COLOMBIA - V. de Leyva, Bucaramanga, Santa Marta

Habia prometido no ponerme filosofico en el blog, pero tras mi primera experiencia de 17 horas en bus nocturno, por carretera de montaña, balanceandose con curvas cerradas de 180 grados, adelantando camiones y con el vacío a mi derecha, he tenido que replantearme mis valores…

Yo pensaba que el mayor riesgo de mi viaje era que me robaran o tuviera un accidente/enfermedad que me impidiera continuar. Ahora sé que no. Mi mayor riesgo es morir durmiendo en un bus!! ;-))

No me considero miedoso y todos saben que puedo dormir en cualquier lugar y situacion pero durante unas cuantas horas, he sido incapaz. Por lo menos, el paisaje era impresionante…

Tras vivir la experiencia, entiendo el fervor religioso de estos parajes... Por unas horas el conductor del bus ha sido Dios para mi. He visto la muerte muy, muy de cerca y me ha salvado. Creo que mi vida no volvera a ser igual tras esta experiencia mistica!! ;-))

He tenido que renunciar al cañon del Chicamocha y a los pueblitos coloniales de las montañas, pero ya estoy en la costa del Caribe. El albergue en Santa Marta es como un paraiso hippie super cool, aunque he pasado del frio y la lluvia de las montañas al calor sofocante en menos de 24h.

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I promised to avoid becoming philosphical in my blog, but following my first experience of 17 hours in a bus driving at night in a mountain road, swinging in close curves of 180 degrees, overtaking trucks, and the void on my right, I had to reconsider my values…

I previously thought that the highest risks in my trip were being stolen or having an accident/sickness that could stop my trip. Now I know I was wrong. My biggest risk is dying sleeping in a bus!! ;-)) I don’t consider myself often scared and everybody knows I can sleep anywere under any condition but for a few hours I was incapable. At least the landscape was breathtaking...

After such an experience, I fully understood the high religious fever of this region… For a few hours, the bus driver was God for me. I saw death very, very close and he saved me. I think my life will never be the same after this mystic  experience!! ;-))

I had to sacrifice the Canyon of Chicamocha and a few colonial villages in the mountains but I’m already in the Caribbean Coast. The youth hostel in Santa Marta is like a super cool hippie paradise, but I just moved from the cold and rain of the mountains to the suffocating heat in less than 24h.