Armenia

Armenia, Colombia is both tragic and beautiful. The countryside is absolutely stunning, so green and lush. I definitely saw all classes of coffee on the bus ride from Manizales, from full sun to partial shade (1 tree here and there) to shade grown under banana trees to shade grown under natural land cover. Oh, except that there is also a lot of bamboo, which is definitely not endemic but is a major part of the landscape. I should say that it is part of the natural landscape as well as the architecture. The first picture is the Rio Quindio valley to the east of Armenia.

I left for Armenia on a recommendation from someone in the city government office of Manizales. Armenia was devastated by a huge earthquake in 1999. Over 40% of the buildings completely collapsed, most had at least some damage, and 1000 people lost their lives. To make matters worse, the police, fire, red cross, and other emergency response stations all collapsed with much of the personnel inside. The second picture is one of the buildings that was severely damaged but is still standing, and I believe it was part of the old police station. Now the government buildings (and any new structures) are reinforced, and the communities are trained in emergency response in case the response teams are ever incapacitated again.

After the earthquake, there was an attempt to move people from the "high risk zones" in steep valleys to more stable ground and infrastructure. Apparently they did the job poorly. Families and neighbors were split up, and people found that despite the fancy new digs they were still too poor to pay rent and services, so they moved back and built homes in the valleys again. For some reason the population swelled enormously after the earthquake, but not industry, so unemployment and poverty are through the roof. You'd never know it if you stayed close to the touristy coffee fincas on the north side of town, though. The town is basically divided right along the fault line. The third picture is of a group of homes in a high risk zone. I actually accompanied some gentlemen from the local disaster management agency as they exchanged paperwork with a woman who has agreed to be part of the new (and hopefully improved?) relocation program, which appears to take greater account of people's needs. She is moving out, and they will be tearing down her old place.

The last photo is something that made me giggle. The seats on the bus had these pieces of fabric with the name and information of the bus company, but to me they looked a lot like gigantic underwear. Enjoy!