San Gil and a very hospitable Colombian family

Have you tried fried ants? They are delicious and a delicacy in Bucaramanga. All along the highway there are people with bags of them for sale.


Saturday June 4, 2011: I am currently in San Gil Colombia on Ana Maria’s father’s farm. It is in the middle of the mountains and though it is only about a 100km from Bucaramanga it took all afternoon to get here. You have to go up and down and weave your way around the canyons and there are roads washed out. There was one really cool spot where a humongous bolder had come down the mountain in an avalanche. The boulder was about the size of five vehicles put end to end and if you stacked three vehicles on top of each other it would be about that high. It had come down and taken out a bridge in its path.

The ranch style house here is really neat. It is an open concept and can accommodate a lot of people. The kitchen is on an outdoor patio and it reminds me of one of the picnic shelters at the zoo with its high open beam ceiling. Different construction when you don’t have winters to contend with.

Yesterday was one of Juliana’s friend’s birthdays and we went to the chain Archie’s for lunch. It was excellent. One of the girls had a two year old with her. The staff took him with them to their children’s prep kitchen and gave him an apron and hat to wear and helped him cook his own pizza. He even ate it at the work station as the staff was caring for him. We were on the patio. I don’t even think the mother remembered she brought him with her as we hardly saw him for the three hours we were there. They even entertained him too with balloon animals and various creations. I was extremely impressed with their service and the attention they pay to the children. I thought it was an excellent idea having a prep area for kids to roll out their dough and make their pizzas.

Monday June 7, 2011: Colombian people are so generous they will even loan you their pajamas.

Sunday was Ana Maria’s great nephew’s Christening and Stephan was the Godfather. The celebration was something! Wow did I ever have a true Colombian family experience. Ana Maria is one of 12 kids so you can imagine the amount of people participating in the festivities. It was an excellent time. There must have been close to a hundred people at the restaurant for lunch. Fresh fried fish was my choice for the meal and I was not disappointed. I also tried the fried ants, cow tongue and stomach.

The booze was a flowing and these people were having a good time. It was a beautiful setting on a pond where large fish were being caught by the patrons. In the evening the party continued to the couple’s house where I was told they live in a typical Colombian house this is what we do in the evening and these are typical Colombian vehicles. I think it could have been in reference to the fact we did come into this small town and turn some heads in the BMW. Not the typical car around there, anyway totally not the point. The 26’s were a flowing and the men were enjoying their whisky straight and many, many a bottle was consumed. They welcomed me with open arms and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The music was a pumping and they were dancing in the street. Our late evening meant that it was too difficult and dark to get back down the mountain road to the farm and we were farmed out to sibling’s houses in San Gil. So I was dropped off and told we will pick you up in the morning. Hence my opening statement: a Colombian will give you anything even their pajamas. All of my clothes were at the farm so this lovely sister who only met me that day lent me a pair of pajamas and a bed for the night.

The family was so good to me and I was a novelty at the experience that was for sure, so I got to try my conversational Spanish out with them all and they “tried” to teach me some of their dance moves. I took a ton of pictures for them and you can have a look at them at the following link:

Click on this link for photos from San Gil Colombia

A little hiatus as I return home for a few weeks. Check back at the beginning July when the journey continues.