Off the beaten path

October 16th, 2009: Shortly after arriving to San Jose de Alban, which is a small rural farming community in southern Colombia, I was invited to the local pool for a swim. Every move of mine at this body of water was clearly being watched, feeling as if the pastiness of my skin was drawing some extra attention. After a while, someone eventually sat near me as I could see that he wanted to say something. Saying, “Hola” broke this invisible barrier between us as almost everyone cleared the pool, surrounding me. There I sat with about 20 people as I spoke some impressive Spanglish. I must say…I am definitely off the beaten path.

I was invited here for 5 days to write a piece about this new agro-tourism project that just began giving tours. The activities range from eco hikes, visiting local farms, learning about rural life in Colombia and about the sustainable farming practices that they do as well as learning more about how coffee, panela, fique and other products that are cultivated and processed here.

The argo-tourism project’s itinerary is similar to a famous quote from the film, Forrest Gump that has been slightly modified, “This tour is like a box of chocolates…you never know what your going to get.” This experience has no set itinerary, it all depends the season and the activities that members in the association are doing that day.

No longer do I need to try to peer into the house of some local during my travels trying to get a glimpse on how they live without bearing the harsh label, “Peeping Tom.” This argo-tourism project out here has given me the opportunity to see what goes on in a small Colombian community not yet infected by tourism, but is patiently in line waiting to be.