Another Dose of Paisas Hospitality
Saturday, September 10th, 20059 September 2005 (Friday) – Manizales to Bogotá, Colombia
As I got ready to leave the hospedaje for a walk around the city, the ladies working at the restaurant-hospedaje seemed to regard me with a lot of curiosity. They stood really close to me, peering right into my eyes as they asked me a whole bunch of interrogative questions about me. Nono, they didn’t mean to intimidate me. They just found me so rare. When they realised I had no friends here in Manizales, and I wanted to walk around, Dignora, one of the ladies, offered to show me around. Wow! That was super hospitable of her! I was certainly very surprised. “Oh… gracias… pero, solo si no te molesto!” (Oh… thanks… but only if it does not bother you!). There was a chorus of ‘nononono’ coming from both of them and even, from an old man who was a customer sitting at the table, having his breakfast. Hahaa…
Dignora took me walking to the major sights around Manizales, the Cathedral, the sculpture of Bolivar with a condor’s body, down Carrera 23 the main shopping street, even all the way to the bull-fighting stadium. When we passed by her apartment, she invited me up.
Soon, I met her cousins, Heidi and Lucia and their babies. Heidi was busy preparing lunch but Lucia was terribly interested in me, asking me all sorts of questions about myself, my life, my travels, my family. Wow, they were so nice to me! Again, when I left Medellin, I never imagined I would receive such hospitality from strangers in a new town. I had just thought I would spend a simple day walking around Manizales and then, take the bus to Bogotá at night. Wow wow wow… the paisas hospitality is indeed amazing!
Later, Dignora, Lucia, with her toddler son in tow, took me to Monumento de los Colonizadores, again, a very impressive sculpture constructed right at the top of a hill, I think, one of the highest hills in Manizales. Fantastic view and truly, wonderful company. Lucia’s toddler son started to fret soon after as he was very tired. Time for his afternoon nap, maybe. So, when we returned home, I thanked them and bade farewells. Gosh, I was worried about Dignora’s job, but she did not seem to bother about returning to the restaurant-hospedaje, haha!
I hung out all over the centre, listening to music on the plazas in the evening, browsing shops in the shopping mall, and returning to the hospedaje to wait out the rest of the night til my bus to Bogotá. I do not imagine I would sleep a wink tonight as I think the route is through more mountainous roads, windy all the way.
swesn