Colombia 2

[ENGLISH FOLLOWS]
La primera parada del "eje cafetero" és Manizales, una ciutat on has de tenir un bon nivell per conduir per allà ja que tot són pujades i baixades empinades i amb curves on sovint t'has d'aturar al mig de la pujada amb cotxes davant i darrera. Amb l'Andrea, una de les noies austríaques decidim anar cap al nevado del ruiz, una montanya nevada de gairebé 5000m, ja que teniem mono de montanya.

No trobàvem enlloc com anar-hi sense contractar tours que eren força cars, així que decidim anar a l'aventura. Ens llevem molt d'hora i desde l'estació d'autobusos agafem un bus que ens deixa a l'encreuament amb la carretera del parc nacional. Al baixar, entrem a un restaurant a preguntar i just estava fent un café un senyor que anava a recollir llet, així que ens diu que ens porta cap amunt. Anàvem fent parades a carregar llet i fer encàrrecs fins que ens va deixar al final del seu recorregut. Continuem a peu amb un paisatge molt maco d'alta montanya i el nevat a la llunyania. De sobte, una pickup para i ens diu si volem pujar al maleter, així que pugem i ens porten fins a l'entrada del parc. Resulta que era una familia maquíssima de Santander (de Colòmbia). A l'entrada del parc ens informen que hi ha risc d'activitat volcànica desde 2010 i nomes permeten accedir 5km més i no es podia fer caminant, així que decidim fer una rutilla caminant pel voltant que ens havia recomanat el de la llet. Tothom es va oferir per portar-nos amb el seu cotxe però preferiem fer la ruta a peu. Tot el dia va ser un clar exemple de l'amabilitat típica colombiana amb els turistes, el colmo va ser quan la familia de Santander em van trucar unes hores més tard per dir-me que es disposaven a baixar fins al encreuament i que ens venien a recollir. Un cop a dins del cotxe ens diuen, "Conocen Santander? No. Pues venganse con nosotros!". No vam anar cap a Santander, estava a 8 hores i teniem que recollir a l'altra noia austríaca a Manizales.

Al dia següent, les noies anàven cap a Cali i jo continuava visitant l'eje cafetero, així que ara si que anava totalment sol. A l'eje cafetero he tingut un guia a distància, el Carlos, un noi de l'eje cafetero que viu a La Seu i parlant amb la meva mare, li va dir que el contactés per recomanacions. Va ser tota una experiència! El Carlos va contactar a un amic seu agrònom que té plantacions de café perqué m'ensenyés tot el procès del café, així que em vaig dirigir cap a Genova a trobar-lo. Genova és una població el més al sud possible de l'eje cafetero i havia sigut una zona molt afectada per la guerrilla, em van explicar històries que el rio rojo d'allà li deien així pels cadàvers i la sang que s'hi havien tirat. No em podia creure que la zona hagués sigut tant xunga quan m'ho explicàven l'Anderson i la Marcela, els amics del Carlos. Ara és un poblet molt tranquil, amb gent per tot arreu i envoltat de turons plens de cafè.

El primer que vam fer va ser prendre un cafè i he de dir que no havia probat un cafè tant bó desde que vaig sortir de casa, i això que em van ensenyar com el gra de qualitat l'exporten cap a fora del país i el dolent es queda aquí. Vam agafar un willy (un tot terreny sense sostre) i vam anar cap a la finca de cafè. L'Anderson és un crack, li apassiona el món del cafè i en sap moltíssim, així que em va explicar pas per pas com funcionava aquest mundillo. Els terrenys els cultivàven entre varies persones i com que era època de recolecta tots dormien allà encara que no estava gaire acondicionat.  Entre pitos i flautes se'ns va fer tard perquè jo tornès al poble i busquès allotjament, així que vaig parar l'hamaca i em vaig quedar a dormir amb ells. A la nit vam riure molt bevent cervesa tots plegats amb uns altres agricultors que vivien allà.

L'endemà decideixo tornar a Genova caminant perquè no haguèssin de trucar expressament a un willy que em vingués a buscar. M'acompanyen un trosset i quan portem 5min caminant para un tio amb una moto i diu "el de la mochila, le bajo?". Doncs ja em veus de paquet a una moto amb la motxilla gran i la petita als hombros per un camí de terra entre cafetals, per suposat sense casc i no em va cobrar res.

