Time Is On My Side

Avianca is an airline that has its act together. And as effective ambassador for the country it represents, it suggests that Colombia really has its act together. That was certainly the impression we had on the ground, as well as in the air. 

And I was reminded of a contest I entered when I was about Jasmine's age, to make a poster for Avianca airlines. You had to be twelve years or younger, and the prize was a family trip to Colombia. Somehow the idea came about as a way of possibly paying a visit to a distant uncle, who was a cattle rancher in Colombia. My submission was a vivid picture of a dragon ferrying passengers from New York to Bogota. I worked on it for days, maybe weeks. It was deeply disappointing not to win, especially since I was convinced the very adult-looking winning entry was clearly designed by that child's parents, and not the kid himself. It didn't occur to me at the time that perhaps it had something to do with the fact that there are no dragons in Colombia. Not even in Colombian mythology, as far as I can tell.  

I'm not sure what ever became of my distant relative, but I'm intent on finding out. Particularly now that visions of rural Colombia are very present in my imagination, leafing through One Hundred Years of Solitude, rolling past Gabriel Garcia Marquez' house in a horse and buggy in Cartagena. 

 

What strikes me though is how so many forgotten childhood episodes have come back to me  on this trip. It may simply be the luxury of having time on your hands, though I suspect it's down to travelling with kids: all sorts of reminiscences from early days have resurfaced in my memory during this trip. Losing my Robin Hood action figure in a church in Rome, being denied the schoolyard gift of a Batman balaclava by my grandpa, crazy games with gasoline and babydoll strollers. 

One of our favorite recurring dinner party conversation topics was "crazy episodes from when we were kids". Flo would relate the time JM, CR and she would dress up in head-to-toe ski-gear in mid-summer to brave the thorny hedges to nick pears from the neighbour's yard. She got caught red-handed, sweating profusely in the midday sun. Some of the tales were heavily edited. 

In the process, though, I've stumbled upon reminders of distant South American relations, my uncle's "Heart of Darkness" experience with a tyrannical missionary in Chile, highlights of my parents gallivant across the continent on their round-the-world honeymoon. Maybe one day the girls will relate to their children espidoes from this trip. Who knows what little vignettes will loom largest in their memories...? 

Cartagena, morning of departure: goodbye South America, goodbye Summer