Welcome
Travelogues
Begin trip
Previous: Venezuela
|
Capital: Bogotá
|
Like Venezuela, Colombia was mostly inhabited by primitive hunters and gatherers when the Spaniards arrived with the notable exceptions of several indigenous civilisations that had reached high levels of social and cultural development in relatively small isolated areas. There had been no unifying influences like the Chavín, Huari and Inca hegemonies that had dominated the Andes further south at various times. Divided as they were, the Tayronas and Sinú on the north coast, the Muiscas, Tolimas and Quimbayas in the central highlands and the Calima, Tumaco and Nariño further south could do little to halt the advance of the Spaniards who manipulated them one against the other. Colombia has a long history of violent internal conflicts between Liberals and Conservatives. Even today, regional divisions are deeper in Columbia that in any other South American country. For example, citizens of Antioquia are fiercely proud of being Antioquians and think poorly of Colombians living elsewhere and the same is true for residents of most other administrative divisions of the country. Colombians are so divided that the dozen or so guerrilla movements cannot seem to get together in their struggle against the government. |
|
| Atlapedia CIA Country Reports Lonely Planet Traveldocs colombie | ||
Coming from Mérida I entered Colombia at Cúcuta, the place where Simon Bolivar was named President of Gran Colombia by a constituent congress in 1821 in recognition for having defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Boyacá in 1819.
Now, Cúcuta is a rough border town where it is not advisable to linger. I don't know if the town's bad reputation was justified or not for I took a bus to Bucaramanga directly after going through the border formalities.
I did not stay long in Bucaramanga but I really loved that place. As I was taking a random tour on a city bus, a young school girl came up to me, looked me in the eye, said "Estan bonitos los ojos" and returned to her seat with her friends. I was immensely flattered of course and decided that Bucaramanga was a fine place...
In Bogotá I stayed with the Bernal family, friends of my Colombian friend Carlos in Montreal. It was a lovely experience to see how these happy people enjoyed life and made jokes all day in spite of the violence that surrounded them.
Here is my silhouette in front of the Cathedral on Plaza Bolivar in the center of the old city. Bogotá is a is fascinating but dangerous city with a population over 6 million. The center and the modern north-east are relatively safe, at least during the daytime, but most of its suburbs are best avoided if you don't live there.
And here is the silhouette of my friend Irma Bernal in front of the City Hall also on Plaza Bolivar. Bogotá is in the mountains at an altitude of 2600 meters so it gets cold at night even in their southern hemisphere summer (which is our winter of course).
I was lucky in Bogota for Irma took time off to show me the old city, its plazas, churches and numerous museums, some of which are quite remarkable, particularly the Gold Museum.
After a few days in Bogota I moved on to Manizales and then to Medellin where I stayed at the Gómez Córdoba hotel shown here. The scenery crossing the Cordillera Central to get here was really spectacular but unfortunately my photos did not turn out very well.
When I was there, Medellin was the center of the drug trade which later moved on to Cali. Medellin had a reputation for violence between narcotraficantes but I did not see any of that. Medellin also has several excellent museums and art galleries which I did visit.
I also dropped into the University of Antioquia to chat with the students and to visit its museum of anthropology whose collection of pre-Columbian pottery was quite interesting.
Leaving Medellin, I moved south along the Cauca River which flows north between the Western and Central Cordilleras from its source near the Ecuadorian border. I stopped to visit Pereira, a smaller but more relaxed place than Bogotá or Medellin.
This is the Parque de la Libertad, below on the left is calle 8 and on the right, Parque del Lago.
Further south, I spent a few days in Cali with the Vasquez family, relatives of my friend Carlos in Montreal. Cali is a large modern city in the center of a rich agricultural area producing mostly sugar but also cotton, tobacco, corn and coffee.
Next to me, Myriam Vasquez with her daughter also named Myriam and her boyfriend Alejandro, visiting the sugar cane museum near Cali.
The following day we went to visit a recreational resort maintained by the teacher's trade union for its members at Yanaconas about 10 km from Cali. With me are Myriam and her sister Elvira and in front of the oven, stand Myriam's other daughter Monica and her boyfriend Juan Carlos.
Violence is everywhere in Colombia and it is usual to hear gunshots in the night in the big cities like Bogotá. Medellin or Cali. In Cali I counted about 13 gunshots around 1 o'clock one Saturday night and 4 or 5 more around 6:00 in the morning. The police seem to have little control over narcotraficantes and common criminals in the cities. That Sunday night the television news reported 53 deaths by gunshot or stabbing in Cali alone for that weekend. WOW!!!
The countryside is not exempt. This peaceful mountain scene on the road from Cali to Popayan could become a battleground anytime if one of the several competing guerrilla movements happen to be pursued by the army in this area. My Colombian friends have explained to me that it is a national trait for them to be highly individualistic and that their loyalties go to their province before to the country. They are so individualistic that even the guerrillas can't agree to co-ordinate their struggle against the government.
This is the Casona del Virrey where I stayed in beautiful colonial Popayan for only 5$ a night.
Below on the left, the lovely patio of the Casona del Virrey and on the right, a nearby street with one of the town's dozen churches.
Pasto was my last stop in Columbia before crossing the Ecuadorian border between Ipiales and Tulcán. They have bizarre customs here. January 5th is "Diá de los Negros" when everyone tries to smear black grease in everybody else's faces. The next day is "Diá de los Blancos" and they all throw flour at each other. On February 5th, it's water that that gets thrown about.