De camí a Salento se m'assenta un senyor gran a la vora, em dona un munt de recomanacions de Salento i m'explica la seva vida. Al baixar del bus em diu, "vamos, que le invito a un café", vam anar a un lloc molt autèntic a la plaça principal i em va fer provar la torta de vino, un pastís de vi amb fruits secs boníssim i típic d'allà. Visito el poblet que era molt maco amb totes les cases de colors i l'endemà vaig a la vall del Cocora, una vall on crèixen les palmeres de cera que surten enmig del paisatge verd i fan uns 40m d'altura. Em va impressionar molt el lloc. Allà vaig fer una ruta amb dos nois que vaig conéixer, un dels Estats Units i l'altre que era colombià però des dels 10 vivia als Estats Units. Resulta que aquest últim estudiava a una universitat de la Ramon Llull a Nova York, i ho feia en català. Parlava perfectament català i no havia trepitjat mai Catalunya, vaig flipar.

L'última parada de l'eje cafetero va ser Armenia, on vaig anar a sopar a casa la mare del Carlos. Em va preparar un Sancocho deliciós, és una sopa amb tubèrculs i una carn de vedella que se't desfeia a la boca, vaig sortir rodolant. D'aquí bus nocturn a Bogotà, vaig visitar la ciutat i pujar a Monserrate, i avió cap a Leticia, una població de la selva amazònica de Colòmbia on no es pot arribar per terra.

Feia 4 mesos que no agafava un avió i se'm va fer raro i tot, però vaig veure unes vistes de l'amazones espectaculars que van fer que valgués molt la pena. Des de Leticia en 5 min estàs a Brazil o a Perú, la "frontera" és el riu. A Leticia cada dia succeeix un fenòmen molt curiós, a una plaça del mig de la població cada dia hi van a dormir milers de lloros verds. Així que ens vam aixecar a les 5 del matí amb uns nois que vaig conéixer per anar a veure com milers de lloros despertaven i anaven en manada a passar el dia a la selva. Va ser un espectacle brutal, només havies de vigilar que no et caigués un dels centenars de míssils que deixàven caure.

Vaig fer un tour per la selva de tres dies on vam dormir amb hamaca al mig de la selva, vam veure serps, caimans, taràntules, perezosos, un munt d'ocells, em vaig banyar a un riu on hi havien dofins rosats, piranyes i ens van acrivillar els mosquits. Al tornar del tour agafaré un barco per creuar cap a Iquitos, Perú, pel riu amazones.

[ENGLISH]
The first stop in the coffee area is Manizales, a city where you need to have good driving skills because everything are steep ways up and down with twists. I decided with Andrea, one of the austriac girls, to go to the "nevado del ruiz", one snowed mountain of almost 5000m because we were missing the mountains.

We couldn't find anywhere how to go there without taking a tour which were quite expensive, so we decided to go on an adventure. We woke up really early and from the bus station we took a bus that left us in the junction with the national park's road. When we went down the bus, we entered the restaurant to ask and there was a man taking a coffee who was going to collect milk in the area, so he gave us a lift. We were stopping to collect milk until he left us at the end of his journey. We continued on foot with a really beautiful high mountain landscape and the snowed mountain at the end. Suddenly, a "pick up" stopped and asked if we wanted to go in the back part, so we went up and they took us to the park entrance. It was a really nice family from Santander (in Colombia). In the park entrance they told us that there was risk of volcanic activity since 2010 and they were only allowing to access 5km more and you couldn't do it walking, so we decided doing an alternative path walking which recommended us the man of the milk. Everybody offered themselves to take us with the car but we preferred walking. All the day was an example of the typical colombian kindness with the tourists, the maximum was when the family of Santander phoned me some hours later to tell me that they were going down and they could pick us up. Once in the car, they said "Do you know Santander? No. Then, come with us!". We didn't go to Santander, it was 8 hours away and we had to meet again with the other austriac girl in Manizales.

On the following day, the girls went to Cali and I continued visiting the coffee area, so now I was totally alone. In the coffee area I've had a guide in the distance, Carlos, a guy from the coffee area who lives in La Seu and, talking with my mother, he said that I should contact him for recommendations. It was such an experience! Carlos cantacted a friend of him who is farmer and has coffee plantations to show me all the process of the coffee, so I went to Genova to meet him. Genova is a town the most in the south possible in the coffee area and was so affected by the "guerrilla", they explained me stories that the name of the red river was coming for the dead bodies that were thrown there. I couldn't believe that this are had been so dangerous when Anderson and Marcela, the friends of Carlos, explained me. Now is a really quiet town, with people everywhere and surounded by hills full of coffee.

