Colombian Road-Trips

Last weekend was another of the many holidays that Colombians celebrate. No I never did figure out the significance although it aparently had something to do with the Three-wise men. But a holiday is a holiday and a perfect excuse to head out of town.

Martha had previously told me about the Parque Nacional de Los Nevadas, the site of a catastrophic erruption of the Nevado del Ruiz in 1985. But today it´s one of the biggest tourist attractions in Colombia. I told her about Mt. St. Helens, but when I learned that 25,000 people perished in Colombia in 1985 it didn´t really seem like a fair comparison.

But this seemed as good a spot as any for a trip. We found a guided excursion that left from Manizales (a city about 4 hours away from Medellin by bus) at 7 AM Sunday morning. I protested the early morning to no avail. Besides how often do I get to trek up to the highest peak in Colombia and an active volcano? Vamonos!

We took a bus to Manizales Saturday. Bus trips in Colombia are definately an experience. The country side is so amazing I just wind up spending most of it starting out the window. We spent the night there enjoying the amazing festival that had taken over the city. Sunday morning bright and early we headed to meet the group. As usual I let Martha do all the talking. She´s the youngest of 8 children and not really used to playing translator and tour-guide but somehow we´ve got decided it´s a better alternative than me and my Spanish.

Martha got all the details squared away and as we were ready to leave I tried a phrase I´d heard her say a lot ¨mil gracias [a thousand thanks]¨ The organizer of the group just looked at me and asked ¨¿eres extranjero? [are you a foriegner?]¨ Uh yeah, I´m from the US. Oh turns out I have to pay an extra 8,000 pesos (about $3) because I´m not Colombian. I don´t know what suprised me more, that he could tell I was´t Colombian from two words, or that he thought I was Colombian before I opened my mouth.

But away we went. A group of 8 of us packed into a little micro-bus and off to the mountain we headed. The trip out of Manizales was beautiful, this is the coffee growing region of Colombia and the natural beauty continues to take my breath away.

Before I visited Colombia everyone I knew thought I was crazy. Didn´t I know how dangerous it was?!?! Well the only times I´ve truly been afraid for my life in Colombia have been on the road, inside a vehicle with an internal combustion engine. The drive up through the Parque Nacional certainly was no exception. The route was quite congested with tourists from all over Colombia. And our driver was a typical Colombian, serving around blind corners, passing cars all on the left and the right, throwing that little mini-bus around like he was a Nascar dad. It was a different experience when driving up mountainous terrain with sheer-cliffs to either side.

And about half-way up the trail our mini-bus started to sputter and cough. That broke-down engine didn´t have no drive at all. But we all got out when necessary, the guys pushed, the ladies changed ¨Suve! Suve! Suve!¨which I think means if we don´t get up this mountain I want my money back! Everyonce in a while the mini-bus just wouldn´t have enough umph to make it up a hill and our driver would throw it in reverse, get a running start and forge on ahead. We only had one real close call where the mini-bus started to tip over a cliff. You should have seen how the group of us grabbed onto the mini-bus and pulled it back on the road.

No we didn´t make it all the way to the top, but 4700 meters ain´t bad. And most importantly for the Colombians on-board we made it to the snow. This is the only place in the country with snow and it was like watching kids on Christmas morning. I showed them how a good ole´gringo from Cleveland makes and throws snowballs. They caught on pretty fast. Of course the entire ride home they complained about how cold they were.

Afterwards we headed to a little resort with piped in water from the volcanic hot-springs. Nice contrast to the day. All in all, life could suck more.