From Cartagena to Medellin on bus, you have to pass through the department of Cordoba. The trip takes 14 hours, so we considered cutting the trip in two by stopping in Monteria, the capital of Cordoba. And a friend living in Medellin had told me about a beautiful and un-touristy island a bit north of Monteria. Sounded perfect !
We told our host in Barranquilla about our tentative plan. He recoiled in horror. “Oh, no, please don’t go there.” We were a bit skeptical. This is just one guy talking, who doesn’t even live in the region. We were not yet convinced.
Then he told us about the reality of the life in the campo. Around the country (all well beyond the beaten tourist trail), you have several armed and competing groups who demand a fee from the local farmers…or else. Very mafia-style. They call this fee a vacuna. A vaccine. For protection against a virus called…armed bandits. There are least five such groups extracting money from the farmers. The most famous is of course the FARC, but there are plenty of paramilitary, guerrilla, and other criminal groups to go around. Some sad regions have all of these groups competing, meaning the locals need to pay five or six vacunas. Cordoba is such a region.
Later on, we spoke to two other Cordobans, independently. They concurred. They had both left the area because of the violence and assured us that our white-ish skin and large-ish backpacks would attract the attention of one or more of the armed groups providing vaccinations.
We started to get the point, but I was going to do a bit of research to make sure. One of the first articles that Google presented me was regarding two students from Bogota who were shot to death in January because they took photos on the beach. They were mistaken for journalists. I love beach photos, but I don’t want to be mistaken for a journalist. The next article spoke of the 500 unsolved murders last year. In one single department, with a small capital city with small towns and villages and farms around it. Something like Iowa.
Each region, each department of the country is known for its special characteristics. Bogota is the cultural center of the country , Paisas in Medellin are known for their business savy, the Costenos for fast-talkin' and slow-movin', and Cali is world famous for Salsa dancing. And Cordoba is known for its massacres. And I haven’t yet been vaccinated against massacres. Is that part of the MMR vaccine : Measles Massacres and Rubella ?
We told our host in Barranquilla about our tentative plan. He recoiled in horror. “Oh, no, please don’t go there.” We were a bit skeptical. This is just one guy talking, who doesn’t even live in the region. We were not yet convinced.
Then he told us about the reality of the life in the campo. Around the country (all well beyond the beaten tourist trail), you have several armed and competing groups who demand a fee from the local farmers…or else. Very mafia-style. They call this fee a vacuna. A vaccine. For protection against a virus called…armed bandits. There are least five such groups extracting money from the farmers. The most famous is of course the FARC, but there are plenty of paramilitary, guerrilla, and other criminal groups to go around. Some sad regions have all of these groups competing, meaning the locals need to pay five or six vacunas. Cordoba is such a region.
Later on, we spoke to two other Cordobans, independently. They concurred. They had both left the area because of the violence and assured us that our white-ish skin and large-ish backpacks would attract the attention of one or more of the armed groups providing vaccinations.
We started to get the point, but I was going to do a bit of research to make sure. One of the first articles that Google presented me was regarding two students from Bogota who were shot to death in January because they took photos on the beach. They were mistaken for journalists. I love beach photos, but I don’t want to be mistaken for a journalist. The next article spoke of the 500 unsolved murders last year. In one single department, with a small capital city with small towns and villages and farms around it. Something like Iowa.
Each region, each department of the country is known for its special characteristics. Bogota is the cultural center of the country , Paisas in Medellin are known for their business savy, the Costenos for fast-talkin' and slow-movin', and Cali is world famous for Salsa dancing. And Cordoba is known for its massacres. And I haven’t yet been vaccinated against massacres. Is that part of the MMR vaccine : Measles Massacres and Rubella ?
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