Chiva Ride

Marcela, Dieter, our neighbor don Alfonso and I went on a chiva ride. It left from town and we went up into the mountains probably around 8,000 feet or so. If you look at the mountains to the right of the church - that is where we went. We were pretty much the only "tourists" on the chiva. Everyone else lived up in the mountains and used the chiva as their transportation as well as a delivery service for all their produce that they sell in town. Along the drive and walk down, there were pretty much only fincas (farms) that grew fruits and veggies such as potatoes, green beans, tomates de arbol, mandarinas etc., the view of the town of Giradota, a school, one building which looked like a house but was actually a watering hole and open land for as far as the eye could see. It was beautiful farmland and just open space!!

We walked down from the top which took about 3 1/2 - 4 hours. There was a foot path and a long stretch of rialles (picture from the past of the road from M&D's house that had concrete in 2 parts - under the tires). The rialles were built by the guerillas (more later) and were quite extensive. But they are now closed because of a fatal accident last June. Now the people that live up in the mountains either use the chiva on the southern end, or walk and ride horses on the northern end. I can not believe the tenacity of the people who walk at least 2 hours one way. They have to lug their groceries, things for their houses and anything else they want to buy - amazing. The people we saw all had smiles on their faces and the women and teens were in groups. Only the men walked by themselves - at least that day.



















































































































The chiva was great but sad and very emotionally moving for me for two reasons:
1) There were all these orchards filled with tomates del arbol (tomatoes that grow on trees that we made juice and sauce out of - yummy!). But the fruit was just rotting on the tree. The owner did not have enough money to harvest them because there was a glut of them in the market from a big corporation in Bogota. Sound familiar?? This what happened a few years back with the Washington apples. Things can be unfortunately be so similar to the US.


























2) Here is where the riales plug back in. So as we walked down, we came to the longest and widest riales that I have seen. Well as I said earlier, guerillas had them built (probably for dirt cheap). Guerillas came and took over a region of Juan Cojo - kicking people out of their homes and/or forcing them to sell their homes for a next to nothing price. Now I think I understood that these were not the FARC but guerillas hired by Uribe(colombian president) to help combat the FARC. Regardless of whom they worked for, they still kicked people of their homes. Luckily they seemed to take care of the land. This all happened only 5 years ago. I was shocked that it was close - both in time and in vicinity to my new neighbors. I gained a whole new perspective and understanding of where they were coming from: from the surprise and shock that I was traveling alone, the shock when I would walk alone, why they cautioned Marcela and I not to walk places where we didn't know and where the people did not know us and why some of the families are so protective of their children. But also what is so moving is how the people find so much joy and laughter each day. The families are tight knit and strong. Now whether this is a result of the guerilla activity or an aspect of colombian life, I do not know. But I do cherish the connection and the support the families have and I hope that it is here to stay.