Canopy tours are mass transportation in Colombia

In Costa Rica I had the chance to glide through the different cables belonging to several Canopy Tour outfitters in Monteverde Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, there have been many debates about who created this means of "seeing the canopy" and some people tried to copyright the idea, stating they had invented it in 1995.

With a helmet, thick padded leather gloves, a professional climbing harness and superior grade carabinners, my friends and I were sent off with plenty of instructions regarding our safety and the dire evils that would befall us were we not to pay attention to their warnings of what we shouldn´t do. We also had to sign a release form.

Today, while watching TV, on Señal Colombia I saw a special on a particular means of transportation, and wasn´t I surprised to see the Canopy zip lines! However, this is no tourist attraction, it is a means of transportation which in 30 seconds bridges the gap between two provinces: Cundinamarca and Meta, while crossing over the Negro River. The other option, by road, takes between 2 and 4 hours.

Back in 2001, this means of transportation was about to be eliminated. Some city slicker, operating on the belief that they were righting a wrong, decided that these 18 cables which have been used daily for more than 40 years (and have been maintained by community members), were a danger to society and should be eliminated. None were more surprised than the neighbors who use this cable to get to the market, to bring groceries or to take livestock from one mountain to the next. In all this time they´ve had the cable, casualties can be counted in one hand, and fingers are left over.


As one community member mentioned on the TV interview: "If this cable is to be outlawed, they should forbid airplanes, buses and cars. Imagine, if someone has an accident in this cable, one life is lost. If someone has an accident with a bus, dozens of innocent lives are lost".

The documentary took me out of my comfort zone: I saw children happily stepping into doubled up rice sacks, getting hung on a pulley and zipping across the chasm right behind their parents. The parents hang on by a rope seat each is responsible of making. They too learned how to ride the zip lines this way. First by seeing their parents load in, stepping into the sack and then zooming off. Their rite of passage is when they are old enough to go off on their own, although one mentioned that he rather likes going tandem with his father, since he gets to enjoy the view while dad does all the breaking. Breaks consist of a upside down v shape that is draped over the cable, and then brought close to the pulley when one needs to stop.

En efecto: cables como esos, llamados tarabitas, o simplemente cabuyas, han sido usados en todas las regiones de Colombia para salvar ríos o abismos desde tiempo inmemorial: figuran en infinidad de grabados de viajeros de los siglos XVIII y XIX, pero existían aun desde antes de la Conquista, cuando ni siquiera eran de acero.

As a matter of fact: cables like these, called "tarabitas" or just ropes, have been used in every Colombian region to cross rivers or chasms since time before time: they appear in countless engravings from travelers in the XVIII and XIX century, and in fact existed even before the time of Conquest, when they weren´t even made of steel.

*text translated from Antonio Caballero´s article.

The cables in Guayabetal, Cundinamarca have been made by the people, hung by the people and are used by the people. Crossing is free, and everyone brings their own equipment, which is inexpensively available. People have options, and they choose this one. It is part of their culture, which they pass on to the non-initiated. A 15 year old escorts a grown woman on her first ride. Women in labor are zipped down to get them quickly to the hospital. Pigs, livestock, tree trunks and groceries are zipped back and forth. It is quick, cheap, ecological and practical. This is the one true public means of transportation for the people and by the people.

Images taken from Señal Colombia´s TV broadcast, by the old fashioned method of snapping pictures at the screen.

Shopping and eating disorders

Most adults shake their heads and wonder why anorexia and bulimia are in the rise in Medellin, when it is easy for any young woman to know. Clothing in stores comes in two styles: fashionable and frumpy. Guess which sizes match each style.

I went shopping today, and it is amazing how a short trip into a store could make me feel like a blimp. I´ve lost a lot of weight, and I still feel like I need to be half my size to look well dressed.

This is one of those things I miss from my visits to the US. The fact that I could find clothing that fit, and was designed to look good on my body. Here, the latest fashions are just scaled up: so if I can get something my size, it is a skinny jean that makes me look like an ice cream cone with muffin top to boot, or a shirred top that sticks to .every. curve.

I even made a mistake and tried on a bathing suit. Brr. I won´t go into details but let´s just say that I hated the experience. I wanted to hide under a rock and never again see the light of day with anything less than jeans and a long sleeved shirt.

But this time it was much different than 15 pounds ago back in February when I first tried to go shopping. Today I did manage to bring home a jean. I had to search in the "woman´s" department among muu muus and elasticized waist pants, but I found a pair of jeans that makes me look good and doesn´t go up to my arm pits. It was also under my budget, which was amazing, since it seems my taste goes with very high prices I can´t afford.

There´s a lot of pressure to be really thin here, and I´m constantly reminded how being naturally curvy isn´t as accepted as having a silicone implant chest. That´s my explanation for the bathing suit I tried on. It seemed that the sizes referred only to the chest, and the rest of the suit was left more or less intact, perfect for a size 6.