Caravana Blog #2

Colombia

Day 2: Sightseeing and first Caravana gathering

A mild jetlag had us wide awake at around 6 AM this morning, but, with breakfast starting at 7 AM we were able to make good use of the day. For us the early breakfast was also a good moment to meet some of the Caravana delegates: for Wout a nice moment to catch up with familiar faces from the previous Caravana missions. For me personally, very inspiring to meet so many people motivated to work for the greater cause.

Christian Di Nardo, an Italian lawyer focussed on criminal law will be our roommate this week and will also be our traveling companion when we fly to Cartagena tomorrow. Gemma Sunyer, one of the driving forces of the Caravana organisation, is the fourth and final member of the Cartagena Group.

By way of team building activity, after breakfast Wout, Christian and myself decided to do the one hour hike from our hotel to the top of Cerro Monserrate, a 3100 meter high mountain that offers a spectacular view over the city of Bogotá. Honestly, we sort of underestimated the hike’s difficulty, but its steep steps and endless curves didn’t stop us from making it to the top, where the magnificent white Monastery of Monserrate awaited us with a warm welcome and a nice hot meal. After strolling back to our hotel with tired legs, we went through the agenda for the next week one last time and prepare ourselves for the official opening of this years Caravana.

At 7 PM, it was time to gather in the hotel lobby, meet the entire delegation and open the Caravana with a cozy dinner in the city center of Bogotá. We finished off the evening Colombia style, with a couple of drinks in a salsa bar.

As of tomorrow there will be little time left for sightseeing anymore, due to the fact that our schedule is completely booked with meetings as of then. Tomorrow’s first Caravana meeting is scheduled at 9 AM, after which the delegation will be divided into groups of 3 or 4 delegates and proceed to the airport to fly to the several focus regions, being Cali, Medellin, Pasto, Bucaramanga and Cartagena.