Ruta del Sol to be constructed in Colombia

This news was just announced by Colombia Reports:

"Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos on Friday announced 30 bids worth $22.65 billion for construction of the ‘Ruta del Sol’ motorway.

Part of the Ruta del Sol might cross over the
Chicamocha Canyon, This shot was taken on
the current road from Bucaramanga to Bogotá.

The motorway is set to link the Caribbean coast with the Pacific via Bogota. The World Bank recently cited poor transportation as one of the main factors of economic uncompetitiveness in Colombia, something an efficient transnational route will dramatically improve.

President Santos also announced that the $22.65 billion will only be delivered "when the works are...complete.” This addendum comes after numerous reports of infrastructure project funds being embezzled while the works go unfinished.

In addition to hopes of faster-paced construction, Santos claimed that the 'Ruta del Sol' project will create 5,000 jobs.

According to the Economist, "the costs of Colombia's deficient infrastructure -- which came 79 of 139 countries' networks ranked by the World Economic Forum -- are massive." Luis Carlos Villegas, the head of the national industry group, likened the infrastructure deficit to a 10-15% tax. Government planners added that resolving it could raise annual GDP growth by a full percentage point."

My hope is that some of those 5,000 jobs will be developed as 'intern' positions for students to learn more about projects like this and also for those young people who have no training but want to move up the construction ladder to become supervisors, etc.

No news about when it will be started, or how long it will take to be completed, but this is exciting news for the country. Truckers, carrying products, will be able to travel more easily from the north (Atlantic) to the south (Pacific) providing more driving jobs as well. I suspect it will open up more of the country for tourism as well.

Water Consciousness?

(The sunsets continue to be intense and remarkable, even though the clouds pass us by.)

Water continues to be a critical problem here in Santander, Colombia. This northeastern section of this South American country has not had a drop of rain in over five weeks. A long time ago when I lived on a sailboat, we ran out of water and I remember how scary it feels to think there may be nothing to drink.

In the midst of this ‘aqua’ crisis, I am astounded at how limited the ‘water consciousness’ is in the population. People do not think about how to re-use water. They don’t save water from the shower to put on plants and they have not learned how to wash using non-toxic cleaners, so if they did put it on plants, the plants would probably die anyhow.

When I was on the sailboat I learned how to wash all the dishes for three people in less than a quart of water and then that water was used in another place before it was considered too dirty to use again. When I tried to teach some Colombian children who were visiting our campo kids on how to save water, they looked at me as if I was from another planet. But when I showed them the results of their shower (more than 5 gallons! each!) saved in a bucket, their eyes got large. I then poured it around the base of a fruit tree to show them how it can be used again. I wonder if any of them told their parents about their ‘sleepover’ at the campo and the strange gringa who collected their shower water.

It’s even a stretch to get the campo residents to be more water conscious... and that makes me a member of the Water Police as I keep trying to convey in a variety of ways that every gallon wasted is a gallon that doesn’t get on the plants to help them grow.

Last week we had to go to Bucaramunga to get our visas extended because we were only allowed 60 days and since our departure date is after that limit, we needed to be 'approved' to stay those extra days. It is also a process which paves the way for our 'retirement' visas, so we didn't want to cause any disruptions. This photo is of the Chicamonga Canyon and you can see how dry it is. Notice the road which weaves left and right up the mountainside... it's like that most of the way between San Gil and Bucaramanga which is why it takes around two and a half hours to drive a distance that takes only 30 minutes by plane.

We have met some interesting people in the last few weeks, one of whom is from Austria and is extremely water-savvy. He has developed his own water collection and storage system in a house in Barichara. We had dinner there and discussed this system and then he came out to the campo to give us some pointers on things we can do to improve our water processing and storage systems. He told us that the Powers That Be in Barichara have been told there is considerable underground water to access, but apparently this water was contaminated several decades ago and they are reluctant to open up the wells - even to check and determine what the contaminants are and if they can be filtered out.

And we were told there are individuals who live next to the river that supplies some of the local water and those people have either altered the river flow or changed the riverbanks so that if the water levels rise, those banks will not resist and could bring a lot of dirt downstream. What is most offensive about this situation is that the offenders are very highly educated and should certainly know better.

All in all, in my humble opinion, until the water consciousness is raised here, the water levels will stay low. Water has been proven to be sensitive to emotional energy and perhaps it doesn’t like how it is being treated here.

A few more hours

In a few more hours, we will be getting on the plane and heading east to Atlanta, GA, then south to Panama City, Panama and then east again to Bucaramanga, Colombia to begin our journey. (If you click on this link, you can see some fabulous pictures of Chicamonga Canyon, Colombia's "grand" canyon.) Hard to believe that only a couple of weeks ago we were at the tip of the Baja and now we're about to head even further south.

When we first started researching the country, I was surprised to learn that, first of all, it is in the Eastern Time Zone. And, joy of joys, they do NOT honor Daylight Savings Time. In fact, the country is so close to the Equator that the difference between summer light and winter light is about 20 minutes. Our "campo" director was telling us that when it gets dark, it gets very dark as there is little ambient light contamination from the surrounding area, and they simply pack it up and go to bed, because morning light starts about 5ish... when the birds in the region wake them up.

CURRENT MOON PHASE

past and future moon phases

I am looking forward to seeing the night sky down there... we hear you can see millions of stars, something I used to see a little of when I lived in Arizona and traveled up to the mountains and before that, when cruising in the Bahamas we could truly navigate by the stars. I will try and get some pictures to show here.

It's been exhausting to try and pack suitcases, get last-minute jobs completed, spend time with Jey-hu's family (His father's birthday and his fell within a few days of each other and it was decided to make it a joint event - sorry: no picture of Jey-hu blowing out the 'recycled' candles from his father's cake.) see a few friends - and to John and Tiffany: thanks for the dinner invitation which Jey-hu discovered a couple of days ago when he finally got around to listening to his messages. Please, please do not take it personally that we never responded!! Enjoy Elksnout and plan to come and see us in S.A.!!

Perceptions of Colombia tend to be based on the drug cartel activities of years ago. Things have been cleaned up considerably, and where we will be is not a hotbed of illicit activities in any event. Still, we are smart enough to be cautious and to follow guidelines to avoid risky situations.