Journey to the Indigenous tribes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains Colombia July 2013

The journey to the Sierra Nevada mountains is costly, arduous and takes a full day to get there from her home. Nelly has done this journey several times, sometimes twice a year at her own cost and in her own time while holding down a full time professional job. She sometimes stays for long periods of time and lives as the tribes live, which I can tell you is hard for someone not used to living under such basic living conditions.

During her time there she takes much needed provisions and carries out any training and medical help that she is capable of doing. She is loved and well respected by members of the tribes and because of Nelly that I was giving the privilege of living among them for a few days with their consent to photograph them in their own environment.

So, the time had come to begin this new adventure and meet the indigenous tribes. I never could have imagined how difficult it was just to get there.

We started at 4.30 am on Thursday 18th July with a 3 hour taxi drive to Bogota airport where we flew to Bucaramanga airport where we were met and taken to to the house of Nellys sister, Miriams, house for a wonderful couple of days in their lovely town of Zapatoca.

This was a very enjoyable interruption to our journey after which we flew back to Bogota to proceed to the mountains as planned.

We then flew to Barranquilla having been joined by Sue our interpreter, took a half hour taxi ride to the bus station where we had a 5 hour ride to Valledupar. We had to stay in a hotel overnight because we were to too late to catch our connection to the final leg of our journey to the encampments.
Next morning, another taxi to catch another taxi for a 1 ½ hour drive to Pueblo Bella, a town on the edge of the mountains, where we were picked by a 4x4 jeep driven by a 17 year old indigenous young man.

I had better explain that during all these journeys of flights, taxis, buses and jeeps there were myself, Nelly, Sue, Nellys dog with travelling cage, all our private luggage and a mountain of presents and aid collected by Nelly over the previous few months. See picture of Nelly and her luggage.

Our final leg of our journey in the jeep was a 3 hour trek up into the mountains on the most horrendous roads I have ever seen. I have to say that our young driver was absolutely brilliant and got us there safely.

We were met by Anita and three of her children and she arranged for help to take our luggage to our living accommodation for our stay in the house of the main chief of the Arhuaco tribe. We were very privileged to be allowed to stay in his house and this was because Nelly was considered to be an honorary member of the tribe.

Watch this space for further details of my three days adventure.



I have written this as an introduction to an article written by Nelly Maria Osma Rojas of Colombia about the lives and principles of the indigenous tribes of the Sierra Nevada mountains of Colombia.
It is hoped that these articles will help to convey an understanding of the problems of these tribes to a much wider audience.



Tom Cook, Photographer :- email : cookthomas.cook3@gmail.com

Toms travel blog : www.tom-cook-travels.blogspot.co.uk
Thomas Cook Photo Art : www.thomascookphotoart.com

Colombian visit July 2013

My trip to Colombia probably started 6 months ago when I met Nelly Maria Osma Rojas on a website. We immediately struck up a very good friendship, despite the language difficulty, me speaking English and she speaking Spanish.

Nelly is quite an amazing woman, who over the last 27 years has given up a great deal of her time and money to assist the indigenous tribes cope with the difficulties they have encountered in their desire to live as their for fathers had lived many years ago.
She has arranged for substantial practical aid as well as spiritual and medical assistance where necessary and is well loved among the tribes.

Although my visit started out as a holiday it became clear to me that I would be given the chance to take some quite rare photographs. It also became evident that maybe we could possibly publicise some of the needs of these indigenous people. Nelly will write some articles and I will illustrate them with recent photographs. However this blog will be my account of my visit. It will be in two parts, the first being my visit to Colombia up to the point of travelling to the Sierra Nevada mountains where the indigenous tribes live.

I will then write a separate article on my incredible journey into the Sierra Nevada mountains. I will also advise you where other articles written by my friends will be published and if you are moved by the any of these articles, details will be given how you can give assistance to these wonderful people.

Ok, here we go. Some months before my trip I realised that I had better check up on any injections I might need to go to Colombia.
Well if I did, not only did I need two injections for the normal six diseases, you know, tetanus. typhoid etc, which are free, I also needed one for Yellow fever which is wide spread in Colombia which cost me £65 and I had to buy Malaria pills which cost me another £90.
Oh and it didn`t finish there, another £450 because I was staying for 60 days as my yearly insurance which cost only £280 only covered me for 45 days. At this point I nearly cancelled. ha ha.

So at this point I had already booked my flights to the USA to see my son and my flights from the USA to Colombia and return to the USA so I couldn`t have cancelled anyway.
I flew to the USA and spent three great weeks with my son and daughter-in law and on the night before I was due to fly to Bogota airport, Colombia, I tried to book in on line. It wouldn`t let me, so I have to tell you that I was nervous the next day as I approached the airports booking in desk, mainly because I had never flown from the USA and returned there before, especially to Colombia.
Well, I shouldn`t of worried and I think that they just wanted to check that I had a UK passport as I was flying from a USA airport.
I flew on one of the older planes and they charged you for extras like drinks and films but because the plane was late I got them all free.
 It was a good flight and landing and I got through immigration, customs and baggage really quick with no hold ups at all.

Fifteen minutes later I saw my reception committee consisting of Gina, Horacio and Nelly jumping up and down.
Next thing I knew was that we were all sitting in an airport café having a very welcome cup of coffee, Colombian of course.
After the refreshing cup of coffee we took a taxi to the hotel, which was really nice especially as they had decorated my room with welcoming gifts and bunting.
The next morning after breakfast we took a quick tour of  that part of Bogota which was near the university. Bogota is the capital city of Colombia, but we were not in the city centre and it was a bit run down, however it was full of cafes and shops as you get near any university. The people were very friendly and I took a few photographs before having lunch in the hotel and making our way to Garagoa where Nelly lives.

This is a picture of a musician with Nelly looking on in the background in a pedestrian tunnel near the university in Bogota.

Before I carry on I think that I had better explain a little more about Nelly who prompted me to travel to Colombia and take the arduous journey to the Sierra Nevada mountains. After I started talking to her on the website I soon discovered that she is quite a remarkable woman. A professional psychologist who has spent a considerable amount of her time and money over the past 27 years giving assistance to the indigenous tribes of Colombia to survive in the harsh environment in which they choose to live in.

She is probably one of the leading authorities on the lives of the many tribes of indigenous people in Colombia and in their efforts to sustain their way of life and in fact to survive against all odds.

The journey to the Sierra Nevada mountains is costly, arduous and takes a full day to get there from her home. Nelly has done this journey many times, sometimes twice a year at her own cost and in her own time. She sometimes stays for long periods and lives as the indigenous tribes live, which I can tell you is hard for someone who is not used to these basic living conditions.
During her time there she takes much needed provisions and carries out any training and medical help that she is capable of doing. She is loved and well respected by the members of the tribes and it was because of Nelly that I was giving the privilege of living among them for a few days with their consent to photograph them in their own environment.