Living with the Indians

The Arhuacos Indians who live in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta are no big fan of outsiders, let alone foreigners. All Colombians I’ve told the following story are surprised and wonder how I did it.

One evening in their farmhouse in Minca, Ana Maria and her husband Guiseppe had unfolded a big map of Colombia on the kitchen table and showed me all their favorite places. This is also how I learned about Cabo de la Vela (see last post). They told me about Nabusimake, a village not mentioned in the Lonely Planet (travel guide). It’s the capital of the Arhuacos Indians. The area was supposed to be very beautiful and hardly any tourist would go there. Ana Maria and Guiseppe have had a young Aruaco man staying in their house and figured he would be a good guide for mountain walks.

So I went on the road less traveled up into the mountains with the phone number of Emilio de Indian in my pocket. I’ve understood there were some guest houses in Nabusimake. When I got into the car up to Nabusimake, Emilio spoke through my phone to the driver and gave him directions. After more than an hour on a bumpy road and being squeezed between Indians, a school teacher, many boxes of food, a plastic table and chair and my bag pack the driver stopped the car and told me I was there. We were not in a village and still half an hour away from Nabusinake. A man in his mid twenties with long hair and a hat approached the car and introduced himself as Emilio. He took over my bag and guided me to some small houses. It looked like I was not going to stay in a guesthouse in Nabusimake, but here instead. Even better!

Emilio explained this was where he and his family lived. For the moment the only living beings present were some pigs, dogs, chickens and two donkeys. I was brought to a hut with just a hammock and a wooden bench inside. This would be my room. We talked for a while and I had to state the purpose of my visit and promise I would not take pictures (one of the reasons they don’t like outsiders). Soon some family members came in.

At first everybody was a bit shy. In the entire area there had never been a foreign visitor before and they didn’t know what to think of me. But not after long my room became the place to be, especially for the younger children who would ask me many questions and giggled a lot.

The 18 years old sister of Emilio was assigned to be my guide and together we’ve made beautiful walks into the mountains. One afternoon we walked even through the cold pouring rain. She was always carrying with her the woolen bag she was making on and worked while walking.

Meals were funny. I had told the mother of Emilio I would eat whatever they would eat too, so I ate boiled potatoes with cooked green banana (breakfast), boiled potatoes with rice (lunch) and one evening they made me boiled potatoes with extremely salted and boney fish. The good thing was there was fruit everywhere. On walks we picked blackberries, mandarins, passion fruits and tree tomatoes. You could pick whatever you wanted even from the neighbors’ field. Nobody would pick more then they would use and there was an abundance of everything. Between each other they 'd not use money, but trade. We would pick a few mandarins, come to another house, give the mandarins and receive some eggs.

I had a great time with this family in the mountains. There were a few buts. Firstly there was no bathroom. When I had asked for a toilet, Emilio’s sister had laughed and with the wide arm gesture she said: in the mountains. Bathing was to be done in the river next to the house, but the water was freezing!!!! And then there were the nights. Until around two the climate was friendly, but after that it would rain and get cold .I would sleep in a hammock and had only one woolen blanket to keep me warm. I would put on all the clothes I had, curl up in the hammock and still wake up in the middle of the night because of the cold.

After some days I was desperate for a warm shower, a real toilet and a comfortable bed. The mother of Emilio almost cried when I left and asked me to come back soon, but bring some extra blankets next time. All in all it was an amazing experience and now, after telling my story to several Colombians, I realize it was also a very unique experience.

The only picture I have is the one you find below. The family allowed me to take a picture of the little pigs and on the background you can see the hut I slept in.