OVER THE ANDES TO BOGOTA 



with exactness of the expenses incident 

 to travel in South America. On my 

 second Colombian journey (1913) I paid 

 $80,000 for ten mules. A Colombian 

 dollar (peso) was, however, then worth 

 only one cent gold, and my mules cost 

 me, therefore, only $80 each. 



But mules as well as pesos are subject 

 to variations in value and one cannot pre- 

 dict what they will cost at any given time. 

 Still, one may be assured that the per 

 diem charge for travel in Colombia will 

 be much less than in the United States, 

 even if the mileage is not so great. A 

 letter of credit on banks in Barranquilla, 

 Bogota, Cali, and other Colombian cities 

 may be obtained in New York. 



HOW TO GET TO COLOMBIA 



Since we propose to follow routes 

 which have been highways of trade for at 

 least four centuries, a deaf-mute with a 

 written itinerary could not go astray on 

 them ; but, assuming that the traveler has 

 both the power of hearing and of speech, 

 he will widely increase the range of his 

 experiences, and doubtless add not a lit- 

 tle to the gaiety of Colombia by acquiring 

 at least a phrase-book knowledge of 

 Spanish before he starts. In any event, 

 he should take the phrase-book itself, 

 with the certainty that he will not lack 

 for willing, considerate teachers, who, 

 whatever they may do behind his back, 

 will exhibit an astonishing control over 

 their facial muscles in his presence. 



These preliminaries disposed of, let us 

 turn to our maps and trace the routes of 

 the several lines of steamers which ply 

 between New York and Cristobal, Pan- 

 ama. Arrived at this cross-roads of com- 

 merce at the end of an approximately 

 seven-days' voyage, we disembark to con- 

 tinue our journey to the port of Buena- 

 ventura on a west-coast steamer, over 

 whose stern, when docking, we may al- 

 most have run our bowsprit. 



TEAVK ATE HASTE BEHIND 



Who enters the tropics should leave 

 all haste behind. We have a superior 

 way of talking of the land of "manana," 

 quite overlooking the fact that the phys- 

 iological law of the land is expressed in 

 the "manana" attitude. With the cumula- 

 tive energy of generations of Temperate 

 Zone born ancestors in our veins, we may 



maintain our standards of push and speed 

 in the tropics for a time, but that is no 

 reason why we should expect people who 

 have been reared under less favorable 

 climatic conditions to live up to them. 



Indeed, it is highly advisable to leave 

 all of our preconceived standards at 

 home. Latin Americans have been long 

 subjected to climatic and other influences 

 which have of necessity profoundly af- 

 fected them both bodily and mentally. 

 We must remember also that, racially, we 

 are as far apart as were the Conquista- 

 dores from the Pilgrim fathers. 



Let us therefore accept as a fact that 

 our habits of thought are fundamentally 

 different and give to history, tradition, 

 environment, and heredity their share of 

 praise and of blame for existing condi- 

 tions. 



If, therefore, our west-coast steamer 

 does not leave immediately after our ar- 

 rival at the Isthmus, let us be thankful 

 for an opportunity to see more of the 

 Canal Zone than we could observe from 

 the steamer during our transcontinental 

 voyage across the Isthmus. 



The very pier on which we land gives 

 us an object-lesson in the fascinating his- 

 tory of the exchange of raw materials 

 for finished products. Northbound cop- 

 per from Peru and Chile ; cacao and ivory 

 nuts from Ecuador ; hides from Colom- 

 bia, here meet and pass automobiles and 

 sewing-machines, shoes, and dress goods 

 on their way south. 



Incidentally, we may learn that already 

 we are south of the latitude of Caracas ; 

 that Colon, on the Caribbean, is farther 

 west than Panama, on the Pacific ; that 

 at the last-named city the sun rises as 

 well as sets over the Pacific, and other 

 local geographical facts to which stay-at- 

 homes are strangers. 



Once through the canal and past the 

 guns at Forts Amador and Flamenco, we 

 enter the Bay of Panama, to my mind 

 the most beautiful harbor, next to that of 

 Rio, in tropical America, and are fairly 

 embarked upon our journey. Thus far 

 we have been sailing, as it were, under 

 sealed orders, and as we steam slowly 

 and smoothly down the coast to Buena- 

 ventura we may open our papers and ex- 

 amine our proposed itinerary. 



The chief objective of any tour in Co- 

 lombia is naturally Bogota, its capital and 



