Colombia learning trip, part 1

(a view of Bogotá from the eastern mountain)

I set out from Managua on March 12 with a group of 9 of my students from the theology program at the university. Our destination: Bogotá, Colombia. Our purpose: to learn about how the Colombian Anabaptist churches (Brethren in Christ, Mennonite, and Mennonite Brethren) do peacemaking and conflict transformation work, and that the students bring back ideas for their own ministry contexts here in Nicaragua.

Our challenge: 12 days, 5 cities, and an altitude of 8,660 ft. for the majority of the trip.

(loading up the bus for the airport in San José)

We set out by bus to San José, Costa Rica, where we spent one night. We then woke up early and flew from San José to Bogotá. We spent several days in Bogotá, and then we hopped on a bus, southwest for about 5 hours to the city of Ibagué. This was followed by another bus, about 3.5 hours west over the mountains to the city of Armenia. And then yet another bus, 4 hours south to Cali. Fortunately we didn't have to retrace our steps by bus; we flew from Cali back to Bogotá, which only takes 30 minutes by air.

(the group with a view of Cali)

We wrapped up our time with 2 more days in the capital before the students headed back to Managua. Beth and Simon then joined me for a retreat in Bogotá.

I'll be writing more installments in the days to come, but here are a few initial impressions:

- Bogotá is immense, compared to Managua. At least 8 million people call Bogotá home, whereas there are only about 5.5 million people in all of Nicaragua.

- government, guerrilla, and drug violence has forced 5 million Colombians from their homes, most being poor rural farmers and their families. That's nearly as many displaced people as live in all of Nicaragua.

- Colombians don't eat tortillas...they eat arepas. They're both made from corn meal, but arepas are smaller, thicker, and often include extras like cheese, meat, sugar, or butter. Nicaraguan tortillas are flat, often the size of a plate, and made of just plain corn meal mixed with a little water.

- Colombian coffee gets its reputation as good coffee for a reason...it was no joke!

- We tasted the best hot chocolate we've ever had while in Colombia!