The first that we did was taking a coffee and I must say that I hadn't taken such a good coffee since I left home, even they showed me how the quality grain is exported and the bad one is staying here. We took a willy (a 4x4 without roof) and we went to the coffee farm. Anderson is a crack, he is so passioned about the coffee world and he is so knowledgeable about it, so he explained me step by step how this world works. The land was cultivated between several farmers and, as it was time for collection, they were sleeping there even it was not so well suited for that. It got late for me to go back to the town and look for acommodation, so I put the hamock and I slept there with them. At night we laughed a lot drinking beer together with other farmers who lived there.

The day after I decided coming back to Genova walking in order that they didn't have to call a willy only for picking me up. They came with me for a while and when we had been walking for five minutes a guy with a motorbike stopped and said "they guy of the backpack, do you want I take you down?". So, I went down with him in the motorbike with the big and small backpack on my shoulders through a ground way between coffee plantations, of course without helmet and for free.

On the way to Salento, an old man seated next to me, he gave me so many recommendations about Salento and he explained me his life. When we went down the bus he told me, "Let's go, I'll invite you to a coffee.", so he took me to a really authentic place next to the main square and he made me taste the "torta de vino", a delicious wine cake with dry fruits typical from there. I visited the beautiful town full of colorful houses and on the following day I went to Cocora valley, a place where the wax palms grow in the middle of the green landscape, they are around 40m high. The place is really impressive. I did a trekking over there with two guys I met, one from the US and the other one colombian but had been living in the US since he was 10 years old. This last one was studying in a university of Ramon Llull in New York, and it was in catalan. He was speaking catalan perfectly and he had never been in Catalonia, I was really amazed.

The last stop of the coffee area was Armenia, where I went for dinner to the home of Carlos' mother. She prepared a delicious "sancocho", a tubers soup with beef that was melting on your mouth. From here I took a night bus to Bogota, I visited the city, I went up to Monserrate and I took a flight to Leticia, a town in the colombian amazones where you can't reach there by land.

I hadn't been taking a plane for the last 4 months and it seemed weird for me, but I saw such an amazing views from the amazones which made it totally worthy. From Leticia in 5 min you are in Brazil or Peru, the "border" is the river. In Leticia there's everyday a curious phenomenon, in a square of the middle of the town everyday thousand of green parrots go to sleep there. So, I woke up at 5 in the morning with some guys I met, to go to how thousands of parrots were waking up and were going to spend the day in the jungle. It was a wonderful show, you only needed to be careful of one of the hundreds missiles that was not falling down on you.

I did a tour in the jungle for three days where we slept in a hamock in the middle of the jungle, we saw snakes, caimans, tarantules, sloths, many birds and I swam on a river with pink dolphins, piranyas and the mosquitos ate me. When I will come back from the tour, I will take a boat to go to Iquitos, Peru, through the Amazon river.

Bienvenidos a Colombia

[ENGLISH FOLLOWS]
Bienvenidos a Colombia! Aquesta frase em va sentar com un tiro el primer dia que arrivem a Colombia. Estàvem a Capurgana i el primer que fem és anar a pel segell d'entrada a Colombia, però com que no hi havia electricitat fins a la tarda ens n'anem a passar el dia a unes piscines naturals prop d'allà. A la tornada tornem a pel segell, entra una de les noies austríaques, l'Elisabeth, i li posen el segell. Després entro jo i just se li espatlla l'ordinador al funcionari de l'aduana, em diu que li havia passat alguna altra vegada i que havia de netejar unes plaques, així que l'ajudo a desmontar l'ordinador i acaba funcionant, així que també em posa el segell. Al entrar l'Andrea tarda molt i ens avisen si podem entrar a traduir, resulta que no s'havien posat la vacuna de la febre groga i el funcionari li deia que havia de tornar cap a Panamà, li torna a demanar el passaport a l'Elisabeth i ella tampoc la tenia així que també deia que no podia ingressar. Al cap d'una estona em fa entrar al despatx i em diu que l'única solució és que paguin una multa de 150 dòlars, és a dir que volia un soborn, no m'ho podia creure. Intento convencer-lo però em deia que sino no els posava el segell. Tornem a la sala on estaven els altres, els hi explico, i també es queden amb cara de pòquer. Intentem regatejar fins a 45 dòlars per cadascuna i amb tota la impotència del món paguen la "multa". Tot seguit ens diu "Bienvenidos a Colombia".

