Discovering Colombia Part 2

It is hot here. A different kind of hot than summer heat. The kind that has seeped into every moment, nook and cranny, memory and thought. On the outside of town, people live in houses stacked on top of each other. For some of them, its hard to tell if they are being constructed or deconstructed. Trees grow dinosaur size and some are painted red and white at the base, as if signifying blood. Youth fill the streets and dusty courts.

Further in town, vendors line the sidewalks offering fruit, chips and candy.  The average monthly salary here is  about $690. I am charged $30 for a cab ride from the airport for a ride that is supposed to be $8, but it is one of those days. Earlier, I missed my connection from Bogota to Cali, and was charged even more for what should have been a transfer. Oh well.  I can't afford it, but it will work out somehow.

Everything here is brick and the sun is setting behind the mountains that embrace the city and vast agricultural plateau surrounding it.

Posted by Laura Musikanski, ED of HI.