Speaker A
this is a good place to both experience fantasy and reality. I see people, fear, explosives, and food. Can't beat that.
Anthony Bourdain explores Colombia's Amazon region, flying a vintage DC-3 into remote Miraflores, reflecting on decades of conflict, drug trade, and the people's resilience.
Key Takeaways
- Colombia's reputation is shaped by decades of drug violence, but its people, culture, and food deserve equal attention.
- The Amazon's isolated communities remain difficult to reach and economically marginalized, shaped heavily by the coca economy and armed conflict.
- The drug war has failed to solve local problems, and Bourdain's interlocutors question whether US and European demand is the core issue.
- Colombia's food and emerging urban culinary scene reveal a rich, layered cultural identity.
What the video covers
- Bourdain argues Colombia is usually seen only through the lens of cocaine and violence, overlooking its beauty, warm people, and excellent food.
- He travels to remote Amazon settlements that are cut off from the rest of the country, with no rail or roads, reachable only by river boat or a jungle flight.
- He flies out of Villavicencio aboard a vintage World War II-era DC-3 nicknamed the 'jungle bus', piloted by a veteran crew who rely on feel and skill rather than modern instruments.
- Miraflores in Guaviare, once a coca production center, is described as a near ghost town after the drug economy collapsed, with heavy army and police presence.
- The region's history includes decades of conflict with the FARC guerrilla group, which financed itself through drug trafficking and kidnapping and effectively governed local areas for years.
- Locals describe limited economic options, with many young people drawn to armed groups for money and status.
- Bourdain discusses the drug war with residents and pilots, debating whether legalization or demand reduction in the US and Europe would address the root problem.
- The episode highlights Bogotá's emerging restaurant scene and the fusion of Spanish, European, Afro-Caribbean, and indigenous culinary traditions.
- He shares a meal of traditional Huitoto-style dishes prepared by indigenous women, reflecting on food as a window into local culture.
- The episode closes on a reflective note about Colombians' desire to live without fear and be seen beyond stereotypes.
Chapters
- 00:00Colombia's Reputation and First Impressions
- 03:00Flying to the Remote Amazon
- 08:00The DC-3 and Its Pilots
- 12:20Miraflores and the Legacy of the Coca Economy
- 16:40Conflict, the FARC, and the Drug War Debate
- 23:00Bogotá's Emerging Food Scene and Local Music
- 33:20Indigenous Cooking and Final Reflections
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] colombia ordinarily and for all too many years when this country makes the news or appears in a film or a television drama it's not for its looks
Speaker A
So you just stand here in the street, and random strangers bring you delicious foods. This is a great country.
Speaker A
fruit in this country excellent i'm no stranger to this place generally speaking it's a particularly vibrant mix of spanish european afro-caribbean and indigenous people these are deep waters my friends that no news story or episode of miami vice
Speaker A
Colombia. Ordinarily, and for all too many years, when this country makes the news or appears in a film or a television drama, it's not for its looks, which are, I should say right up front, spectacular. It's not for its people, who are everyone I've ever met anyway: warm, proud, generous, and fun. Or for its food, which is truly great. You know what, this is but good fruit. In this country, excellent.
Speaker A
ignore its decades of civil unrest have left vast swathes of colombia relatively unknown even to its own citizens to reach a place previously considered a no-go area i'll fly out of an airport in vila vicencio 45 miles southeast of the capital city
Speaker A
I'm no stranger to this place. Generally speaking, it's a particularly vibrant mix of Spanish, European, Afro-Caribbean, and indigenous people. These are deep waters, my friends, that no news story or episode of Miami Vice has ever come close to navigating. It is, and always has been, a fiercely, fiercely proud country, and its people yearn to see international coverage of something other than cocaine and violence. But that isn't a legacy that's easy to ignore. Its decades of civil unrest have left vast swathes of Colombia relatively unknown, even to its own citizens.
Speaker A
the remote settlements in the amazon basin are cut off from the country with neither rail nor roads connecting them there are only two ways in either boat for several days downriver or aboard a jungle bus which is what
Speaker A
To reach a place previously considered a no-go area, I'll fly out of an airport in Villavicencio, 45 miles southeast of the capital city of Bogotá.
Speaker A
every time i have a chance i come here and fly one it's a romantic thing he sees the work that these hoaxing great airships and their pilots do as daredevil humanitarian missions for the more remote colombians they have an in-flight movie no no no
Speaker A
On first inspection, this is an airplane boneyard, where unwanted props from Romancing the Stone corrode artfully. But in reality, this sleepy hangar is an important gateway to the more impenetrable parts of the country.
