An Unexpected Friendship from The Journey of Life.

When travelling, we met all sorts of people. Must of them you will never see them again, however some others, a very few ones, becomes in unexpected friends for life. In this occasion, I want to tell you about this aged man who lives alone in the top of the mountains and still, welcomes eveyone who wants to visit him and enjoy from his lovely company, also, he makes one of the best brewed coffee I ever tried, my friend "El viejito (the oldie) Chunny".

Chunny have the peacefull visage of those who lives close to nature. His real name is Jesús.

Recently, I was visiting an old friend that everyone knows by his nickname “Chunny”. Although he is ederly man, he have the strenght of the country side people because has lived alone in the mountains for more than 20 years; he’s also one of the most noble and gentle people that I’ve ever known in my life.

Old fashion brewed Colombian Coffee.

During five lovely days my camera and I met very nice people along the way, discovered more of the wonderful hidden treasures of the mystical Sierra Nevada de Gonawindúa and revived the happiest days of my childhood at his farm.

The Spring of Hearts. As a curious fact, the stones around this natural pool, are heart shaped.

Chunny and Jessica, very happy of showing the beauty of their lands.

The truth is that my friend Chunny reminds me quite a lot to my beloved grandfather who left this physical world more than a decade ago; grandpa’ also loved the country life and although he moved out to the city, he made sure to have a house with a huge backyard and did never lose the habit of kneeling on the ground to sowing, watering, pruning and taking care of his beloved plants. Grandpa was an accountant by profession, but I always remind him surrounded by his plants, with dirt under nails and this particular peacefull visage, just been happy, and I use to spend uncountless hours chasing butterflies and staring in fascination the emerging sprouds of corn, watermelon, pumpkin, tomatoes, onions, lemon and mango threes and contemplating the flowers, specially the sunflowers seeking for the bottle of sunlight to drink life every morning.

To get to "la finquita", as they call to the farms, we left the picturesque Macondo of the XXI century, -as I like to call the little town of Machete Pelao-, but this time we turn right and walk along another path from which it looks very to the distance the small Indigenous Wiwa’s village of El Encanto, again landscapes and views of overwhelming beauty and totally new to me, on the way you start to climb and in a blink, you are at the top of the mountains seeing other mountain tops, so high you are that you do not lose the sight of the sea embracing the green hills full of forest and life, it is something wonderful to see, no words or even photographs can make them fair honour.

The merger between the Sky, the Sea and the Mountains.

La Finquita.

Two and a half hours after riding in my noble transport, the young mule "Morena", (I fed her and removed ticks from her as thanks), we arrived at the charming little farm. It is not a metaphor if I tell you that the vaquitas welcomed us; Once again I verified that the animals understand and have feelings of love and gratitude: when they recognized Chunny’s voice from the distance, they started to get up to meet us at the entrance and escorted us to the door, also the other mules, Marianita, Mantequilla and an old mule who got sick and gave us a bit scare days later, but thanks to the expert care of my friend he recovered in a matter of hours, it is so nice to see when human and animal cooperates and help each other to heal, to live, this is how it happens at Chunny’s finquita, and yhis is what nature never tires of teaching us, that Life on this planet Earth is only possible if we adopt this principles of cooperation and balance under which natures clearly works, we truly need us each other, all ways of Life and we are equally precious to nature and Cosmos, animals, plants, minerals and humans to witness how perfect all is, we are the only ones known with awareness of Itself and all around.

Stunning views from the arrival.

A very warm welcome.

Angie, Morena and Mantequilla been spoiled.

I have always had this insaciable thirst and curiousity for my surroundings and how everything works, maybe that's why traveling is one of the things that makes me feel as the happiest person of the world, even though I have no traveled as much as I wanted, I have visited a couple of capitals tough and I know that, you get sort of transformed on every trip you make and you never return been the same person who left. I also know that, sometimes you have the chance of booking five stars hotels, sometimes three stars, some others cheap hostels and if you are lucky enough, what you have for roof, is the naked Milky Way above your head... Nothing can compete with that! This is how nights are in Sierra Nevada when there’s no power or any source of artificial light and is the most astonishing nocturnal sky I ever saw, so far, sadly, I didn't have with me the proper lens for this shot, but the memory is so vivid that I don't even have to close my eyes, I just have to think about it and is there again, and it always will.

