Tinto, tequilazo, aromática, canelazo y wiscazo, welcome! yelled a middle aged woman while she pushed her bright orange cart along the pedestrian street. Our guide, Andrea, called for all of us to gather around and we hurried to catch up with her. It was a cloudy afternoon that, like all afternoons in Bogotá, was surely full of surprises, or so our guide had told us at the beginning of the walking tour. The street seemed like a labyrinth of all kinds of attractions: artisans on one side and artists on the other. Andrea stopped and quickly organized us to say: 

—Guys, did you know that this city is the only city that moves if you throw a coin in it?

She approached one of the artists dressed entirely in silver and posing like a statue holding maracas, completely and utterly still, and threw a coin at him. He immediately jumped into motion and shook the instruments so hard that he scared some unsuspecting people who jumped in the middle of the group. When we turned around, it seemed as though the orange cart carrying the warm herb beverage had floated among the sea of people walking in all directions; in less than two minutes, it was already far away from us. Andrea immediately called us all to follow after the woman with the cart. We passed all kinds of people dressed up in scientific fiction costumes, trying to get people to pose for a photo with them. A few of us stopped, but not before letting Andrea know so we wouldn’t get left behind. We were already almost caught up to our destination. After one more block, the street ended in a large square. It felt like we had gone from Asia to Europe in less than a second, and then suddenly we saw the cart parked next to an imposing church on the corner.

—Guys, here’s the popular canelazo! —Andrea said with a big smile—

—And for the vegetarians, I have wiscazo! —said the saleswoman, bursting into laughter—

We all laughed, and our guide started to explain the ingredients in each drink and then took our orders. The very attentive lady stirred a giant pot of boiling water filled with endless plants, fruits, and panela before handing each of us our beverage of choice. I approached the saleswoman to request a group photo. She said yes so I gave the guide my cell phone, she took it and said:

—Guys, one, two, three! 

—¡Arriba, abajo, al centro y pa’ dentro! 

—Welcome to Colombia! —said the lady—

The saleswoman received the payment for the drinks and continued on her way saying: 

—Tinto, tequilazo, aromatica, canelazo y wiscazo, welcome! 

By Fredy Calderon 

Edited in English by. D’ette marceaux