A breath of fresh air is hard to come by in Medellin, but you can get a break from the constant soundtrack of car horns, sirens and shouts of “a mil a mil a mil, mangos a mil!” with hiking group El caminero.
The group has been leading hikes in the outskirts of Medellin for two years, and organizes a different hike every two weeks.
We met bright and early Saturday morning at San Diego mall, near downtown Medellin. Despite the early hour, the other hikers were full of energy and decked out in full hiking gear – boots, CamelBaks, running tights – apparel you don’t see Paisas don just any day. It was clear that many of the hikers knew one another, giving friendly greetings and pats on the back as people arrived. Indeed, El caminero founder Andres Angel Gomez said many of the group members have been attending hikes from the very beginning.
“We began to form a type of family and this is what we wanted to create, because the thing that interests us most is to hike with friends and have discussions, or simply contemplate the mountain and nature,” Gomez said.
The group grew out of a hiking magazine that Gomez started with two partners in 2006. A lifelong outdoors-type studying journalism, Gomez developed the plan for the magazine as his graduation project. Now sold in stores in Medellin, El caminero covers the hiking and outdoors scene in Antioquia. It is published every three months, and is also available throughout Colombia by subscription. Gomez said readers of the magazine began to approach him and ask him to lead hikes on the routes he wrote about for El caminero.
“Many people were like, ‘hey, why don’t you bring us to the places you show in the magazine?” Gomez said. “So a year later we planned the first hike.”
The trip started with a bus ride about 35 miles outside Medellin to the town of La Union. The trip there wound us through the mountains and around lush, green farms. After a nourishing breakfast of hot chocolate, eggs and arepa con queso, we got back on the bus to head to the starting point of our hike. Before starting out, the group did a series of stretches and warm-ups to prepare for the day of hiking. Our path would bring us 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) from La Union to the neighboring town of Mesopotamia.
The sky was blue and relatively cloud-free, a small miracle these days in Colombia. The country is experiencing the worst rainy season in decades, and Medellin receives some precipitation nearly every day. The combination of sunlight and fresh air clearly had an effect on the group’s disposition, with people talking animatedly and catching up on the gossip. The group represented a diverse age range, with the oldest hiker being 62 and the youngest just 11. Gomez said each month there is one difficult and one easier hike, so people of any age or ability can participate.
Juan Rafael Rodriguez, who helps Gomez plan the hikes and also acts as a guide, said he learns and sees new things on every hike. He also said the hikes are a great chance for people to relax and spend time with one another outdoors.
“Hikes are inherently a space to share with people, because people naturally open up,” Rodriquez said. “At the beginning there are people who are very reserved, very quiet, and they slowly they open up. We aren’t politically or religiously affiliated or against any type of person, so people gradually open up and begin talking and chatting freely.”
Our hike was one of medium difficulty, rated a three on El caminero’s five-point scale of difficulty. Diana Cristina Panesso, who has participated in eight of El caminero’s hikes, said there are hikes for all interests and abilities. Panesso found out about El caminero through an invitation on Facebook, and began participating in the hikes to disconnect from everyday life and connect with nature.
Due to the heavy rains, much of the path we made our way along was extremely muddy. Some puddle jumping and navigation around piles of muck was required, but most were well prepared with hiking or rain boots. I was unfortunately not adequately outfitted, and my tennis shoes are now more grey than they are white. At midday, we stopped for lunch on the banks of Rio Piedras. The hearty members of the group took a leisurely swim in the chilly waters while the rest of the group ate and dozed in the sun.
The final kilometers of the hike were steeper than the beginning, winding up and down the mountains and bringing us into the town of Mesopotamia. The group did another set of stretches, then relaxed with snacks in the town square. Through the glinting sunlight, it began to rain just as we were getting on the bus. A rainbow spread over the neighboring valley as we descended back towards Medellin.
El caminero doesn’t have any hikes planned for the rest of the year, but will continue the excursions twice every month in 2011. Rodriguez said the group has yet to repeat the same route, but next year they will repeat some that people seemed to enjoy the most.
In the near future, Gomez also hopes to increase the visibility of the magazine by making it bilingual as well as making it available online. The website currently only includes a few articles, as well as hiking routes that can be downloaded to a GPS device. Gomez said that founding El caminero magazine and hiking group has and allowed him to focus on what he’s passionate about; “going to the forest, going to the mountains, and seeing the flora and fauna.”
{japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_1.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_2.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_3.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_4.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_5.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_6.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_7.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_8.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_9.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_10.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_11.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup} {japopup type=”image”content=”pics/2010/foto/el_caminero_12.jpg” title=”El Caminero”}
{/japopup}