Speaker A
again so this guy is our return ticket out of the jungle [Music] our captain is joaquin san clemente something of a legend in these parts and his co-pilot captain constanza reyes [Music] it's mystical you know and they develop
Speaker A
The remote settlements in the Amazon basin are cut off from the country, with neither rail nor roads connecting them. There are only two ways in: either boat, for several days downriver, or aboard a jungle bus, which is what locals call the World War II-era DC-3.
Speaker A
it's just man and machine [Music] the weather is the big unknown around here it's changeable enough to ground planes and remote places if they hang around for too long we have to make one stop on the way to
Speaker A
I've flown worse. I've been brought here by Pablo Mora, a teacher at Medellín University and a particular enthusiast for this classic of Golden Age aviation.
Speaker A
haven for kidnapping until recently most of the news coming out of this part of colombia was not good it was a front line in the war on drugs for lack of a better term and colombia's long struggle with the
Speaker A
You've taken this flight before?
Speaker A
miraflores in the southern province of guava in the amazonian forest reserve the heavy presence of army and special police is a result of its strategic location and recent history as a one-time center of coca production farmers here would grow the stuff and
Speaker A
Yes. Every time I have a chance, I come here and fly on it. It's a romantic thing.
Speaker A
population shrank by 85 percent and what remains struggles to survive so the people here you're telling me either were born here or most of the people came from elsewhere at the beginning in the 1950s and 60s they were
Speaker A
He sees the work that these hoary old airships and their pilots do as daredevil humanitarian missions for the more remote Colombians.
Speaker A
here cattle and doing some agriculture and um after that the drug trade began and everything with the with the coca plantation this climate is good for it yeah it's very good since 1999 there was no police or army force here so it was just
Speaker A
They have an in-flight movie?
Speaker A
just made everything work there's no judge here there's a few institutions here right basically you know that the state is here just because the army is here so i think here we're gonna make the major [Applause] is the current mayor of miraflores which
Speaker A
No, no, no. Nor first class, either. What? No, no. The planes travel with their own mechanic to cobble together anything that might go wrong, and stuff can go wrong. The risk is that we'll be able to land but not take off again. So this guy is our return ticket out of the jungle.
Speaker A
growing plantains and not much else you're not eating particularly well you're not particularly happy with the government somebody comes along and offers you a nice machine gun and a cool scarf yeah especially if you're 15 16 years old
Speaker A
Our captain is Joaquín San Clemente, something of a legend in these parts, and his co-pilot, Captain Constanza Reyes.
Speaker A
biodiversity and ecotourism as well what a lot of people say is without the customer there's no there's no cocaine trade and there's no violence right so if the united states and europe stop buying cocaine that's so impossible that i can't think
Speaker A
It's mystical, you know, and they develop this sensibility with the plane. There's no intel inside here. There's no software. They have GPS, but that's about it. It's beautiful, you know. They have to sense everything. They know when the sound of the plane is not right. It's just man and machine.
Speaker A
the united states spends so many billions of dollars a year paying for guns and uniforms training etc where should they be spending it i would say that the the the help is very important but more important is to
Speaker A
The weather is the big unknown around here. It's changeable enough to ground planes in remote places if they hang around for too long. We have to make one stop on the way to pick up more cargo. Vital cargo, by the way.
Speaker A
people think that if you think that drugs should be legalized you're saying that they're good no we're not saying that but just we're just getting rid of one problem the problem the major has here you're also freeing up a lot of money that you
Speaker A
The land we're passing over is beautiful and lush, but life for those below has been anything but. Colombia seems to be trapped in a business that has used the territory as a haven for kidnapping. Until recently, most of the news coming out of this part of Colombia was not good. It was a front line in the war on drugs, for lack of a better term, and Colombia's long struggle with the FARC, a Marxist guerrilla force financed by drug trafficking, kidnapping, and covert assistance from Venezuela. Fifty years of very dirty war. The stakes are not about drugs per se, but about the ability of ordinary Colombians to live without fear.
Speaker A
it's a beautiful country uh the people here are everyone i've ever been it's been really nice even the bad guys yeah charming yeah yeah that is true the food's delicious problem is the united states will never legalize drugs
Speaker A
We land in the jungle outpost of Miraflores, in the southern province of Guaviare, in the Amazonian forest reserve. The heavy presence of army and special police is a result of its strategic location and recent history as a one-time center of coca production. Farmers here would grow the stuff and make leaves into paste. Traffickers would come and buy it. The FARC had this area under its sphere of influence for years. Nine years ago, the government moved to expel the FARC, the traffickers, and any paramilitaries, with apparently much success. Overnight, however, its population shrank by 85 percent, and what remains struggles to survive.
