"First encounter with two Niños Indio" Colombia
(Kodachrome 25) Artsediments©2010
(English)
When I was in South America, I arrived in Colombia and I started traveling south by bus. The plan was simple: all the way down to Chile, and then turn left to Argentina and all the way up to Brazil. I did enjoy Colombia, that at the time was relatively safe. Meaning you could get robbed or killed, but it was unlikely to be kidnapped. I read there "100 Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez. I was reading and seeing what the book was talking about at the same time, quite an experience. When I finished the book, I throw the book out of the bus window, leaving it where it belonged. A sign of respect to the author and the country, at least in my mind.
But what I was really looking for as I traveled south through Colombia was to meet face to face the indios culture. Not to much of it was left in Bogota. I found the Colombian society is sometime quite racist, with very clear demarcation among the blancos, mistos and indios. And I discovered that it is not uncommon for ordinary Colombians to despise deeply Indios, sometimes describing them as ugly, dirty and primitives. My first encounter with them was at the border with Ecuador. It was raining so much that everything I had with me was soaked. I had to walk for about two hours to reach their village. A neat little village with freshly painted houses. No one was outside, because the rain. Than all of the sudded I saw the two little children. Beautifully dressed with skirts of a sumptuous ultramarine blue and borsalino hats. Talking among themselves. Smiling. A vision...
When I was in South America, I arrived in Colombia and I started traveling south by bus. The plan was simple: all the way down to Chile, and then turn left to Argentina and all the way up to Brazil. I did enjoy Colombia, that at the time was relatively safe. Meaning you could get robbed or killed, but it was unlikely to be kidnapped. I read there "100 Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez. I was reading and seeing what the book was talking about at the same time, quite an experience. When I finished the book, I throw the book out of the bus window, leaving it where it belonged. A sign of respect to the author and the country, at least in my mind.
But what I was really looking for as I traveled south through Colombia was to meet face to face the indios culture. Not to much of it was left in Bogota. I found the Colombian society is sometime quite racist, with very clear demarcation among the blancos, mistos and indios. And I discovered that it is not uncommon for ordinary Colombians to despise deeply Indios, sometimes describing them as ugly, dirty and primitives. My first encounter with them was at the border with Ecuador. It was raining so much that everything I had with me was soaked. I had to walk for about two hours to reach their village. A neat little village with freshly painted houses. No one was outside, because the rain. Than all of the sudded I saw the two little children. Beautifully dressed with skirts of a sumptuous ultramarine blue and borsalino hats. Talking among themselves. Smiling. A vision...
(Italian)
In Sud America, arrivai in Colombia e mi diressi a sud con gli autobus. Un piano semplice: giu' fino al Cile, e poi a sinistra in Argentina e su fino al Brasile. La Colombia mi piacque. Al tempo era relativamente sicura. Il che significa che si poteva essere derubati o uccisi, ma era improbabile che si fosse rapiti. Lessi lì "100 anni di solitudine"di Gabriel García Márquez. Leggevo e al contempo vedevo ciò di cui il libro parlava, una esperienza particolare. Quando ebbi finito il libro, lo buttai fuori dal finestrino dell'autobus, lasciandolo nel luogo in cui apparteneva. Un segno di rispetto per l'autore e il paese nella mia testa.
Ma quello che cercavo davvero mentre viaggiavo attraverso la Colombia era il mio primo incontro con la cultura Indios. Non molti Indios a Bogotà. La società colombiana mi parve piuttosto razzista, con demarcazioni molto chiare tra mistos blancos e indios. E spesso i Colombiani disprezzavano profondamente gli Indios, descrivendoli come brutti, sporchi e primitivi. Il mio primo incontro gli Indios avvenne al confine con l'Ecuador. Pioveva così tanto che tutto quello che avevo con me era totalmente zuppo. Dovetti camminare per circa due ore per raggiungere il loro villaggio. Un villaggio piccolo e pulito, con le case dipinte di fresco. Per strada non c'era nessuno, a causa della pioggia. Ad un tratto vidi i due bambini. Splendidamente vestiti con le gonne di tessuto di lana di un sontuoso blu oltremare e cappelli Borsalino. Parlavano tra loro, sorridendo. Una visione che non dimenticherò mai ...
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