After a nine hours overnight ride, leaving the indeed „notoriously chaotic, disgusting bus terminal“ of Cúcuta behind me, I find myself in a completely different world. The town of San Gil is known as the extreme sport capital of Colombia, but for my part, I'm just lying here in a hammock, a couple of kilometers outside the center, looking at the lush green hills around, listening to the nearby river and the birds in the trees, smelling a thunderstorm approaching. It's a little paradise here, at Andres' place. He moved here from Bogotá four years ago, and lives now in his simple finca together with Gala and Chiara, his dogs.

My weekend couldn't have started any better. At 5:30 in the morning, Andres picked me up at the bus terminal, taking me to his beautiful place on his motorbike. After an early morning coffee and some Colombian cake/cookies for breakfast we set off again to the town market, where he introduced me to the San Gil specialty of Batido – kind of a very sweet and eggy milkshake – followed by fruit salad Colombian style – with condensed milk and topped with grated cheese.

After that breakfast, we went on our tour around the market, where I felt like an alien just another time, surrounded by fruits and vegetables I've never seen before. I want to try them all!!! But for now, apart from well known pasta ingredients, we just get some „Lulus“, which interestingly look like what I know as „Khakis“. We'll see (& taste)!!