Jo ja vaig estar a Colombia fa 6 anys i em va encantar el país i la gent, és una pena que el govern no faci res i permeti tenir funcionaris i policia corrupta. Jo he escrit al govern colombià per denunciar el fet que l'únic funcionari que estava allà treballant era corrupte i que prenessin mesures, a veure si fan alguna cosa. No és un cas aïllat ni molt menys pel que m'han explicat després.

En fi, després de la mala estona tot va anar com la seda, vam visitar la zona de Capurganà, una zona amb molta vegetació a la vora de les aigües del carib, vam banyar-nos i fer una excursió per la selva fins a Sapsurro i la Miel, una platja molt maca al costat panameny.

Una llanxa fins a Turbo i un bus ens porten a Medellin, capital d'Antioquia conegut per les seves montanyes, l'eterna primavera i l'amabilitat dels paisas (la gent d'aquesta regió). És la segona vegada que estic aquí i m'encanta, sempre tinc la sensació que és una ciutat on podria viure-hi, és molt interessant el contrast entre els barris de les montanyes i els de la vall, hi ha molta cultura, gent simpàtica i amb un tarannà especial.

A Medellín hi ha molta rumba com diuen aquí, així que arribant un dissabte per la nit vam sortir per pegar-nos una bona festa. El dia següent vaig anar a visitar al Julian a Rionegro, un amic paisa (antioqueny), que vaig conéixer al Perú i ja vaig visitar l'altra vegada a Colombia. Va ser molt divertida la retrobada i vam passar un dia genial explicant-nos la vida, coneixent la ciutat i menjant coses típiques. L'endemà vaig tornar cap a Medellín i vaig quedar amb el Ruben i la Lili, el Ruben és un noi de la Seu casat amb la Lili que és de Medellín. Va ser molt interessant tot el que m'explicaven sobre la vida colombiana desde el punt de vista d'un expatriat. El Ruben em va explicar un munt de semblances entre Barcelona i Medellín, potser aquest és el motiu que m'hi trobi tant bé. Medellín és la segona ciutat del país, té la indústria tèxtil més important del país (es veu que uns empresaris de Manresa van portar la primera maquinària tèxtil), també unes de les empreses més importants del pais son d'alla, l'amabilitat dels paises però a la vegada més freds que els costenys, una comunitat internacional força gran i un molt moviment cultural. Ah, i hi ha un lloc a la vora de Bogotà que es diu Monserrate, és una església al cim d'una montanya que conté una verge moreneta i per pujar-hi s'usa el telefèric o el funicular. La Lili també em va gravar entrevistant-me per explicar la meva opinió de Medellín i Colòmbia per pujar-ho al facebook de la seva agencia de viatges.

Un dia vam visitar la comuna 13, anys enrera havia sigut uns dels barris més perillosos de Medellín on hi havien matat a molta gent. Colombia ha canviat molt des d'aleshores i ara és un lloc segur per viatjar-hi encara que la mala reputació costa de treure, aquest lloc és un exemple d'aquesta transformació. Han construit per tota la ciutat telefèrics i escales mecàniques per integrar els barris marginals i perillosos amb la resta de la ciutat i que, d'aquesta manera, hi hagi un intercanvi bidireccional. Vam fer una visita guiada gratuita amb uns joves del barri que ens van explicar la seva experiència personal i el significat del munt de grafitis que hi ha pel barri. Vam acabar la visita amb una classe de ritmes llatins a una plaça del barri on l'atracció de la gent del barri vam ser nosaltres.

Avui ha arribat la Mihal, una amiga israelí que vam conéixer al centre de rescat a Costa Rica. El Julian m'ha informat que hi havia una obra de teatre "berracos" que just avui era gratuita, així que hi hem anat tots plegats.

Portem 4 mesos i mig viatjant junts amb el Luis i, com ja vam planejar des del principi, ha arribat el moment de separar-nos. Ell anirà amb la Mihal cap a la costa carib, que jo ja vaig conéixer fa 6 anys, i jo aniré amb les austríaques cap a l'eje cafetero. Penso que ens hem avingut moltíssim amb el Luis durant tot aquest temps, molts bons moments, molta complicitat, cadascú aportant coses diferents a cada situació i no hem discutit ni un sol cop. Hem après molt l'un de l'altre i crec que no oblidarem mai aquesta experiència. Ara aprofitaré tota la força que m'han donat aquests mesos per continuar la nova aventura en "solitari" (mai s'està sol viatjant).

