Colombia from the air showcases: The highest mountain on earth with a foot in the sea and the greatest mountain range. The largest coastal lagoon in the Caribbean: a water mirror 235 miles square. The river on earth with the heaviest flow of water in relation to length, the second heaviest in flow in South America. The main tributary of the Pacific on this continent. One of the wettest jungles on earth and the richest in vegetable species. Woods with the greatest proportion of palm trees in the world and the richest mangrove swamps in the West. At nearly 10,000 feet above sea level palm trees some two hundred feet high to whose tops spectacled bears have been known to climb. The "delta" into which the Cordillera of the Andes opens out as it flows into the plain of the Caribbean. Soils enriched over the centuries by the run-off from the snows of several dozen volcanos. Thousands and thousands of acres of moss, lakes and humus from which waters spring towards the four points of the compass. Rivers of white water that carry to the Amazon and the Eastern Plains nutritive matter from the Andes. Rivers the color of tea and of black beer. The most extensive high tablelands on the planet. Great cities and industrial centers that at the turn of the century were mere fishing hamlets or stopping-places for muleteers and salesmen. Tiled roofs, earthen walls, cobblestone streets traversed more than once by history. A city of six million at 8,700 feet in altitude. Semi-nomadic Indian tribes, gatherers of seeds and grubs. High plateaux where the conquistadors found several million people perfectly at harmony with surrounding nature. In a word: COLOMBIA, its fairest face. Gabriela Mistral, the Chilean 1945 Nobel laureate, once wrote: "To tell the motherland's story is a true labor of love." And also: "I know of no better use of our abilities than to give voice to our native soil." This is an attempt to relate Colombia from the air. To give it voice. To share it. To reveal it. To learn to love it. To enjoy it with all the delectation needed to read the thoughts of clouds, river, cities, coasts, jungles and mountains.
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