Kites in the sky, pebbles under the shoes
COLOMBIA | Monday, 21 April 2014 | Views [356] | Scholarship Entry
The wind and the kites are the main characters in the Villa de Leyva (Colombia) festival, which takes place in the first days of August. The wind blows very hard and brings people from all around the country, specially families and university students, who enjoys the festivity in two very different ways. The festival gathers dozens of kite lovers because for some, kites could be a religion. But also young people in their twenties enjoy the holidays, beyond kites.
Villa de Leyva is a little village, and even in the recent houses maintains the colonial Spanish style, with white and wood frontages and pebbles in the streets. For the Wind Festival, the charming hotels get crowded, and the best option for a backpacker is to rent a little space in the back-garden of a hotel, between a stream and trees, and set there a camp tent. The prize is about 10 pesos per day (5 euro), so you can save money for more exciting things, like the typical rides by horse, and go to the Blue Wells, where you can swim in a water as blue as the turquoise sky.
I had just arrived the village and there was my first week in Colombia, so I was alone like an obvious tourist, but in the back porch of the hotel I saw some ‘on their twenties’ playing cards. I asked if I can join them, and with that warm welcome that Colombians used to have with foreign, then I was part of the group.
In the principal square of the village the ragamuffins run while the kites ply the sky. The competition starts and everybody where looking up and following the kites with lot of “oooh” and “aaah”.
The days in Villa de Leyva never seem to end, and even when the streets are empty there was some bars where the ballenato, cumbia and salsa are playing. Colombians dance like no one in Europe, hands in the waist. When even the owner closes the pub, people come back to their tents and try to sleep. But the sun wakes up early in the morning, and it’s better to enjoy the day with a typical Colombian breakfast, perfect to avoid hangovers and to keep the body warm: rib broth. My new friends also wanted to share with me all Colombian culture... with a beer in the hand! So, they teach me how to play “Tejo”, a game where you have to throw a heavy piece and to hit the bull’s eye. There is some gunpowder, and when you get it, it exploit with a little fireworks sound.
I spend the weekend walking along these pebble streets and with the kites over my head. A magical stage for some perfect days in Colombia.
Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip
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