[ENGLISH]
Welcome to Colombia! This sentence felt me like a shot the first day we were in Colombia. We were in Capurgana and the first we did was going to get the stamp in Colombia, but due there weren't electricity until the afternoon, we went to spend he day in some natural pools close to there. On the way back we went for the stamp, Elisabeth went in and she got the stamp. Then I entered and the computer of the migrations guy went down. He told me it happened another time and he knew he had to clean some boards, so I helped him to open the computer and at the end it worked, so I got the stamp. When Andrea entered, she was taking a long time and they asked if we could enter to translate. They didn't have the yellow fever vaccination and the guy was telling her she had to go back to Panama, he asked again for Elisabeth passport and as she also didn't have it, she had to go back as well. A bit later he asked me to enter to the back office and told me that the only solution is that the girls pay a 150 dollars fine, I couldn't believe it. I tried to convince him but he was telling me that otherwise they won't get the stamp. We went back to the room where the others were, I explained them and they also had poker face. We tried to bargain until 45 dollars each and, with all the impotence of the world, they paid the fine. After that, he told us "Bienvenidos a Colombia" (welcome to Colombia).

I already stayed in Colombia 6 years ago and I really liked the country and the people, it's so sad that the government doesn't try to stop this and allow having corrupt police and administration. I've written to the colombian government to denounce it and that they should take measure on that, let's see if they do something. For what I've been told afterwards, it's not an isolated case at all.

Well, after this terrible situation everything went smoothly. We visited the area of Capurgana, an area with so much nature next to the caribbean water, we swam in the sea and we did a excursion through the jungle to Sapsurro and la Miel, a pretty beach in the Panama side.

A speed boat to Turbo and a bus took us to Medellin, the capital of Antioquia, well known for its hills, eternal spring and the kindness of the "paisas" (people from this region). It is the second time I'm here and I love it. I always have the feeling that Medellin is a city where I could live in. The contrast between the hill's neighbourhoods and the ones in the valley is really interesting, there's a lot of culture, nice people and with a special way of behaving.

In Medellin there's a lot of "rumba", so arriving a Saturday night in the city we had a really good party. The day after, I visited Julian in Rionegro, a paisa friend that I met in Peru and I already visited the other time I was here. It was so funny meeting him again, we spent a really nice day explaining our lives, knowing the city and eating typical things. The following day, I went back to Medellin and I met Ruben and Lili, Ruben is a guy from La Seu married with Lili who is from Medellin. It was so interesting everything that they explained about the colombian life from the point of view of an expat. Ruben explained me many similarities between Barcelona and Medellin, maybe this is the reason why I feel so well here. Medellin is the second city of the country, it has the most important textile industry of the country (some guys from Manresa brought the first textile machinery), some of the most important companies of the country are there, the kindness of the paisas, but also they are colder than the people from the coast, a big international comunity and cultural movement. Ah, and there's a place next to Bogota called Monserrate, is a church on top of hill that has a dark virgin and to climb up you use a teleferic or funicular. Lili also recorded interviewing me explaining my opinion about Medellin and Colombia to upload it into the facebook of her travel agency.

One day we visited comuna 13, years ago this used to be one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in Medellin where they killed many people. Colombia has changed a lot since then and now is a safe place to travel but the bad reputation is hard to remove, this place is an example of this transformation. They've built metro cables and escalators to integrate the marginal and dangerous neighbourhoods with the rest of the city and this way, a bidi exchange is produced. We did a free tour with some young people from the comuna, they explained us their personal experience and the meaning of many of the grafittis of the area. We finished the tour with a latin dances lesson in a square of the comuna where we became the attraction of the place.

Today Mihal has arrived, a friend from Israel that we met in the Costa Rica rescue center. Julian has told me that there's a theatre play called "berracos" that today is for free so we've gone all together.

I've been 4 months and a half travelling together with Luis and, as we planned since the begining, it's time to split. He will go with Mihal to the caribbean coast, that I already visited 6 years ago, and I'll go with the austriac girls to the coffee area. I think that we've got along so well with Luis during all this time, many good moments, so much complicity, each one providing different things at each situation and we haven't argued a single time. We've learned a lot from each other and we will never forget this experience. Now I'll take all the energy of these months to continue the adventure in "solitary" (you are never alone while travelling).

