Life in The Mountains of Colombia
This morning, I woke up in a cloud forest, which has become an everyday occurrence if I wake up early enough.
It's the rainy season here on my mountain, and I do not know how long it will last. The rains come at night and last until just before dawn or sometimes until late morning.
As I sit and write this, the sun is beginning to peek out from behind the clouds. The cool morning air still has a bite to it, which requires me to load up on a hot drink and stay bundled in my sweater.
When I first moved to Colombia, I didn't imagine I would ever need to wear a sweater. I should probably rephrase that to stay: I never imagined I would live in Colombia, and especially somewhere I would need a sweater.
It is not that cold, but the cold/rainy nights are one of my favorite things about where I live. When the rainy season is gone, I will miss the gentle tapping of the rain on my tin roof and waking up engulfed in a cloud.
When I explain to people that I live in Colombia, I mostly get questions about safety. So many people seem to concern themselves that I can not make a proper decision on my own, and they like to hammer home that ¨Colombia is dangerous¨.
I smile, nod, and think about how they know nothing about the world outside their tiny minds.
Moving to Colombia was not a decision I thought hard about after traveling around the world for six years, living in Colombia previously, and enjoying it. It was the natural next move.
I also lived in Argentina for a year, but I always longed for the mountains in Colombia. Some people, when I tell them I live here, Colombia, I get asked haven't you visited countries in Europe. We think you would like it there better, or what about somewhere in the US that also has mountains?
I often stop talking when people think they know how to run my life better than I do. After traveling over, to be honest, I don't count countries, but a lot. I would reminisce about the lifestyle and beauty of the mountains I now call home.
To answer the question, have I been to European countries?
Yes, did I ever want to move to any of them? No.
I always dreamed of what it would be like to live in a particular country. When I was in Georgia over the summer, I loved those mountains; the Caucuses are some of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen.
I thought I could stay there but never felt content or satisfied with that idea. Could I have stayed there, I am sure? Did it feel like home? No.
Every day I spend here, whether I am just traveling through it or now that I have officially made it home, I always feel a sense of home.
Even though I will never belong, as I will always be a foreigner, I feel as if I belong to Mother Nature, and these mountains are what she has guided me towards. The beauty that surrounds me every single day makes my entire body happy.
From the cows to the birds, rainy nights, and clouds, it is as if I live in heaven on earth.
Yet it is interesting how we each have our happy place. Mine is here in the mountains of Colombia.
I have also met many travelers who talk the same way about other countries, such as Ecuador, Peru, or Argentina. Some fall in love with Brazil's beaches or maybe Tuscany's rolling hills.
They are all beautiful places, but none have called me home. I will remain in my little slice of heaven, on a mountain far away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
XOXO
S
The place you call home. you feel it. That feeling gets down into the marrow of your bones. This is EXACtLY what I yearn for, that place I call home. Never mind it might (and likely will be) a foreign country. Bur for me, there is no greater feeling in the world, that that where I live and never feel an urge to "get away from it" -which for me is the tell, when I never want to run away. This is a beautiful read and Colombia reads magical. Thank you for sharing your magic with us.
I really loved it when I visited. The cities have a bit of chaos, but it's an organized chaos that doesn't exist in the states. The States creates the chaos, Colombians manage it.