From The City To The Wild

Lovely green mountains emerge before us as we drive up and down the hilly road north of Bogota. Passing through light white clouds and then through a jungle landscape we make our way to 'Aldea Feliz', a small ecovillage beautifully located on the ridge of a hill top. I hear the strong flowing of a nearby river as I get out of the car to breathe in the fresh, clean air. A nice change from the car fumes of Bogota's traffic that polluted the air almost everywhere I went within this megacity. After growing up in complete nature, in a small ecovillage where cars aren't even allowed on the roads, it is usually a blessing to get out of the city. The only reason for me to go to most cities is due to the people there, however for travelling itself they are incredibly impractical compared to the small villages and wild nature that you find in between. "Let's have a brief lunch and then you can wander around the place and look for a good spot to set up your tent." Camilla says and closes the door of the car. We walk up the cobblestoned path and reach an open dining area only covered by a roof from which beautiful flowers and other greens are hanging down like a curtain. There lunch awaits and my senses are enthralled by the little fast hummingbirds enjoying their sweet meal from the flower curtain as I hungrily devour mine. I start walking around the green forest that thrives on the sides of the hill and get carried away by the diversity that is flourishing before me. After all this was the first time to really explore nature in Colombia, which is quite different to Scotland or Germany. Big banana leaves and plenty of orange trees mark my path and the light smell of lemongrass lies in the air. After a few hours of wandering I find myself back where I had started, and admittedly I had completely forgotten that I was actually on the search of the best camping spot. I had a lovely dinner which was followed by a little campfire. Camilla's partner Juan tells me stories of the shamans and healers of Colombia as the flames cast shadows into our faces. On my way down the path to my tent I notice that the way before me is lit up by the bright moon instead of street lights and that I am stepping on cobblestones surrounded by green instead of city concrete that is spotted by human faeces (admittedly I wasn't staying in the best part of town). A moment of complete happiness overcame me as I felt grateful that there are spaces like this. I reach my tent - in the end I had set it up close to the kitchen and bathroom (practicality won over aesthetics in this case, and after all it was still a beautiful little spot) and hear a 'dingding' coming from my tablet. That was the sound it made when there was an available wi-fi network. This was the first time of my life that I had internet in my tent, and funnily enough this was not some glamping (glamorous-camping) site but instead a small ecovillage hidden within the the valleys of Colombia. Rather amazing/scary how this kind of technology appears to creep into even the most remote areas of this world. (note: but it is pretty useful when trying to write for my blog)