Panama

[ENGLISH FOLLOWS]
Arribem a ciutat de Panamà, una ciutat de contrastos, on et pots sentir com al mig de Manhattan envoltat per rascacels o a un carrer que et recorda a les imatges que es veuen de Síria amb cases i carrers destrossats. La veritat és que sorprenia a cada moment, aquest skyline amb els rascacels impoluts construits sense cap tipus d'ordre i, de sobte, un grup d'indígenes Guna ballant els seus balls tradicionals o un mercat on acabaven de portar peix fresc.

Els Guna son una comunitat indígena de Panamà que provenen de Guna Yala (turísticament conegut com San Blas), fins fa pocs anys el govern panameny no els reconeixia els drets indígenes però ara si, així que tenen les seves pròpies lleis, educació, forma d'organitzar-se en societat, etc. Una persona que vetlla per defensar els drets relacionats amb l'alimentació de la comunitat Guna és la Taina, amb la que vam tenir la sort de quedar a travès del cosí del Luis. Vam quedar el primer dia que estàvem a la ciutat per anar a donar una volta i a menjar ceviche a un mercat de peix. Va ser molt interessant que ens expliqués totes les diferències socials dels Guna de primera mà, també ens va ajudar a organitzar el viatge cap a les comunitats Guna Yala i poder creuar cap a Colombia.

M'encanta tenir experiències així perquè et fan veure les coses des de l'altre costat del mirall, coneixent d'altres formes de viure, pensaments, simbologies i costums. Per exemple, el primer que em va sorprendre al veure la Taina va ser que portava una pulsera de la bandera d'Espanya amb esbàstiques. Donat que no em quadrava que pertanyés a alguna comunitat feixista espanyola, li vaig preguntar què significava la pulsera i resulta que és la bandera dels Guna Yala. Em va semblar molt curiós que aquest mateix símbol existeixi a una part indígena de Panamà, a l'Alemanya nazi i a l'Índia, on és un símbol de pau.

Ens dirigim cap a Guna Yala, al carib, aquí agafem una barca per anar a l'illa de Cartí, una petita illa molt poblada que conté la comunitat més gran dins les illes de la zona. No és una illa turística perqué no és maca, però a mi em va resultar molt interessant per veure com vivia la gent d'allà. Moltes dones indígenes anaven vestides amb vestits regionals, pulseres molt amples als braços i les cames, faldilles i bluses colorides, faixes brodades on cada elaborat dibuix tenia un significat (protecció, salut, bon conreu, bona pesca, fertilitat, etc.) i una arrecada al nas. Tenien tradicions molt curioses, com la figura de l'hamaca que l'usaven per tot, des de llit, a un lloc per parir, per fer dormir els nadons, tenir relacions sexuals, aplicar curacions, fins i tot, al mig del temple de la seva religió era d'obligació tenir dues hamaques (significant el bé i el mal).

Dic que l'illa no és maca perqué està força bruta, plena de xaboles fetes de canya, no té platja, etc. Aquí he estat al labavo més autèntic que he vist mai, a casa del "negro" on ens quedàvem, tenia com un moll de fusta per les embarcacions, allà hi havia una caseta de fusta amb el labavo. Dins del lavabo hi havíen dues tasses de vàter que donaven directament a l'aigua, és a dir, que podies veure el mar sota teu mentres feies les teves necessitats i, per suposat, se't treien les ganes de banyar-te al voltant de l'illa. Al mig d'aquest lloc tant poc turístic arriven dues noies d'Austria molt simpàtiques, l'Elisabeth i l'Andrea, elles també arriven aquí buscant una forma econòmica i com els locals de creuar cap a Panamà, així que continuem el viatge tots plegats.

Recordes el tricicle quan feien de nàufrags a una illa diminuta? Doncs això devia ser a Guna Yala, ja que estava ple d'illetes així. Un dia vam agafar una barca per anar a isla aguja, una illa preciosa que donaves la volta en 10min caminant, envoltada de platja paradisíaca, palmeres serpentejants, cocos, gespa al mig i el mar ple de corall i peixos tropicals.

