Campus Walkers, The

Walking briskly round the urban campus of the National
University--Bogota--near 5 pm when there's a breeze building up and
tall trees still have full shade as well as long, quiet shadows is like
having a foot in another world a short while. You find yourself
forgetting about the raw reality of so many distraught nations today.
You are far enough from the heavy vehicular traffic to the north, east
and south of this amazing verdant expanse so that its raucous noise is muffled
by aged trees, whitewashed walls and sheer distance. Classmates, friends and
couples lounge on thick grass near buildings and beneath evergreen
trees telling jokes and tales, revealing goals, hopes and fears.
There are many pastures near the animal study institutes. One pasture has a
few roan horses; another a few unconflictive Jersey-type cows; still
another has a handful of goats and sheep, all sweet-faced in their
endless munching and chomping. Some are tethered at times. It is at
this scene that you are reminded of familiar photos seen down the
years of the northern regions of England, of Alpine countries, or of
Scotland--pastoral pleasantry at its fullest. You understand the
reports you'd heard of the European mountaineers' expressed contentment
after a relocation to the Colombian highlands.
An on-campus automobile comes sailing by too fast and, at times,
forces you to sidestep a bit. The sidewalks are unfinished in a few
places, but signs exist which indicate that this shortcoming will be corrected in the
future. You, of course, may not be around then but you rest, anyway, in
knowing there will always be the campus walkers who go briskly round
and round--undeterred--near 5 pm when the highland sun has lost its vigor;
campus walkers who feel convinced at that moment and site that the
physical world as created is indeed a marvellous masterpiece of beauty
and mystery never to be surpassed. In part even.