With the first rays sunlight and as soon as they hear the first door opening and the steps around the stove, the chickens crowd in the entrance to wait for their breakfast, corn that Chunny sows right there, the mules also line up to wait for their cob. Mayito, the cow, religiously gives her calf Margarita a bath every morning, 'La Mayo' feeds on the grass that my friend also plants there, and then gives her calf with colostrum to drink. ' All the animals are untied and goes around the farm as they wish, even the chickens, there is no such thing as cages, all kinds of creatures circulates freely, even toads, little birds, squirrels and other insects that I don't even know what their names are. I msut say I was absolutely relieved because I could never stand seeing tied or caged animals!

Queuing for breakfast...

Morning bath!

Enjoy!

She had no name, so I called her "Delilah".

Over the days been in the middle of nowere, totally disconnected from technology, I saw as crystal clear water, that it is very possible to live in harmony and balance with everything and everyone arounds us; most likely, I finally understood that connecting with nature is not necessarily about rituals, meditations or ceremonies, sometimes, it is enough with spending enough time in close touch with her and inexorably, you end up realising about how similar to the human body is and works like, being aware of all the deep interrelationships in which everything coexists in a delicate balance, and, as Sir Elton John said, "You should never take more than you give in the Circle of Life".

When we take just what is needed, living in harmony with nature is possible.

Fresh Milk!

Edible sunlight, the gifts of Mother Earth.

There I was, born and raised in the city and used to buy everything in the supermarket, milking Mayito and then putting the rennet pill into milk and making the cheese ball, looking for all over, as if it were Easter, five or six eggs of which the chickens left there for the ‘perico’ (scramble eggs with tomatoes and onions, one of many the typical breakfast I had there), digging the soil with a barrette and nails to harvest the staple (squash, yucca, and other tubers), realising that for the breakfast cheese, you have to plant the grass that feeds the feeds the cow, you must feed it her first, take care of her if she gets sick and, only afterwards, you can milk her and take only-what-is-going-to-be-used and nothing more, so abundant and generous is our mother nature that gives us much more than we need, ultimately taking us to share with others, whether others people or animals, everything must used and nothing is wasted or lost; Why has it cost us so much to understand it?

Yucca is ready! This one is absolutely soft and tasty.

A typical farmers meal always includes ñames.

My friend Chunny taught me how to make cheese. I really worked hard for my meal!

'Arepa Correteada', wheat floor based. I made the cheese!

Before starting the journey back, I went to the backyard to say goodbye to the mountains and a little squirrel appeared to say goodbye, the the most curious thing happened: Rosita, one of the cows, had a wounded leg and I was very surprised when a very confident and not worried at all Chunny, placed his hand on the top of the animal head and recited the 91 Psalm without mistaking any word, he knows it by heart, and then left with a heart full of faith because he would not return until the next day... he told me that it never fails and maybe never does, because by his return the day after, the cow was already better and with proper care , is fully recovered by now.

Goodbye María, see you soon!

Praying for a friend. The healing power of the spoken word.

And speaking of agreeing, more and more biologists and scientists agree on a great truth: Our survival as a human species depends mainly on understanding and adopting these principles of harmony, respect and cooperation under which nature, the cosmos and man function. same, because everything is connected, everything is ONE.

Thank you, my friend Chunny! There are not enough words to thanks your generosity and teachings, I had the biggest lesson of my life in the most humble place I’ve ever stayed; universities are necessary for society but they do not teach us how to live or value the essential things in life, but the journey that life is, certainly does.

Gratitude! See you in the next adventure!.

See you soon, Chunny!