El negro ens va aconseguir una llanxa col·lectiva per locals per creuar a Panamà, anàvem amb gent indígena, un noi amb cadira de rodes i una colombiana que tornava cap a casa després d'haver intentat aconseguir una millor vida treballant a Panamà, però trobava a faltar la seva terra i els seus fills, així que tornava a casa. Eren 8 hores de viatge i a la meitat es va posar a ploure molt i a tronar. Jo, de sobte, estava amb dos nois indígenes, tots coberts per un plàstic que tenien per no posar-nos ben xops. Notava com tenia aigua als peus però els nois em van dir que era normal i que lo bo és que amb la pluja no hi havien onades grans, la veritat és que el mar estava tranquil. Vam dormir al poble on hi havia la frontera panamenya amb Colombia perquè ja estava tancat el lloc dels segells. L'endemà ens van posar el segell i en 20 min. més amb barca vam estar a Colombia. Quina aventura!

[ENGLISH]
We arrive in Panama city, a city full of contrasts, where you can feel being in the middle of Manhattan surrounded by skycrapers or in a street that makes you remember the images of Siria with the destroyed houses and streets. It was surprising me all thetime, this skyline with shiny skycrapers built without any kind of order and, suddenly, a group of indigenous Guna people dancing traditional dances or a market where they just brought fresh fish.

Guna are an indigenous comunity of Panama who come from Guna Yala (turistically known as San Blas). Not so long ago, the Panama government wasn't recognizing their indigenous rights but now it does, they have their own laws, education, way of organizing themselves as a society, etc. A person that defends the rights related to food of the Guna community is Taina, who we had the luck to know through Luis' cousin. We met her the first day we were in Panama city to walk around and eat ceviche in a fish market. It was really interesting getting to know all the social differences of the Guna people from a Guna person, also she helped us organizing the trip the the community Guna Yala and crossing to Colombia.

I love having this kind of experiences because they allow you seeing the things from the other side of the mirror, knowing other ways of living, thoughts, symbologies and traditions. For example, the first thing that surprised me when I saw Taina was that she was wearing a bracelet of the spanish flag withswastika. Due to the fact that I couldn't imagine Taina belonging to a fascist spanish community, I asked her what was the meaning of it and she said it's the flag of Guna Yala. It's really curious that the same symbol exists in an indigenous area in Panama, in the nazi Germany and in India, where it's a symbol of peace.

We are heading to Guna Yala, in the Caribbean. Here we took a boat to go to Carti island, a small but very populated island that has the biggest community in the islands of the area. It's not a turistic island because it's not so beautiful, but it was really interesting for me to see how the people was living there. Many indigenous women were dressed with regional customs, long bracelets in the arms and legs, colorful skirts and blouses, embroidered strips where every drawing had a meaning (protection, health, good agriculture, good fishing, fertility, etc.) and a nose ring. They had really curious traditions, like the figure of the hammock which was used for everything; a bed, a place to give birth, to make the babies sleep, have sexual relations, healing, even though, in the middle of their temple the had two hammocks (meaning good and bad).

I say it wasn't a beautiful island because it's quite dirty, full of cane houses, without beach, etc. Here I've experienced the most authentic toilet I've ever seen, in "el negro" (black) house where we were staying. He had a wooden dock for the boats with a wooden house with the bathroom. Inside it there were two toilets that were accessing directly the water. In other words, you could see the sea below you while doing your necessities and, of course, you didn't want to swim anymore around the island. In the middle of this non turistic place, two really funny Austrian girls arrived, Elisabeth and Andrea. They were also looking for an economic way like the locals to cross to Panama, so we continued the trip all together.

Do you remember "el tricicle" when they were castaways in a tiny island? This was probably in Guna Yala, because it was full of islands like this. One day we took a boat to go to neddle island, a lovely island that in 10 min on foot you could make the turn, surounded by paradisiac beach, winding palm trees, coconuts, grass in the middle and a sea full of coral and tropical fishes.

"El negro" got us a shared boat for locals to go to Panama, we were with indigenous people, a guy in wheelchair and a colombian girl that was going back home after having tried achieving a better life working in Panama, but she was missing her home and her children too much. The journey was 8 hours and in the middle it started raining a lot and thundering. Suddenly I was with two indigenous guys, all covered by a plastic that they had not to get wet. I was feeling I had the feet full of water but the guys told me it was normal and that the good thing of the rain is that there's no big waves, it's true that the sea was quiet. We slept in the town of the panamenian border because the migration office was closed. The next morning they stamped our passport and in 20min more with a boat we arrived in Colombia. Such an adventure!