We arrived in San Gil when it was already dark, after driving through the beautiful Chicamocha Canyon. Since Colombia feels extremely safe, we have reverted to our Mexico mindset, so we just parked on the main square to spend the night.
It was Saturday night, and the van was really popular with the people strolling around the square. We talked with families whose children really wanted to see inside, and even with a member of a VW club from Bogota. We felt really comfortable and welcome in that square, so much so that we were planning to stay a second night, showers be damned. But on Sunday we had another of those experiences you only have when you drive a Volkswagen. Just after lunch, we met Nelson. Nelson drove by on his bright green Beetle, and since we really seemed curious about the van, we waved. So he went around the block, came back, and stopped to chat. A quick chat about VWs and about our trip turned into an invitation to his family’s house outside of town.
Nelson runs a company that sells vintage VW-themed paraphernalia, so he qualifies as a serious VW fan. His whole family welcomed us, fed us, and gave us plenty of whiskey to drink. We spent the night in the van, and in the morning we got a great shower, and a seemingly endless breakfast. And this from someone we didn’t even know, whose only link to us before meeting was that we both like Volkswagens!
We had already had great VW-related experiences, like our Westy friends in San Francisco and Chicago, Vochorama in Mexico and meeting our friend Panchete and his family in Guatemala. But it is always surprising and awesome to see what kind of community these cars have. Try that on a Mercedes!
steph