Good morning everyone, welcome to Colombia… This greeting and other explanations were given to us by our guide Lorenzo before embarking on our walking tour Bogota, leaving the cranky croc hostel; a very special hostel, very much in the spirit of the year 2024 in which we are; a mix of the colonial past of an old house with the present; which leaves nothing to envy of the most prestigious hotels I have been to. We headed out towards the mountains that surround the city, walked a couple of blocks and stopped at the corner of a school that is also modern in structure; Lorenzo said it was supported by the government and drew our attention immediately to the two mountains; In each of them a building rested; The first was Monserrate, he said, the second was Guadalupe; The group was very diverse, we had one from South Africa, two Chileans; two Koreans and me the American. Lorenzo began to explain that both Monserrate and Guadalupe were sacred mountains to the ancient inhabitants of the area that is now Bogotá, the Muiscas, a very spiritual culture that greatly respected the connection with nature. 

—The Muiscas used to make rituals of offerings to the water, the sun and the moon, in the old mountains, —said the guide— 

We were all very connected to the story, looking towards the mountain; When I suddenly lowered my gaze, I was stunned by what I saw; one of the Chileans looked totally different, as if he were a native, from those that Lorenzo showed us in photos when talking about the ancient inhabitants of the area; but his friend continued talking normally with him, so I decided not to say anything, until the guide looked at him and pointing at him said to us all: 

—look; He is a Muisca!  

—Let’s keep walking. 

We walk uphill; no one seemed to care or at least want to talk about the transformation, so I pretended to forget it too. We glimpsed some beautiful houses less than a block away that were on either side of a small stone street; on a sign it said the name; funnel alley. Our guide stopped us at the entrance to the alley; He began to explain the importance and history of the place; chicha was what caught my attention the most, Lorenzo explained that it is a fermented drink; He asked us if we wanted to try it, we all agreed, then Lorenzo bought a full bottle from one of the houses; We walked along the entire cobblestone street telling stories, in the middle of the street we stopped to talk about art, culture and have a shot of chicha. I focused on the drink, it was a little bitter but sweet at the same time, although for me it was not the most delicious thing in the world, I must accept that I was beginning to fall in love with it. Then Lorenzo asked us if we liked chicha; When I was going to answer, the two Koreans stood before me in chorus, they said yes; But what was my surprise when I looked at them, they had become muiscas too. Everyone said they loved the drink, we asked our guide for more, but he told us that we would drink more when we arrived at the next square, the Chorro de Quevedo; According to him, a very special place for the Muisca culture and for Bogota residents in general. As we left the alley we found a place that seemed to be from a very distant past, some circular houses made of wooden posts and clay walls; intertwined with other more Spanish-looking ones, in addition to half a water fountain in the middle, half of the plaza had a cobblestone floor and the other half was dirt floor with grass; a chaotic mix of two totally different civilizations. The guide took us near the piece of fountain, where he invited us to stand in a circle; So we did it, he went one by one to give us the chicha, when he got to me he said: 

—bring your totuma closer! 

I didn’t understand what he was referring to, he pointed with his mouth towards my hands, what was my surprise when I saw that the plastic cup where I had been drinking my chicha all this time had become a circular, wooden vessel; I raised it without thinking, Lorenzo poured some, invited us all to have a drink in honor of life; When I finished drinking I looked at the group, all the tourists and the guide turned into Muiscas; Then I realized that I did too.  

By Fredy Calderon