Speaker A
[Music] [Applause] bogota the country's capital and an almost two mile high city with new lofty food ambitions where previously a restaurant scene didn't really exist now young restaurateurs such as musician turned chef tomas rowetta are beginning to make a name for
Speaker A
So the people here, you're telling me, either were born here, or most of the people came from elsewhere?
Speaker A
000 feet up hence the altitude sickness i'm feeling not good tomas comes here a few times a week for an early breakfast which i'm hoping will make me feel better palo camato market has been riding in one form or another
Speaker A
At the beginning, in the 1950s and '60s, they were escaping from the violence, from the political violence between the two parties in Colombia. So if you were having problems in the city, or wherever you were from, you came out here.
Speaker A
no you feel better i'm feeling better every hour yeah first hour is killing me but you have a better face i didn't think i was gonna make it out of the airport most of the mornings early in the morning five or six in the
Speaker A
Yeah. So what did you do for a living out here?
Speaker A
it [Music] chopped tucked away in the back corner of the fish market is a place that serves breakfast to the markets workers and shoppers we're talking beef short ribs simmered in an oily broth with potatoes salt and scallions tomas swears by this
Speaker A
Cattle, and doing some agriculture. After that, the drug trade began, and everything with the coca plantations. This climate is good for it.
Speaker A
meat in there yeah good broth yes stock it's good so what's this dish called beef stock uh broth of rib broth yeah it's a ribs with potato of course everything with potato very good spanish i don't speak spanish
Speaker A
Yes, it's very good. Since 1999, there was no police or army force here, so it was just occupied by the FARC, and then by the paramilitaries, who tried to... Yes. So that's when the real violence began.
Speaker A
old city where i meet up with hector abad distinguished author and one of the most important and supremely talented writers in latin america hector's recent work a memoir called oblivion is about his father who was killed for his outspoken
Speaker A
So really, the problems in this country pre-existed the drug trade?
Speaker A
afternoon the tamales here are made with chicken and pork belly combined with vegetables rice and masa wrapped in a banana leaf and slow cooked for hours this place has been serving chocolate completo to the politicians of nearby plaza bolivar for
Speaker A
What we say here is that the drug trade just made everything worse. There's no judge here. There are a few institutions here, right? Basically, the state is here just because the army is here. So I think here we're going to make the major...
Speaker A
flores yesterday yes what economy there was was an entirely drug-based economy i mean now the drugs are gone there is no economy it's a ghost town it's a military and people sitting there staring at the space waiting for the beer to arrive
Speaker A
[Applause]
Speaker A
i'm sorry well it never is if you remove cocaine from the equation if you remove the drug trade as a financial engine you would still have serious divisions over ideology here um is that improving things are changing in
Speaker A
...is the current mayor of Miraflores, which has seen much better and much worse days.
Speaker A
situation changed right i have only questions i have no answers i'm so sorry if i were the president i really i i don't know what to do you would know what to do no i wouldn't i wouldn't to suggest that a nation should expand
Speaker A
How many people live in this town?
Speaker A
dangerous and potentially deadly ideas as they used to be well 25 years ago my father was killed just because he was asking for these basic things like clean water a glass of milk and an arepa for every child that was
Speaker A
Around fifteen hundred, two thousand in the municipality. The FARC were in charge for twenty years, and they were the central authority here.
Speaker A
and the economic heart of the country about a fifth of the population lives here many of them very well but some not so well it's a city with a marked north south divide chef tomas reida's tabula and donostia
Speaker A
If you're running a subsistence farm growing plantains and not much else, you're not eating particularly well, and you're not particularly happy with the government. Somebody comes along and offers you a nice machine gun and a cool scarf. Especially if you're fifteen or sixteen years old, that's a pretty attractive offer.
Speaker A
it's that ingredients this good meticulously prepared are the essence of great eating [Music] it's a beautiful space so how's the restaurant business in rockville it's a very good business a lot of people with money they don't know how to cook nobody cooks at home
Speaker A
Of course, even if they say you'll probably be dead by the time you're twenty-five.
Speaker A
everywhere french or continental or italian but this is new yeah it's a new stuff it's a new business it's a new world i think the two great values from colombia food the mixtures of the culture yeah right black people indian people white people
Speaker A
Come, they offer you a salary. So what is the future of this town?
