Siddhant and I arrived in Colombia on the 21st of May with a struggling knowledge of Spanish, clothes for every season, and an acceptable amount of trepidation for the coming summer. It was our first time setting foot on the South American continent, and I was insufficiently prepared to be unprepared for all that I didn’t know.
Our community partner, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, has been wonderful and gracious, offering us the opportunity to self-direct our project with the school Nuestra Señora del Carmen Zona de Kuisa in La Guajira. We were granted an amount of agency over everything from the schedules of our working hours to our travels that I had never experienced before. At first, the idea of such independence, as someone who greatly appreciates structure, was nerve-wracking; however, the more we tested the waters of spontaneity and self-sufficiency, the easier and more enjoyable it became.
The stars in Kuisa – notice: what looks like the setting sun is actually the moon! It’s unbelievably bright without urban light pollution.
Last week, we traveled for the second time to the community of Kuisa in rural La Guajira, Colombia. This requires a flight from Bogotá to the city of Riohacha, a four-hour drive from Riohacha to Uribia, and another four-hour drive from the nearest urban center of Uribia to Kuisa. At night, the absence of light pollution means the multitude of stars are indescribable, creating a startlingly beautiful backdrop to an already awe-inspiring setting of mountains and desert vegetation. One afternoon, Siddhant suggested climbing the nearest mountain, and on that whim, we set off on a three-hour hike to climb a mountain on the horizon without a trail.
The view from atop the mountain – In Wayuunaiki, the language spoken by the Wayuu people, mountain is uchi
Sure, I was impaled by a few cacti along the way, but it was more than worth it. The walk there, stopping every so often to see a new bird or lizard, hearing about Wayuu culture from the kids who came along, and sitting atop the boulders implanted in the side of the mountain, overlooking the “trail” or lack thereof that we’d taken to get there. It was, I think, a cumulative metaphor of all that had occurred during our experience in Colombia, although I didn’t realize it at the time. We were, more or less, hiking without a trail this whole summer. There had been challenging situations and periods of discomfort, and yet, I found myself sitting at the top of the mountain more adaptable and comfortable with the discomfort – grateful, in one way or another – for every experience.
That being said, I do think that one thing in particular helped me stay grounded in the midst of lacking a certain structure that I had become accustomed to back home: birds! Colombia, you may be aware,
From upper right to bottom left: Eared Dove, Tropical Mockingbird, Scaled Dove, Great Egret, American Flamingo, Vermilion Flycatcher, Rufous Collared Sparrow, Sparkling Violetear
is host to more species of birds than any other country on Earth, at over 1,900. We barely scratched the surface of that incredible quantity, but here are some of the incredible individuals that we did manage to spot:
There’s a lot of joy to be found in seeing a species for the first time, and for that reason, a lot of people search for birds that are endemic to the country that they are visiting. That being said, I think there’s a lot of slept-on happiness to uncover when seeing a bird for the zillionth time in a new location. The house sparrow, for example, can be found in as broad a range as eastern Australia, Argentina, India,
Iceland, South Africa, and, where I associate it with most, my home. That being said, they aren’t particularly common in Colombia, so spotting a perfectly spherical little guy hopping his way across the table in a restaurant in Riohacha took me by surprise. Finding a house sparrow in Riohacha meant finding a little piece of home in Colombia, and, after spending ten weeks abroad, that was a poignant gift.
As our journey in Colombia draws to a close, I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude for the experiences we’ve had and the people we’ve met. The lessons learned, both expected and unexpected, have shaped me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. From the independence and spontaneity we embraced to the natural and avian wonders we discovered, this summer has been an adventure. I leave Colombia with a lot of memories, a newfound appreciation for flexibility, and an enduring connection to a place that, for a brief but impactful time, felt like home.
Thank you to Siddhant for photos!