Into the Amazon: San José del Guaviare

When I opened my eyes at 7am, we had already crossed the border with Meta Department. We were getting closer and closer to José del Guaviare. I was exhausted after a long, sleepless night on a mini van from Bogota. Yet, I was ready for my adventure into the Amazon, in San José del Guaviare….

Dentro la comunità indigena Kogi

Tiro fuori i 10,000 pesos e glieli porgo. Francisca li mette in un borsellino di tela. “Bienvenidas”, ci dice. Sua figlia di due anni corre scalza nella polvere, rincorsa da due bimbi dai capelli neri corvini.  Mi trovo all’ingresso del villaggio della comunità Kogi, una delle 4 comunità indigene (le altre si chiamano arhuacos, wiwas,…

Inside Bogota’s Botanical Garden

A photographic journey In 2016, I visited Rio de Janeiro’s Botanical Garden – I took hundreds of pictures and then lost them all, but that’s another story. Ever since that day in 2016, I felt reluctant about exploring botanical gardens in other cities of the world. None of them would be as wild, rich in…

Book of the month: La melancolía de los feos (May 2021)

La melancolía de los feos, by Mario Mendoza “La melancolía de los feos” (the Melancholy of the ugly) was the book I picked during my second month in Bogota, as my second Colombian reading. Written in 20216 by the Bogotan author Mario Mendoza, its story is moving, exciting, inspiring. Here is why. The protagonist of…

Il vaso di Pandora delle proteste in Colombia

Le proteste in Colombia viste da vicino “In Colombia, nel giorno della festa della mamma, non ci sono figli con cui celebrare” recita una vignetta di Patancartoon pubblicata da uno dei maggiori quotidiani del Paese andino, El Espectador. Quasi tutte le 47 vittime delle attuali proteste in Colombia avevano infatti tra i 17 e i…

How I feel about being in Colombia during the protests

Living in a foreign country in the middle of a socio-political conflict isn’t easy. May 9, 2021. Protests day number 13. Understanding how I feel about being in Colombia in the middle of the protests is complicated. Very complicated. Over the last days I have felt overwhelmed with a kaleidoscope of emotions about the ongoing…

Why Fuori Mura

I was walking back home from work the other day when it hit me. I was thinking, “should I go to the supermarket directly or I better go home first, drop my stuff and then, go to the supermarket? Well, my backpack it’s actually quite heavy (I filled a 3 litres water bottle at work,…

7 things I’ve learnt in my first 48 hours in Bogotà

On Wednesday, March 24th I woke up in Bogotà, Colombia. I immediately felt tired, thirsty, hungry and incredibly excited. Ahead of me were what I knew were going to be the first, and most intense hours of my entire experience. The first 48h are always insane: you don’t know the place and you need to…

Q&A about Bogotà!

Answering 10 of the most common questions I’ve got in my first month in Bogotà in the middle of a pandemic!

Bogotà was meant to be

One month ago, I was in the countryside of Charleroi, a small city close to Brussels, Belgium. I was quarantined in the middle of nowhere, it was constantly raining and I spent most of my day baking bread and playing with a very cute dog, Mazzu. Today, one month later, here I am in Bogotà,…