Speaker A
a in a beautiful carrot than a great recipe yeah right [Music] this one is a crab salad right and this one is a homemade pasta thin sheets of handmade pasta are filled with lavender cheese and finished with a chorizo sauce
Speaker A
Free education, and there's a lot of potential in biodiversity and ecotourism as well.
Speaker A
it's great that business is good because generally speaking the only worse idea that i think i'll try to make a living making music is i think i'll make a living like opening a restaurant i see why that's so popular good stuff
Speaker A
What a lot of people say is that without the customer, there's no cocaine trade, and there's no violence, right? So if the United States and Europe stop buying cocaine... that's so impossible I can't even think about a situation where the demand is not going to be there. But demand in the States is down 40 percent. As long as there is a market, there will be people ready to do it.
Speaker A
do you cure this first in salt or no dry it salt it out just fresh into the yes delicious so you're never getting this off your menu you'll have to keep this on your menu forever right forever the best part
Speaker A
The United States spends so many billions of dollars a year paying for guns, uniforms, training, et cetera. Where should they be spending it?
Speaker A
i'm not really here for the climate i'm here for tejo it involves alcohol and explosives colombian mario galeno expat will holland and their band mates are to be my guides to this ancient and traditional colombian sport thanks man how do you play this game
Speaker A
I would say that the help is very important, but more important is to end the war on drugs. It just doesn't work here.
Speaker A
if you win more points if you get it in the middle without hitting them oh yeah so but that doesn't sound like any fun [Music] [Applause] everyone has a different style it's him so you got to do like one step and then
Speaker A
My problem is, if crack didn't exist, I would absolutely agree with you. But as a former cocaine addict and as a former crackhead, that is a problem. The thing is, people think that if you think drugs should be legalized, you're saying that they're good.
Speaker A
now the experts [Music] holy crap two in a row this is dismaying oh no wait if one of those guys had to be on my team right [Music] so the guy in the white stripey shirt his name is el pogio viejo which is the
Speaker A
No, we're not saying that. We're just getting rid of one problem.
Speaker A
but i wanted something to blow up tejo is hungry work but the kitchen here is up to the challenge making a colombian piccata this is a huge selection of fried pork pork rib steak cassava potatoes and deep-fried plantain
Speaker A
The problem the mayor has here, you're also freeing up a lot of money that you could divert.
Speaker A
their music my teho buddies mario and will are the founders of a collective called on their idea was to reinterpret the tropical music heritage of colombia what often sounds like salsa in style is actually if there's one type of music that can be
Speaker A
Yes. We have two problems. I'm with you, I agree. One is drug addiction, and the other is drug trafficking. We can get rid of one. We're not going to get rid of the other. We have to deal with it forever.
Speaker A
they brought together musicians who've been famous on the cumbia scene in the 50s and 60s and matched them up with younger counterparts [Music] as if the impressive amount of fried meat we ate at the tejo courts wasn't enough
Speaker A
It's a beautiful country. The people here are everyone I've ever met. It's been really nice, even the bad guys.
Speaker A
think the youngest was 25 maybe in the oldest was 82. so old school and new school mixed is that an oversimplification idealist so we can meet not only doing music but like also exchanging lots of like uh information about how music was made how
Speaker A
Yeah, charming. Yeah, yeah, that is true. The food's delicious.
Speaker A
70s shrimp cocktail [Music] native to the mangroves of the pacific coast the piangue mollusk is a staple used in everything from tamales to stews so it's rice and like a concha it's not a clam ah it's like a rock
Speaker A
The problem is the United States will never legalize drugs. It will never happen.
Speaker A
food you have to accompany it with some beach i'm learning that it's the best way to just handle this from cane sugar yeah cane sugar like homemade and the rural firewall thing so i'm just gonna take one right
Speaker A
Complicated issues.
Speaker A
you have to have like an atlantic or caribbean experience rio aca you definitely have to have like a mountain experience which would be like medellin or bogota right another would be like just go to the amazon you know like just go to the
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah. So, the good people of this town can thank...
