Paths to cleaner living

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

One has to admire an individual who realises that he/she has a personal problem and takes corrective action. As a species, we are often quick to see the faults of others yet are blind to our own shortcomings.

There are always hurdles to overcome on the path to cleaner living ...

Beer barrios

When it comes to drug addiction or simply just bad/self-destructive habits with mind-altering substances, be they legal or otherwise, stopping the rot can be particularly tricky.

With alcohol consumption, the widely accepted socialising drug, a heretofore regular drinker may have to change his/her life considerably, at least initially, to say no.

Personally, if I decided to cut beer drinking entirely from my life, I think I'd have to leave Bogotá. Or at least move out of my current barrio. This is because the majority of my socialising revolves around the tienda and with it a few litrazos (a litre bottle, that is) of Poker.

I hasten to add that this isn't a daily occurrence. Two or three times per week, max. And, with age, I'm getting better, for the most part, at knowing when I've had my fill even if, to use an Irish word, the craic is mighty when I decide to head home (do note, craic here means 'enjoyable social activity', lest one think of something else).

It's because I'm more in the jomo (joy of missing out) camp these days rather than with the fomo (fear of missing out) brigade.

'From a marijuana chain smoker and seemingly daily beer drinker — not a good combination for a taxi driver — to a fundamentalist Christian (of sorts) in a few weeks.'

Yet, for those who have trouble knowing when to stop imbibing and the like, a lively-ish city with a beer-drinking culture can be quite a dangerous place to be. There are, quite literally, temptations at every corner.

Thus, in such circumstances, when one reaches a point where it's a case of 'make lifestyle changes now or be left with no life', it requires quite an amount of willpower to overcome the "demons".

Christian convalescence

Some, as I touched on a few years ago in Strength in belief, find the answer to their problems in God.

One barrio friend has recently taken this path. From a marijuana chain smoker and seemingly daily beer drinker — not a good combination for a taxi driver — to a fundamentalist Christian (of sorts) in a few weeks.

While I may not agree with his new-found religious beliefs — or if not exactly new-found, at least renewed enthusiasm for Christianity — I am impressed with the transformation. Considering his previous form, it could be said the end — in this case, being "clean" — justifies the means.

What's more, he has changed his ways without becoming a recluse. Apart from a few weeks back in the land of his birth on Colombia's Caribbean coast, he's still to be found socialising in the barrio, just this time with a gaseosa (fizzy drink) in hand rather than a beer (we'll cut him a little slack for the dangerous sugar indulgence).

As I've mentioned above, I'm not sure if I could do the same; hang out in the barrio and not drink beer. Not indefinitely in any case. I'd simply prefer not to go out.

I like to think that if I decided to go cold turkey, I could do it more easily in the countryside. A rural retreat, removed, as best one can be, from other human beings with fewer potentially harmful temptations.

There is another school of thought suggesting that if one were to "settle down" i.e. enter a relationship, this would also "tame the beast" so to put it. Whatever the dubious truth of that, one may be just too accustomed to singlehood for it to happen any time soon.

So Mother Nature and a modicum of isolation; I see that as my path to cleaner living, should I decide that it's needed. That's the theory anyway.

City life, its many evils notwithstanding, does, however, still have its advantages and appeal. At times.
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Colombia decides: Go with Gutiérrez or plump for Petro?

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

In just over a month, 29 May 2022 to be precise, Colombians go to the polls to elect their next president.

In the left corner, Gustavo Petro. And in the right-ish corner, Federico "Fico" Gutiérrez. (Photos from https://www.facebook.com/gustavopetrourrego/photos/ & https://federicogutierrez.com/.) 

Fico fights back

There are two things that we can take as virtually certain at this stage. One is that the country's next leader will be a man. The other is that this man won't be declared the winner on 29 May.

The reason for the latter is that for a candidate to win the presidency in the first round, he/she needs more than 50 per cent of the overall valid votes cast. With eight runners currently in the field for the nation's top job and polls showing no runaway favourite, it's pretty much certain a run-off will be needed between the top two candidates.

That head-to-head — barring some dramatic game-changer in the coming weeks — will be between former Bogotá mayor and runner-up in the 2018 presidential election, Gustavo Petro, and Federico "Fico" Gutiérrez, former mayor of Colombia's second city, Medellín.

Opinion polls have shown the leftist Petro with a relatively consistent lead throughout for some time now. Indeed, with a split centre/centre-right vote in round one — that there is no official candidate from the party of the still popular yet divisive former president, Álvaro Uribe, the man who helped propel outgoing president Iván Duque to victory, is a factor here — it seems safe to assume the one-time guerrilla will win the first round but fall somewhat short of the magic number to obviate a second day out.

