Hands clutching the wheel. Subtle pedal pressures regulating velocity. Eyes trained on the road, attempting in vain to avoid the distractions of passers by. This is what we know and expect from life on the road, but the occurrences that we have not been able to foresee are the ones that have most opened our eyes.
More likely than not, only if traveling by car would you stumble upon the town of Usenda in southwestern Colombia. Only if you’ve arrived via car would you find Usenda by padding through several miles of mud-soaked cow pastures. Only through the incremental nature of a journey by car would you come to meet Don Emilio and Don Germán who, out of respect for how far you’ve come by car, offer you several swigs of Caucano (a strong local elixir made from sugar cane) and the pleasure of their company. And, perhaps, only by car would you feel a swelling of pride that you’ve made it this far, to Usenda.
When driving from Cartagena towards the Ecuadorian border, it is likely that a route will eventually pass through or near the the city of Popoyán. Ours certainly did, and the search for a decent place to camp led us to a large property in the hills near Silvia at an altitude above 9,000 feet. A home that, so we were told, had previously belonged to a high-ranking member of the infamous Calí Cartel. The house was eerily empty, as the Moroccan owners were off on a different adventure. The caretaker, and our host in their absence, described a trail to a nearby village that we deemed a worthy use of what remained of the dwindling sun, so we set out to find it. Our navigational knowledge of the area was solely directional, meaning that our version of the trail followed no designated route, but passed through half a dozen cow paddocks whose closed gates offered little resistance to our desire to advance tow
📌 The Two Dons of Usenda (Colombia)
🏢 Road Dialogues
📍 Colombia
Postulate a este anuncio
Muestra tus habilidades a la empresa, rellenar el formulario y deja un toque personal en la carta, ayudará el reclutador en la elección del candidato.