Something I wrote exactly one year ago…

It was on a Friday morning, I was going from Barranquilla to Palomino, a remote yet beautiful place in La Guajira, in the northern coast of Colombia. It was exactly one month after moving back to my country, but my days were mostly spent reminiscing of other cities, other people, other loves. I was in Colombia, but I was not living Colombia, and that morning I was able to finally see it. Well, actually, I only saw a small, tiny fragment of my country, but in my head I realized all it had to offer, not only to me, but also to whoever is willing to fall in love.

When they say the only risk of coming to Colombia is the risk of wanting to stay, it is true.  Colombia is enchanting, unpretentious and most importantly real. It shows you things we often forget when we spend years living in big cities. Those cities we share with millions of people to only end up feeling lonely. Because we try and try to connect with people, and in the meanwhile we disconnect ourselves from nature.  We disconnect ourselves from our own person, and we forget what we came to this world for.

After five long years I was finally able to rest, to let go, to disconnect from all and to breath fresher air than I knew existed. After five years I was in a hammock, with a view so incredible and stunning that made the NYC skyline, a sight I once loved, look quite silly.  I was writing while the birds were singing to the rhythm of my verses and my heart was irrevocably full of joy. After five years, my body craved for papayas and mangos, and I even felt the urge to go pick my own coffee. I wanted to go see, to go wander, to get lost in a world I once thought I knew but I didn’t. After five years I was feeling human again, with no rush, and with an extraordinary desire to live.

I was back and in love, even after thinking that my heart was broken. Colombia fixed it all, putting all the pieces back together, filling the voids with nature, breeze and colors. Things that I forgot I needed and that now were redecorating my soul. I was back and in love, with the country that saw me as kid and that hopefully will see me grow old. I had to go all the way to another country and back to realize this is much more than only where I come from, that maybe we have more than one destination in life, and that Colombia is the place I should be, at least at this exact moment. I had to go all the way and back to realize that I can fall in love more than once, that things can change, and that in fact we all have the opportunity to start all over again. I had to go away, lose myself, lose all this I’m seeing again, to comprehend that I need to be here, in a country so magic that makes any other place look rather useless.