'All this has to be balanced against the idea that a leftist, former guerrilla becoming Colombia's president takes the cherished sweetness out of the morning coffee of many citizens.'

Thus, similar to 2018 (see my post from that year, Right you are Colombia, for background), the key question is, where will the votes from the losing candidates in round one go in round two?

Most observers, backed up by polling — polls do tend to be reliable in Colombia — suggest Gutiérrez (I'm loath to call him by the affectionate "Fico" monicker) will take the lion's share. This may be enough to get him over the line but it looks set to be very close. (Do note that traditionally conservative Colombia has never returned what one may consider a genuine leftist candidate.)

The country's electoral system does also allow for a valid protest/blank vote, 'voto en blanco' (see https://wwcorrigan.blogspot.com/2018/02/colombia-vote-ve-blanco-for-real-change.html). In the 2018 run-off, this took 4.2 per cent of the overall votes, an increase of three percentage points from that year's first round. In one opinion poll in March this year, 16 per cent of respondents said they would vote blank. With that in mind, this phantom candidate may play a decisive role this time.

A turnout for Petro?

Another important factor is turnout. It hovered around 54 per cent in both rounds in 2018, a rather high figure compared to all the other presidential elections this century. As a reference, turnout for this year's congressional elections in March was just over 47 per cent of registered voters, about 1.5 percentage points lower than the 2018 figure.

If turnout increases for this year's presidential election — the various controversies with voter registration in Colombia aside — and we guesstimate that this means a greater participation of younger voters, the belief is that this would be a positive for Petro.

All this has to be balanced against the idea that a leftist and former guerrilla becoming Colombia's president takes the cherished sweetness out of the morning coffee of a not-insignificant number of citizens.

Even the slightest suggestion of something socialist sees many people point to the east and the ongoing mess that is neighbouring Venezuela.

That aside, and while Petro's mayorship of Bogotá was not without its ideological battles (see https://wwcorrigan.blogspot.com/2012/12/petrograd-colombias-new-capital.html & https://blogs.eltiempo.com/wrong-way-corrigan/2014/01/24/ordonez-petro-et-al-fiddle-while-bogota-continues-to-burn/), one finds it hard to envisage a Petro presidency turning the country into the next Venezuela.

Brother countries they may be but the overall more conservative nature of Colombia means it is unlikely radical social change will occur here akin to what we've seen in Venezuela over the last twenty years. What's more, Gustavo Petro is no Hugo Chávez Frías.

Indeed, it could be argued that the most radical departure Colombians could take in this presidential election would be if voto en blanco won the day.

That won't happen. So, as a largely independent observer, if I was forced at this stage to put some of my hard-earned pesos on the outcome, I'd go with Gutiérrez. Very hesitantly, that is.
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Hoyo del Aire, La Paz, Santander: Colombia's big hole!

@wwaycorrigan

The sign at the entrance to Hoyo del Aire (literally 'Air Hole' in English) near the small town of La Paz in Colombia's Santander department, says that it is the second-biggest hole in the world.

Hoyo del Aire: Some hole for one hole!

One assumes this means naturally formed and on land as opposed to underwater. Whatever the case, do an online search for the world's biggest/deepest holes and this Colombian wonder doesn't tend to feature on any list.

For the record, from its base to the highest point above, the depth is 220 metres (almost 722 feet for the imperialists amongst us).

Locals seem to be in agreement that it was formed by a meteorite. That may be so; I'm certainly no expert on the subject. One thing that appears undisputed is that the hole was a convenient place to dump bodies — both dead and alive — during Colombia's more violent days. (I heard similar stories during my 2014 visit to the town of Pandi where there's another "convenient" natural hole for such macabre undertakings. See https://wwcorrigan.blogspot.com/2014/11/fine-and-pandi.html.)

That aside, why it's not more internationally known is somewhat beyond me, especially considering the rapid rise in foreign visitors of all kinds to Colombia in the last decade as the country has left those more violent times behind it.

Plus, there are a number of other attractions around La Paz itself, 30 km north of the bigger and easier-to-reach Vélez, capital of the eponymous province in which both towns are situated and one I visited back in 2018 (see https://wwcorrigan.blogspot.com/2018/03/a-rewarding-velez-view.html).

The fact that it's mostly a dirt track from Vélez to La Paz, meaning that the aforementioned 30-kilometre trip takes about an hour to cover by car, is probably one reason why Hoyo del Aire and its surrounds remain something of a hidden gem, internationally speaking at least.

As is usually the case with such sights, photos don't tend to do Hoyo del Aire justice, hence the video below (or watch it at https://youtu.be/OrSHRKhYvuw) for a somewhat better idea of its impressiveness. The aerial shot on the official sign, see photo above, does give some decent perspective, too.

