II.III.II – Land of Passion
II.III.II
LAND OF PASSION
And hello Colombia; the promised land! But trust me when I say it really didn’t feel like it when I arrived in Bogotá, the capital. After four hundred million hours of travelling I felt disgusting and exhausted; kinda like a professional athlete at the end of a triathlon, only all I did was sit down on a bunch of planes for an entire day.
None of that mattered as soon as I saw Pedro behind a glass wall at the airport. Finally – there he was! It had been just a month since I had last seen him but to me it felt like I was seeing someone from a past life. After another couple of hundred hours my luggage showed up and I could finally run to him. I had been waiting for that moment for so long. In my head it was going to be just like a scene from one of those war movies. The soldier is finally home, still in uniform with dirt all over their face. They take a few steps towards their loved one, limping ever so slightly. They lock eyes and with tears in their eyes they run up to each other. Dramatic pause, and then, the deepest, most romantic, most passionate kiss in movie history.
CUT! He walked right up to me, gave me the most platonic of hugs and we went on to catch the next flight. Seriously, I’m talking bro handshake and shoulder bump kinda platonic. That’s it. Not even a peck on the cheek or a discreet grope. Nothing. “I crossed half the world for you and that’s all I get?” I thought to myself. Turns out his parents were there, and they didn’t know about the whole ‘their son is gay’ thing. Drama.
It didn’t take too long for me to get over my woes. I couldn’t believe I was in Colombia! The land of passion and miracles – alive in the dead of the night! Though that hadn’t even begun to sink in, Pedro and I were already on another flight – this one to Cartagena; ‘the undisputed queen of the Caribbean coast’, in all its colourful, majestic, romantic, elegant glory.
It was late, hot and all I wanted to do was shower and sleep. It was a different story once we got there though. All that exhaustion suddenly ebbed away as the city’s vibrance and life lured us right to its very centre. Ahh Cartagena… Now one of the most visited tourist attractions in Colombia, Cartagena is famous for its narrow streets and colourful, colonial houses. The port city, located in the north of the country, played a key role in the trade of silver and slaves during the Colonial era. That’s about as much as I knew about it back then.
But as we headed out to the Old City; a town in the north enclosed within a fortified wall, I could tell it was going to be so much more than that. Even in the middle of the night, the streets of Cartagena are full of life, full of passion and excitement. Music permeates all throughout, with scores of salsa bars dotting the entire city. Wooden balconies painted in all hues and colours right next to each other, art and graffiti scribbled over the building walls, food stands with heavenly aromas emanating from them – beautiful, beautiful chaos.
From parks and beaches to churches and castles we went all around, always accompanied by the exuberance of the city and its people. Much like the first time I had been abroad, every single thing in this one city was endlessly fascinating to me – as if I had just stepped onto a completely different planet.
Oh, and did I mention the Palenqueras? These women, clad in traditional colourful dresses often found balancing bowls of fruit on their heads, are not renowned just for selling fruit. Turns out, they are direct descendants of the world’s first free African slaves – representing not only freedom, but also the resilience and courage of their people!
Having not had enough time for ourselves, we also decided to treat ourselves and went to a tropical island called Isla del Sol; the island of sun.
It was glamourous and chic and all you’d expect a tropical island to be. We finally got some time to rekindle our relationship and dedicate some time to each other. We relaxed, swam, sunbathed, had cocktails, and did all the Instragrammable stuff that would make any influencer jealous. We also went around a village and mingled with the locals who showed us around, let us play with the cutest little puppy, and one of them even handed us a chicken to play with (just cause).
While one would expect a certain level of apprehension from their side, they were only hospitable and even affectionate. For the first time in my life I remember thinking how these tiny communities managed to be so self-sufficient and satisfied by such a simple life. And I’m not saying it in the condescending way; you know, ‘the simple life’. They are happy. Here comes the famous ‘they’ once again, professing that you should find happiness in simplicity. Well, it’s true this time. ‘They’ is right. But it’s something you’ve got to see in practice to believe.
