Today I left Ibagué for my 2 week trip around Colombia - though I suppose "around" is an inaccurate term. My friend Jennifer & I are in the Bogotá airport heading to Barranquilla. Last night I was stressing a bit about the manner in which our trip was planned out... I was informed Thursday that we did not have a place to sleep in Barranquilla, and since we were arriving in Carnaval high season, hotels were fully booked. More worrisome - the professor of the indigenous youth of an as of yet unidentified town in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta had been incomunicada and we had no confirmed place to arrive on te mountain.
Luck is on our side, though, as we got word on the bus ride from Ibagué that jennifer's friend will let us crash at her place in Barranquilla this weekend. Also, we may be IN the Carnaval parade tomorrow... CRAZY!
Cooler still - Alejandra finally picked up, and told us all about Nabusimake: the place where the sun is born, home central of the Aruhaca people, an indigenous tribe of the Tayrona region of the Colombian Northern coast. We must request permission to visit from the leaders. We must be prepared for 0 electricity. We must respect their culture and way of life. We must promise not to take pictures (this is the heart breaking part...) but this is a journey that very few outsiders take, and even fewer Americans... What a miraculous opportunity!!!! If they allow our visit, we will have a hell of a trek getting there (only 1 jeep goes a day), and will be there until Thursday. Then we head ack to Barranquilla & back to Bogotá, and I head to tropical Caribbean San Andres, for a very different adventure.
I'll post something tomorrow night about Carnaval, and then Thursday about the amazing journey to Nabusimake. :D
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