Colombia
Up In The Mountains
Above Cali ~ by Jacky Akelsberg
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Known
for its coffee and beautiful women, Colombia is a country with access to
both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, an innumerable amount of fauna and
flora, and incredible peaceful landscapes. On the southwest of Colombia
we find Cali, one of its major cities. Cali is a party city, every night
you will find a place to go clubbing with the most beautiful women you
have ever seen all dancing to salsa. Now, don’t get me wrong I love partying
as much as the next guy but you get to a point where you want to put all
the noise behind you and just relax. Fortunately, if you are already in
Cali you won’t have to look far for such a place.
After a twenty
minute drive north of the city you will reach the beginning of the road
to Dapa, a mountain town on the western mountain ridge of Colombia; it
is one of the few places up in the mountains that you can visit worry free
of encountering any sort of military trouble. Before it was dangerous to
go up to Dapa, but it hasn’t been for over 3 years. On this trip I was
heading up there with my family and my dog to my house which is around
twenty to thirty minutes up the hill. On the foot of the mountain a stream
that comes down from the mountain and ends up in a natural pool where all
the locals bathe every Sunday while eating Arepas and Chorizos. The weather
was great, it was incredibly sunny yet a cold breeze came down from the
mountain and as we got higher and higher it got cooler and cooler.
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Countryside
on the way up to Dapa.
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Jacky's
farm in the hills above Cali.
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Before
we actually got to the entrance of Dapa, which is marked by the town church,
we made a couple of stops on the way up. There are little kiosks on the
way up selling a wide a variety of the local food and entertainment. Orejas,
Obleas, Leche de Cabra, Bofe, are just a few of the foods you can stop
and snack on before you make it to the amazing restaurants at the top of
the mountain. There is a motocross track where many of the people from
Cali ride and in virtually every little hill of the mountain you will find
at least thirty families flying kites - you look up to the skies and it’s
kite heaven! However, the kite season goes down during the first months
of the year when the windy season ends. The church that marks the beginning
of the town is also the meeting point for “cabalgatas”; next to it are
a couple of “tienditas” (Variety Shops), and more food stops. A “cabalgata”
is when a bunch of people get together in horses and follow a certain trail
or path. “Cabalgatas” are organized all year round in Cali by different
farm owners; however the great ones are in the months of July thru August.
Here the town unites in what turns out to be a gathering of more than 150
people riding on more than 100 horses all drinking “Aguardiente” (Licorish
Alcohol) listening to “rancheras” (typical music) and those who aren’t
riding are walking along or driving along the ride. There is one “cabalgata”
every Saturday, each one going through a different path than the one before.
It usually takes around 5 hours for the whole trip, but there have been
some that last over eight hours. The “cabalgatas” are one of the attractions
that I enjoy the most about Dapa since you go places unavailable to cars
and pollution with beautiful scenery all around. |
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you are in the town you see amazing restaurants that families from Cali
visit on Sundays, surrounded by the most peaceful, greenery and a beautiful
town. The people are amazing, and as you go up it just gets more spectacular.
After the paved road ends, around 15 minutes after you’ve passed the church,
you reach the entrance to my house. If we would’ve kept on going up the
mountain we would’ve run into a couple of more farms and then fields and
fields of coffee, followed by miles and miles of forest. In order to get
to my actual house we drive down into the mountain through a pine forest
that seems endless, until it finally clears into a view of the whole city
bounded by mountains, as if the mountains were the frame of a city that
once was so loud and lighted but from this distance seems calm and soothing;
it’s astonishing. Near my house you can find cabins for tourists with hot
tubs (which in this cold weather make for a perfect match) and steam baths.
Amongst the many things that the locals do, I can include soccer games,
riding “columpio de vuelo”, and sliding down the side of the mountain in
cardboard cutouts. Out of the edges of the mountains you also see many
hand gliders and canopy riders that fill up the skies with colors with
their immense kites and multicolored canopies.
Within the
gap between houses, there are walking trails that go deep into the heart
of the mountains. The trails lead to creeks, rivers, mountain tops and
small lagoons where you can bathe, if you can handle the cold; if you can
they are very invigorating. Along the trails you can play Tarzan and swing
on long and strong “bejucos” (vines) that have been around for as long
as I can remember. If you get hungry, you can feast on a banquet of diverse
berries and edible plants and roots, which a guide can show you. |
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Once you reach
the town of Dapa, you may ask anywhere for directions as people in the
town are extremely friendly. At night many of the people go back down to
Cali, but a place to relax up in the mountains is still found in many of
the restaurants which have excellent views and are serene at night: an
excellent place to have a couple of beers.
It is such
relaxing time in Dapa that you’ll let go of all your problems and the rest
of the world. The only problem is that time flies in Dapa, a week seems
like 3 days. Whether you’re riding horses through rivers and mountain paths
that lead to endless coffee fields or hiking under a cool breeze to natural
pools, you will never run out of things to do.
If you would
like to contact Jacky Click Here
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