Apparently, rappelling was available as a tourist activity in the past but it's no longer carried out after an "incident". I was told nobody died but the local authority decided to discontinue the practice.

One senses a business opportunity. You read it here first!

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A balmier (and wetter) side to Boyacá

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

When one thinks of Colombia's Boyacá department, if one thinks of it at all, it tends to conjure up images of the awe-inspiring Andes, clean, cool country air and the odd superstar cyclist.

It's generally not thought of as a tropical paradise. That's because, for the most part, it's not one.

First impressions: Santa María on a sunny day.

Right as rain

Yet, Boyacá does have its lower-lying areas and, as Colombia is in the tropics, with that comes hotter weather, day and night (the sun can and does show its force during the day in the loftier parts, as I discovered in Tibaná recently).

One of those balmier Boyacá places is the small town of Santa María in the department's southern Neira Province. Warm it may be (at an altitude of 850 metres, the average low is 23 degrees Celsius), its tropical monsoon climate means it gets plenty of rain. I just so happened to plan my brief visit at the start of its wet season. Oh well.

Santa María gets its fair share of rain, especially between April and November.

Thus, the idea of a sun-kissed trip to Santa María, bronzing oneself up, didn't really materialise. It was far from cold, though, of course. And the sun did peep through on occasions. In further mitigation, the heaviest, most intense rain seemed to fall at night. Indeed, that helped to make things more relaxing in a way, listening to the rain hammer down on tin roofs whilst cosily tucked up in bed.

Alongside that, for some relative peace and quiet compared to the Bogotá bustle, it certainly comes good.

Now some of you may be aware that I do like to get it in some hillwalking where possible and on that front Santa María has various options.

'Perhaps the townsfolk figured it would simply be a waste of time and money building a big church, competing in vain with the beauty that nature has to offer all around.'

La Cristalina is an "official" — i.e. signposted, for the most part, anyway — roughly four-kilometre (one-way, from the town centre) trek through rolling forested hills, incorporating a nice view of the town from the south and leading to a small waterfall.

From calm waters to ...

Close to the beginning and at the end of this walk, the largely fast-flowing river does provide some refreshing bathing spots. These are well-received when the sun is out.

... the river wild.

A dam good place

Immediately to the north of the town there is an alluring peak that I had to try to master. Alas, with just vague instructions on how to arrive at the summit, I only managed to get about three-quarters of the way, wading through some thick grassland en route, before encountering some rather dense forest. I figured it was best to make a safe retreat at that stage. At least I made it far enough so as to get a good view of Santa María well below.

I subsequently discovered some other walks along quiet country lanes, passing through both farmland and forests. (A special mention to 76-year-old and father of a five-year-old daughter, Gonzalo, who generously fed and watered me with guarapo [a sometimes fermented sugarcane juice, in case you're wondering] and arepas after I stumbled upon his secluded homestead on one of the various hills I wandered up. The refreshments were well received following about six hours of ascending and descending.)

A view of that alluring peak to the north of Santa María.

Santa María itself, unlike most towns in these parts, is devoid of an impressive Catholic church on its main plaza. For sure, it has a church, it's just not that aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps the townsfolk figured it would simply be a waste of time and money trying to compete with the beauty that nature has to offer all around. If that is the case, I'm in agreement.

Top man: Gonzalo came good with copious amounts of guarapo and a couple of arepas.

As for a place to lay one's head, for a small settlement, it has, somewhat surprisingly, at least five accommodation options. I was told this is a legacy of the construction of the nearby and visually stunning La Esmeralda Dam, built in the 1970s for hydroelectric power (see video below).

I opted for Hotel La Posada, with rooms from a very reasonable 25,000 COP per night. Going by outward appearances, the other hotels may be a little fancier but, I must confess, I didn't check them out. This was for the simple reason that Don Jaime and his wife Margarita, La Posada's owners, are a delightful elderly couple so I was content to stay put.

Spying Santa María from the hills to the north.

In fact, Don Jaime insists I should return, preferably in the dry season (I don't mind the rain, Jaime!), as he wants to bring me to his farm on the outskirts of the town, where he herds about 80 cattle.

For the old farmhand that I am, it's a very tempting invitation. As the saying goes, you can take the man out of the farm but you can't take the farm out of the man.

I guess it's why I have a liking for these rural retreats.

*There are almost hourly buses to Santa María from Bogotá's northern bus terminal (Calle 193) with Flota La Macarena and Flota Valle de Tenza the main operators. A one-way ticket costs 35,000 COP during normal times (expect to pay more during holiday and festival periods). The journey time is about 3.5 hours.

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