Two Cents Tuesday: Colombian Food & Conquering Fears
This past week (my last full week here) has certainly influenced how I feel about Bogotá. In Mexico I did a ton of activities that got me out of the house and deep into Mexican life and culture. Of course, getting sick did hinder my desire to explore towards the beginning of this month, but I recovered it after this weekend. First, I really love traditional Colombian food, which is saying a lot because I MISS TACOS. I'm a fan of the coconut rice, beans, corn, chicken, and tons of avocado. I also really like how all restaurants serve fresh fruit juice, which I why I've become a huge lulo-drinker. We discovered a neighborhood this weekend called Usaquén, which reminded me a lot of Condesa/Roma Norte in Mexico City. Bustling restaurants, hip coffee shops and a massive, multi-street market where I got carried away buying Colombian jewelry for Carnaval. Hopefully I can go back to work there for a day so I can try more of the diners and get fried nutella on a stick from the market.
Beyond just the food and shopping, I got to do something way out of my comfort zone: I went caving (or, spelunking if we are being technical). I knew I was going to do some hiking and at least see a cave, but I had no expectation of putting on a helmet/headlamp, and descending into the cold depths of the earth. We started out hiking near Rocas de Suesca where we were surrounded by the most picturesque scenery I've ever seen (which is saying a lot). It's probably similar to what the Tuscany countryside looks like, but also completely unique to Colombia. We even walked right past the first Colombian to summit Mount Everest, Fernando González-Rubio, who now lives right there in Suesca on a hillside.
Near the opening of the cave we stripped ourselves of all belongings including jackets and water bottles, got our headlamps secured, and started off. As soon as the trees blocked the sun and grass turned to rock, it became frigidly cold. We climbed down into this black hole of a cave and carefully avoided the jutting stones and pools of water (if we only knew what was to come). We had reached our first challenge: the worm crawl. Aptly named since the space is so small you have to squeeze through, almostly completely flat on your belly, using your knees and upper body strength to pull yourself across the slab of rock. If you should slip or fall off the side, you find yourself in waist-deep cave water. It's incredibly difficult, both mentally and physically. The kicker here is, if you should for any reason feel you couldn't worm over the rock, you could opt to wade through the water from the start. I was about halfway through the group and a few people had already chosen this route, which made it very enticing: do I say screw it, and forgo the possible embarrassment of getting stuck during the crawl or falling off? I chose to give it a go, because giving up is the only sure way to fail. It took some verbal encouragement and coaching from my peers behind: "left foot there in that crevice," "use your arms to pull yourself up to the next part," "no, you're not going in the water," "you're going to do it." Out of breath and a banged up knee later, I had wormed through, and was dry as a bone.
If I can do that, I can do anything.
After everyone made it through, whether wet or dry, we stopped for a minute to discuss the indigenous use of this cave. A long time ago, natives who had committed crimes would be sent down into the caves, for an indefinite amount of time, to reflect on their actions and hopefully emerge as a different person. The indigenous people had no light, and remained in the pitch black for 4-5 days, being fed from small openings in the cave. In a ritualistic manner, we took a moment of silence, turned off our headlamps, sat in complete darkness and left whatever burden was weighing on us in the darkness of the cave.
On to the next challenge. At this point I had noticed the spiders (I almost put my hand right into a huge one while grabbing a place in the rock wall) and was forcing myself to stay calm. Around the bend of the cave we straddled a thin pond, again trying to avoid the water as we moved forward. I heard groans of dismay ahead- "We have to do WHAT?" During our pre-caving hike we stopped at the Rocas to give bouldering a try- a form of rock climbing that's low enough to the ground so you use only your hands and and feet to monkey across steep ledges. Most of us said 'no thanks, I don't have the muscle for that.' Well, here we are in a cave and we HAVE to do it. Again, there's a huge body of water underneath this ledge, but this time going in the water isn't an option. Jessica, who went before me, accidently dropped her headlamp in the water, and since it was on, illuminated the murky water. The group watched as the lamp went down, down, down, down, never hitting the bottom, until the light was no longer visible. Nessy, you down there?? There were some moments of extreme anxiety and fear in the group because turning back was also not an option (you can't get out the way we came in). We had to trust our bodies and push ourselves mentally to make it across, which we all did.
Now came the final challenge in the cave. There were only two ways out: more waist-deep water or worming again through a space only as big as your body for a whole minute, no end in visible sight. There was also a huge spider right at the entrance of the crawl space. Yeah, scratch what I said about failure, that size arachnid is where I draw the line.
The upside was that most of us chose the water route because it was actually the cooler way out (literally and figuratively). The pool was massive and the cave ceiling was extremely tall so it felt like we were in a Tomb Raider movie. The downside- the water was Alaskan fishing hole cold. I was pretty much hyperventilating wading through, but successfully emerged on the other side and climbed out into the light! As we scaled the piney hillside from the mouth of the cave to the road, we joked about how we now understand why the indigenous people came out as different people.
Now I can definitely do anything.
My last two cents from Bogotá:
1. Don't stress over getting sick and missing out; you will make up for it eventually.
2. You are your own worst critic, so give yourself a break.
3. Take the time to be alone, quiet, and pig out on mac & cheese and oreos if you feel like it (even on Remote Year).
4. Don't let fear of the fall dictate your life. You can do ANYTHING you want to do. You can even face claustrophobia, spiders and really physically demanding challenges.
5. Be thankful every day for the opportunities you are given. They will shape you in ways you'd never imagine.
Here is a video made by another Remote who braved the caves.
#NP: Nature - KYKO
