La Niña is back. She's been blamed for the flooding in Australia and the blizzard in the US as well as the mega-tornadoes of late. Well, in Colombia, she's turned the wet season into a wet year...and it's not over yet !
A lot of the rain soaks into the earth so that up to 30 % of its weight is water weight. Then it comes crashing down at 80 km/h. If it's above the road, you get a mountain of dirt, clay, and rocks on the road. If you're lucky, only half the road is covered. If it's below the road, you lose some of the road. If you're lucky, at least half of the road remains.
In fact, as you drive, you see evidence of a landslide every 20 seconds up in the hills. They're everywhere. On the roads, you can't go farther than 5 km without encountering one. And it's like that all over the mountainous part of the country.
On our first excursion away from the city, we took the night bus to El Cocuy, a little village below a national park of the same name. It's more than 400 km away from Tunja, where we started. In the States or in Europe, that translates into 4 hours on a major highway or 5 hours on smaller roads. On this, our first Colombian bus trip, we spent over 11 hours cooped up in a bus that seemed to lean the wrong way every time we approached one of the world's biggest potholes.
By now we've gotten used to the delays, the traffic jams, and potholes large enough to swallow a bus. And when we ask how long it takes to drive from Tunja to San Gil, the Colombians tell us 2 and half, 3 hours. Ahh, but that's pre-Niña time, bub. 'Cause in post-Niña land, that trips takes 5 and a half hours !
A lot of the rain soaks into the earth so that up to 30 % of its weight is water weight. Then it comes crashing down at 80 km/h. If it's above the road, you get a mountain of dirt, clay, and rocks on the road. If you're lucky, only half the road is covered. If it's below the road, you lose some of the road. If you're lucky, at least half of the road remains.
In fact, as you drive, you see evidence of a landslide every 20 seconds up in the hills. They're everywhere. On the roads, you can't go farther than 5 km without encountering one. And it's like that all over the mountainous part of the country.
 |
| I feel much safer with the yellow tape. |
By now we've gotten used to the delays, the traffic jams, and potholes large enough to swallow a bus. And when we ask how long it takes to drive from Tunja to San Gil, the Colombians tell us 2 and half, 3 hours. Ahh, but that's pre-Niña time, bub. 'Cause in post-Niña land, that trips takes 5 and a half hours !
No comments:
Post a Comment