You’ll have to forgive me this bit of ranting, but…
Most of you would know that in Melbourne I suffer quite substantially from allergies, largely owing to the ever present pollen floating around.
For me one of the delights of travel is that pretty much nowhere else in the world are my allergies so acute as Melbourne. In fact, just about everywhere else, they disappear entirely.
Seriously, as soon as I step on a plane, be it to Luzern or Los Angeles, they’re gone. And I’m happy.
Until Salento, Colombia. Here they are at least as bad as – if not worse than – in Melbourne. The irony that the density of coffee plantations might be responsible is almost too much to bear.
Every other stop on this trip has seen me varying between absolutely no allergies at all (predominantly), to slight afflictions (NYC being a surprising example). Nothing came close to my Melbourne baseline until this town.
Otherwise the place is lovely – the cool alpine weather is a refreshing change from tropical heat, and we’ve found coffee on par with Melbourne. But…
I’m over it – the sneezing and red eyes. We’re leaving on Saturday. End of rant.
What did the Columbian customs officers say when you were leaving the country with those eyes?