreme example of this desperation was in
Mexico City where a guy on my subway car spread out a blanket full of glass
shards and did a forward roll on it for tips. His back was full of scars
to show that the trick was not virtual.
Old school buses imported
from the US to operate as commuter transportation here in Panama through
Colombia take special pride in having ornate decorations on the roof like shark
fins and other geometrical objects.
One can choose to buy a
car that accepts and fill up with natural gas at stations in Colombia; it is
about half the price a petroleum and has been around for about 20 years.
I was first confused by
the billboards that were advertising political candidates and all had huge 'X's
through the party's sign. At first glance I thought that someone from
the opposite party had spray painted on the billboard. Then I found out
that one votes for the party by putting an 'X' through the symbol instead of
the party's written name because of the high rates of illiteracy.
Driving is a challenging
proposition with a frenetic pace. Throughout the region, trucks exceed
the weight limits and give bribes to avoid reducing their loads. This
weight destroys the asphalt and the state is slow to fix the roads. In
Nicaragua, boys would fill the holes with dirt and stand on the side of the
road to get coins tossed from cars for their voluntary work. In
Colombia, there are laws to help travelers be safe given the hazardous
conditions. Motorcyclists must wear reflective vests and helmets with
the license plate number on them and bikers must wear helmets. Cell phone
use is prohibited.
Sorry to bend your eye for
so long if you made it this far!
--
Elizabeth Lokey
Ph.D. Candidate in
Environmental Studies
University of Colorado
(303) 898-5558
