GraceCourtViews: Colombia!

We're entering Thanksgiving week, one of my favorite weeks of the year, one where our entire nation comes together to give thanks and appreciate everything we have in our life.

One of the things I'm thankful for this year is the reminder (again) that you don't really know what's around the corner. You don't really know what new dreams are being planted and what new adventures are waiting for you....especially when you loosen your grip on the wheel a bit.

Last week I went to Colombia for work, something I doubt I would have even imagined as a possibility a year ago. My colleagues Bill, Caralynn and Nancy traveled to Bogotá and Cartagena to visit some of our projects there, spend time with the Colombian team, and to essentially "drink from the well" as Bill puts it -- step away from powerpoints, white papers, strategic frameworks, task forces and committees to see and experience what we are doing, and why.

Our first afternoon and evening in Bogotá we got to know some of our colleagues from Colombia and Ecuador. Something I hadn't appreciated until last week was the amazing gift of being connected to colleagues in 35 countries.

Our second day we traveled to Chingaza National Park, about a two hour drive outside of Bogotá. This Páramo provides freshwater to more than 8 million people in Bogotá (the way that protecting our watershed in upstate New York protects New York City's drinking water downstate). The Conservancy is working in the upper watersheds to keep sedimentation and runoff out of the region's rivers.

What I didn't really realize (until my colleague Caralynn got sick) was that Bogotá's elevation is 8,000 feet above sea level, and the "road to Chingaza" was a slow journey over a bumpy and windy dirt road, another 5,000 more feet up.

Chingaza means "Temple of Sun and Water" and evidence of human life in Chingaza goes back to 500 B.C. Even though guerrilla rebels inhabited the area as early as ten years ago, Chingaza looked pure, untouched.

It was something to behold.

Through the ages, water has held a sacred quality to communities and cultures all over the world. Native communities of Chingaza believed this water was where all life began.

That evening we flew north to Cartagena, the second largest city in the Caribbean. For those of us experiencing some altitude sickness, and slightly chilled from rainy Bogotá, "Sea level" became code for balance and bliss!

We took a boat to see flora and fauna sanctuaries and more national parks that protects plant and wildlife species. The Conservancy is developing a coastal water fund for nearby wetlands that provide fresh water to Cartagena.

The Conservancy is also working with the National Parks Authority to determine environmental services that this area provides, such as sedimentation control, flood regulation and fish nurseries.

The small community above continues to get washed away from rising sea level and impacts of climate change. They refuse to leave.

While the fishing must be rich and abundant in the area as we saw a few small boats near the coastal mangroves, what is likely more powerful is their belief that their ancestors are part of the trees in the sanctuary. The story goes that their ancestors were so grateful for the abundance that nature provided them, it was their way of giving back to the source of sustaining life.

Unmistakable Caribbean blue water near one of the islands.

Another day we traveled to Luriza watershed, over 2,000 acres of protected 'dry forest' that shelters 244 species including plants, amphibious, reptiles, mammals and birds.

The New York crew, looking quite a bit fresher than we did after our 2 hour hike in the sun, wearing high rubber boots for the muddy trails and river basin.