Tieske's Adventures

The sun is high in the sky and there is no cloud to be found. A pleasant breeze is keeping us cool, Latin-American music is playing through the speakers and two sweet ladies are preparing lunch for us. Another staff member just pulled the Christmas decorations from the attic to start decorating the place. The parrot, who is sitting on top of his cage, doesn’t seem to care much. Wim is reading a book, Lars and Koen just jumped in the pool and I’m writing this story. Huge green mountains are to my left, the Caribbean Sea to my right. The hotel is built against the side of a mountain, which creates a surprisingly cozy atmosphere and a great view of the shore line. Two dogs and two cats are chilling out and the guy at the reception is browsing the internet. We are the only guests in this hotel. There are six staff members to keep the four of us happy. There is nothing we have to do, nothing we have to see.  We are staying in the Bunsizanisi hotel in Gaira,...

The next stop on our journey is Colombia’s second-largest city: Medellín. As a result of an urban war set off by the drug cartels led by Pablo Escobar in the 80’s and 90’s, this city was once known as the most dangerous place in the world. That is exactly the image the people of Medellín are trying to change, according to our tour-guide Juan. During a four-hour walking tour, Juan tells us about the history of the city and explains the Colombian conflict: the war between Colombian governments, right-wing paramilitary groups, left-wing guerrillas and drugs cartels. Recently the Colombians had to make a difficult choice: a peace-agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) was drafted to end this conflict. With a referendum the Colombian’s had to vote in favor or against the agreement. For many it was the impossible choice between peace or justice. After 50.2% voted “No”, the agreement was adjusted and sent straight to congress, in...

Koen, Lars, Wim and I are traveling through Colombia for two weeks to visit a few different places. After a quick stop in Bogota we find our way to Leticia, Colombia’s southernmost town and one of the major ports on the Amazon river, to do a two-day jungle tour. We soon find out that we didn’t prepare well for the tour and have to do some last-minute shopping for appropriate clothing and flash-lights. We look just like the A-team with our newly acquired camouflage pants.    We wake up early and jump in the pool before our guide picks us up. I’m going to call him Julio for the remainder of this story. Unfortunately the translator we had booked with the tour is sick so he can’t join us. Julio only speaks a form of local Spanish. This is going to be a challenge. It turns out that Julio was born in the jungle and has no official nationality. The first time he wore shoes was when he turned 14. He tells us that he’d still rather walks on his bare feet, as his feet can heal...