I Just Finished Reading...

 

My friend and former teaching colleague Carol and I frequently exchange books to read.  I just finished reading one of the latest books that she gave me... "Magdalena" by Wade Davis.  In this book the author writes about his travels along the Magdalena River, the great waterway which crosses nearly the entire length of the nation of Colombia from the Andes Mountains down to the Caribbean coast.

I have never been to Colombia although at one point it was on my list of places to visit.  When I was in college, there was an exchange student from Colombia who was attending a local high school.  She would attend our college Spanish Club meetings.  After she returned home we corresponded for a number of years, and she would always ask me, "When are you coming to visit Colombia?"  Eventually I lost contact with her, and then Colombia, the nexus of cocaine trafficking, became one of the most dangerous countries in the world.  Scratch Colombia off my list.

Wade Davis, the book's author, is a Canadian anthropologist and ethnobiologist.  He has had a life-long love affair with Colombia ever since he travelled there as a teenager with a school group in 1968.  For six years in the 1970s he backpacked his way through the country.  Since then, he earned a PhD. from Harvard, traveled the world, authored numerous books, and was named a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.  He returned to his beloved Colombia after the nation emerged from decades of violence, and this book is the product of his travels.

As he travels from the river's source to its mouth he covers a wide range of topics that give the reader an insight into the country's geography, history and culture.   As a biologist, he discusses the nation's rich plant and animal life... Colombia is one of the world's most biodiverse countries... in a land that has everything from high Andean moors, to tropical forests, to deserts, to swamps.  One chapter deals with "cumbia" and other dance rhythms which mix elements from the musical traditions of the indigenous and African peoples.  Another chapter tells the story of Simón Bolívar, the hero of South American independence, who brilliantly fought against the Spanish, but died disillusioned and poor at the age of 27.  

Throughout the book the author details the violence that has plagued much of Colombia's history.  In the 1940s and 1950s a bloody civil war known as "La Violencia" was fought between the Conservative and Liberal.  The rise of the drug cartels, especially the Medellín cartel of Pablo Escobar, led to an era of lawlessness, corruption, murders and kidnappings.  Even after Escobar's death, conflict between Marxist guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitary forces ravaged the countryside.  Both sides had ties with the drug trade.  The Magdalena River became a dumping ground in which the bodies of the slain floated down the waterway.  It is estimated that more than 200,000 Colombians died during the decades of violence, and that another five million left their country.  As the author writes, Colombia's agony lies with every person, be they in New York, London or Madrid, who has ever bought cocaine.

In 2016 a peace deal was signed with the FARC, the main guerrilla group.  The country has seen significant progress in stability, human rights, rule of law and economic development.  One of the most interesting and hopeful chapters dealt with the country's second largest city, Medellín, once the headquarters of Escobar's infamous cartel.  It has gone from a city terrorized by the violence of Escobar's war against the government and his drug rivals, to a city that has won international awards as one of the most innovative, progressive and dynamic cities in the world.

After reading this book, Colombia is once again on my list of countries that I would like to visit.