Welcome to Oz

Another small town that was on our list to visit in Colombia was called Jardin ("garden") and was, like Santa Fe de Antioquia, touted as a must see. Since our experience in Santa Fe was lack luster, we had trepidations of going to Jardin and honestly wondered if we should have ever left Cartagena. But hey, that is part of the adventure right? Not knowing what we will encounter and taking it in stride is part of the deal.

Our little, tiny, white hatchback, now jokingly called 'The Tic Tac'  (please use a Colombian accent when saying the name) because it was about the size of the little mint candies, zoomed through the tight, ever climbing country roads. Luckily my husband likes to drive like he is playing a video game, swerving around massive potholes, dodging thousands of motorcycles and speeding around buses on what should be considered a one lane road. It seemed impossible, but it just kept getting greener! It was dense with vegetation and yet had massive vistas that shot out over cliffs and slid down steep coffee covered mountains. It is an unbelievable experience to be in awe of a color in nature. I 1st had the experience diving in Cozumel, Mexico when I saw cobalt blue in the depth of the ocean. It shocks the senses to see a color so vivid and unusual starring you back in the face and as I peered out the window at the sea of greens, so many hue changes I lost count, I was deeply moved. I could say 'emerald green' or 'lime green' or 'olive green' or even 'forest green' but these names simply point you in the direction of what some of the colors we were seeing were like, but are completely lacking in accuracy. I could add words like 'deep' or 'rich', 'bright' or 'saturated', but these too fall short. It was a majestic array of color that we do not have names for yet. This area is, simply put, GORGEOUS. Even when we hit stand still traffic for 2 hours (due to a landslide), it was difficult to be upset as we took in the huge flowering trees and slap-yourself-in-the-face amazing views. As we climbed up higher into the clouds and up ever bigger mountains, the road tightened, twisted, rolled and finally released us into the valley of Oz.

Jardin is truly the Emerald City. It is bathed in rich jewel tones of green (see? I keep trying to describe it), splashed with vibrant flowers of every sort; orchids, bougainvillea, hyacinth, roses, and a billions others I've never seen before. The town is super small, easily walk-able and centered entirely around the town park...which is filled with unusual plants, shade trees and beautiful flowers, all labeled with plaques as if in a botanical garden. The cafes, hotels, shops and bars that line the cobblestone streets surrounding the center park ooze charm in a way the travel books couldn't possibly describe sufficiently. We found our hotel, one right there in the action (with a bakery to one side and a ice cream shop to the other), and let ourselves get excited, this was definitely beyond our exceptions. We were greeted by lovely hotel staff who welcomed us with the signature coffee of the area (swoon!) and carried our bags up to our room for us. Hell freaking YES! It was so the right choice to leave Santa Fe.

Unable to resist the buzz in the air as locals filled the plaza park, we hurried out of the hotel to drink it all in. Stepping out into the fresh, cool evening, we were stunned to find the sun setting with a golden light that twinkled off the damp foliage and held up high into the mist covered mountains, a perfect, end to end, vibrant rainbow overhead. I am talking a rainbow so bright you almost needed to wear sunglasses. I literally had my jar drop open and said "Oh. Come. On!", it was absolutely unbelievable. The beauty was so much that it brought tears to our eyes and my son exclaimed "I don't think I have ever cried over something being beautiful before". As if to push us right over the edge, a chorus of clopping horse hooves danced over the cobblestones making a delightfully playful sound, one you don't hear in daily American life. The locals, in fact, the most burly, strong men of the community, literally prance their horses through the streets. Knees tight and high with heads held down, these horses showed off and so did the riders. It wasn't a special show for tourists, this we would come to find, was every evening's entertainment and the most common mode of transportation for locals. Traffic in Jardin, is literally a group of horses being pranced down the street intertwined with adorable little moto-taxies. We took our seat at one of the brightly colored tables with matching metal umbrellas, like you'd see at Disneyland, and marveled at this picture perfect paradise.

Instantaneously we knew, we had found home.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com