My Barber Is A Secular Humanist

Across the street from the Wandering Paisa Hostel is my favorite barber. Hair culture in Colombia is something men take very seriously. While the euro mullet has made its impact on Medellín, it isn’t the end-all of haircuts. Men here keep it short and trimmed, with barbers often spending more time on sideburns than on the entire haircut. For this reason, haircuts are extremely cheap, often no more than $2-4. I’m always quick to specify my desire to avoid the “business in front, party in back” style, which this time, elicited a large smile from the elder barber who told me “those kids look like little rat gangsters anyways.” He then proceeded to ask me about where I was from, what I was doing, etc. Then the conversation turned to religion. When asked about religion, I always say the religion of my family (historically Protestant), just because Catholicism is so important here and I’d hate to be figured for some Godless gringo. “So what are you protesting?” he chuckled, before quipping some anecdotes about the Pope and Martin Luther. I asked him if he was Catholic and he laughed, asking what makes one Catholic, appearing to be disillusioned with mainstream Colombia’s interpretation. He then started to talk about the “Pachamama” or Mother-Nature spirit of all living things: “The most true spirits that I have observed are with the indigenas (indigenous peoples) and their ceremonies. They have a profound respect for all things living and a strict adherence to a set of codes that is existent virtually nowhere in Western religion.” My barber said he attempts to embody the indigenous...

Freedom of Movement

Freedom of Movement Flying back from Bogota to Medellín, I gazed down at the winding mountain roads below me. Bogota – Medellín (roughly 160 miles) by plane takes 30 minutes, while a bus ride lasts 8-9 hours (not including any rain/mudslide delays). Most of the transportation infrastructure in Colombia consists of these windy roads that criscross the 3 mountain ranges that span through the majority of the country. Proximity has obviously been a huge element in the shaping of Colombian history, namely the difficulty in reaching and governing over the 440+ square miles of the countryside from the department capitals, let along the national capital in Bogota. Bogotanos talk about the time before the tunnel connecting them to Villavicencio was constructed, taking 4-6 hours to reach the town only 50 miles away on dangerous mountain roads, now the trip only takes 90 minutes. Tunnels have been talk of the town here in Medellín, especially with the torrential rains and mudslides that have battered the country since last November. A proposed tunnel linking Medellín to its international airport purposes to change the driving time from 1 hour to only 20 minutes. Tunnels’ successes can be viewed towards the establishment of Santa Fe de Antioquia as a rising tourist attraction; while not much different than other colonial towns in Antioquia, it is the most easily accessed from Medellín because of the Tunel de Occidente. Perhaps most shocking of all is to learn that in ALL of Colombia, there are less than 300 kilometers of two-lane, two-way roads. While this might seem an explication for the road traveling woes facing the country,...

Mountain Kings

“El Rey de las montañas” is what they call the most famous Colombian cyclist, Martin “Cochise” Rodriguez, who managed some incredible dominance of the Tour de France’s mountain stages in the Sixties. Paisa cyclists have always had the edge in mountain stages, as cycling in Antioquia mandates the exploration (and consequent climbing) of its innumerable hills and peaks. Elizabeth and I selected a route marked “easy” from a local cycling site, 95 km in total, but not the longest distance I’ve ever ridden. Basically, there are two ways to get to the Eastern plateau above Medellín, The Las Palmas Highway and the Medellín Bogota Highway. The former has a nefarious reputation for breaking wills as well as rupturing lungs as its 17 km climb twists and turns along one of the most beautiful views of the city. We opted for the MDE-BOG Hwy route due to its more gradual climb. Unfortunately, we opted to leave at midday, subjecting us to the harsh rays of the sun during our ascent. Elizabeth and I had done hills in the area before, but nothing like this: 2 1/2 hours of solid climbing, with very few changes in the grade. Sweat was pouring out of us faster than we could ingest liquids. We saw some smarter cyclists who had made the ascent early in the morning enjoying the midday sun on their coast back down to Medellín. Every turn we took, I expected to see the summit, only to be disappointed by another switchback, it was pretty miserable. At one point, after reaching a tunnel, we agreed that if we didn’t reach the...