Tumaco, the pacific's pearl

Tumaco, the pacific's pearl

Hello, my name is Mario Ruano and I am 21 years old, I live in Nariño/Colombia, a beautiful place in the south of the country surrounded by the most imponents mounts  " la Cordillera de Los Andes". Nariño is a place cold and Pasto is the principal city.

Since I was a kid, I always listened that people said that every people of nariño are equal, the same culture, same food, same customs. But the reality is very different, especially Tumaco´s people. These persons have many particulars customs with many differences compared to the rest of the people of nariño. for example, ¡they do not eat guinea pig!. the typical food of nariño. This is the reason because my family decided to travel to Tumaco. The object was to learn about this culture, the customs, the food, the practices and rituals for showing that Nariño is marvelous and diverse. In this blog, I will show them my experience in Tumaco, a trip that my family and I took the last year. Also, I show some customs, food, and rituals particular of Tumaco with photographs that reveal its majestic landscapes, honoring its nickname of Tumaco, the pearl of the pacific.

Gastronomy

Maybe you wonder why I talk about food first, the answer is simple, the Tumaco´s food is very delicious but a little stranger. First, the point most important is that they do not eat guinea pig, this topic was impacted for me because this is the typical food of Nariño. So, what do they eat?. When I visited the beach I discovered an immense variety of food like exotic fruits "pomarosa and Araza" stranger food like "encocado of turtle and crab" and many types of fish.

Exotic fruits

The "Pomarrosa", it is a particular fruit, because of looks like an apple but tastes like a pear with a rose scent, this is very refreshing on hot days.

The "Pomarosa"

The "Araza" in my opinion the most stranger fruit, because looks a peach, it smells like mango but taste like a pineapple, also is very very sweet. I ate a little part and my tongue got hurt. But it was stupendous.

"Pitaya" and "Araza"

The "Encocados"

I ate "crab´s Encocado" but also they sell "turtle´s Encocada". In my opinion, this food is not the best but my brother liked. The plat is a crab boiled with a brown sauce and much coconut streaky.

Crab´s Encocado

Rituals

This topic is very interesting, when we arrive at Tumaco, one person was dead. But, he does not have a funeral hall. The custom in Tumaco is that if one person dead, the person´s friends "lo Rezan" in their houses and this can last one or two weeks. It is chilling.

Ritual

Subculture

The fishermen, this is a huge community with kids, men, women and the elderly. They have big respect for the sea and teach me many things like these. I wanted to fish, bought the fishing rod, hooks and bait. I was 8 hours in the sea and did not catch a fish, but I looked that other persons caught many fishes. So, an old man helped me. He drank "aguardiente" with a cigarette and spit on my fishing line. I thought "gross". But surprise, with this I caught one fish. I was very blissful but intrigued by this strange method of fishing.

Villager

Places

Tumaco has awesome places like "El Morro", "El Arco" and others. The sun is perfect and the beach has many shops. On the beach can you swim in the sea or just sunbathe and relax.

" El Arco"

"El Morro"

A place that I liked, is the main bridge. This bridge has fifty meters long and ten meters of hight, but the sea covers six meters. If you are on this bridge, you can look at many animals. I looked a turtle, a jellyfish, a pufferfish and a huge bluefish that I couldn't identify, but it was over a meter long.

The main bridge

I don't have words to describe to Tumaco. Definitely, Tumaco is the Pacific's pearl. A new culture, with customs very different in comparison with the classic Nariño´s customs and food very stranger but wonder. I enjoyed very this trip, learned about their culture and their beliefs. also, with this blog, I show you that Nariño is extremely diverse and mysterious.

Tumaco