Speaker A
the country is beautiful we know this okay but most americans are afraid to come is colombia any more dangerous for tourists than rio or uh puerto rico or south central i mean my impression is no you know when you go to rio you don't
Speaker A
wear a big watch you don't wear an expensive suit you don't you don't behave like an idiot and life is going to be good like maybe i've been lucky but i've never been either mugged or kidnapped or robbed most people will
Speaker A
tell you that we had an amazing time we heard some great music we met some beautiful girls or guys we drank some great drinks and we just hung out and we went to the beach and we it was great and we want to
Speaker A
come back you know i mean there's a lot of heart here people feel very very deeply yeah about things it is the most welcoming country in latin america that i've been saluted [Music] i leave the subtropics for more extreme
Speaker A
climbs rioja is a city 600 miles northeast of kali on colombia's caribbean sea the guajira is the most northern part of south america and borders venezuela in the east it's home to the native semi-nomadic people of colombia called the yu the waiyu are a tough
Speaker A
autonomous tribe who've never taken sides with either the government the farc or the paramilitaries as a result they remain independent politically and live pretty much by their own code [Music] i'm meeting juan pablo mayorga a chef from bogota who comes to this spot on a
Speaker A
regular basis this is not another country this is colombia but but it's a very different part of colombia the guajira is a very rugged terrain but it's desert uh there's not that much water so that's part of why the spaniards
Speaker A
they weren't able to colonize them you've been coming here for some time i became very interested in wajita because i began dealing with uh fresh fish and uh fresh lobster fresh shrimp and for uh goat meat to take back to
Speaker A
bogota is it good it's very good goats are important to the yu as they're used for food for bartering and even as dowry payments rancho owners come to the old market in riawacha to sell slaughter and cook goat in the mornings
Speaker A
[Applause] today we're having frichi which is a traditional dish from the huayuus it consists of the tribes uh the heart the intestines and the awful of the goat so it's pretty fresh because they slaughtered them back here and this is where the huayuu women cook
Speaker A
it so this is really fresh and traditional so this is breakfast this is breakfast for the fridge there's a little bit of everything in there yeah we have hearts we have a little bit of meat of ribs [Music]
Speaker A
now uh and it's interesting because this one it's for breakfast and it's almost done where they started they have to eat this fresh freshness is delicious not fresh this would not be so good no this is where i say something that takes
Speaker A
us seamlessly from a discussion about fresh meat to me hauling my aging carcass onto an atv sugar bear style tribal members of the yu have dual citizenship and could cross the border in venezuela to live or trade there whenever they
Speaker A
need to luckily for us it means that cheap gas is easy to come by in these parts there are no stations as such you just keep an eye out for the cans [Music] most of this gasoline is from venezuela
Speaker A
it's uh extremely cheap i think it's like 50 cents a gallon the government subsidizes a lot of it they're able to buy venezuelan gasoline and sell legally venezuelan gasoline in colombia having taken on as much gas as can be
Speaker A
mouth-siphoned in one sitting we're off again [Music] let me set the scene it's hot out here desert hot and we plan to ride three hours along the coast to our lunch spot and i ate salty goat dinners for
Speaker A
breakfast and i refuse to wear a helmet or sunblock we avoid wild donkeys and goats and get lost more than a few times so a little heat stroke leads to a lot of horsing around and we decide to open
Speaker A
these puppies up [Music] well a momentary concussion is seldom a good thing waking up in colombia on a beach almost always is having abandoned the epic ride we're back where we started at mayapal in the guajira at the blue
Speaker A
sea restaurant how come you're all clean i changed you brought a change of clothes yes i'm hurt enough i'm feeling every minute every hour every month and year of my age so you ready for some casuela yes that i
Speaker A
i trust it will make me feel much better it's a good end to uh you can't ask for better scenery it's beautiful here i need the anesthetic qualities of the local fire water that's probably a really good idea
Speaker A
that's gonna be a good start for uh for the night good start i'm done oh man that dog has the right idea see i would be very happy if that was me right now like just like laying down in
Speaker A
the sand with my chin out like that man it's so beautiful here who comes here it's basically tourists from colombia and a lot of backpackers that are making their way up to the northern oahe right but i mean we saw one tourist all day
Speaker A
and it's nice you could really just get completely off the graveyard this used to be a fisherman village there are definitely worse places to eat seafood than beachside in a fishing village and the strength of this stu casuela de
Speaker A
mariscos lies in the variety of fish available basically uh like a fish chowder right made with uh shrimp clams right chippy chibi which is a small kind of clam lobster fish crunch oh i need a bath very clear sky for the
Speaker A
caribbean oh yeah oh man it's always accompanied by um by lemon coconut rice and plantain some hot sauce in there some good food a few shots of aguardiente the sounds of waves in the background a nice sunset these are things in my
Speaker A
experience that will set most things right thank you [Music] we had good fun we had good fun cheers [Music] i always find colombia encouraging they face problems more extreme and seemingly more intractable than many of us can imagine
Speaker A
and yet every time i come here it gets better don't get me wrong problem serious problems remain which is particularly heartbreaking in a country so beautiful so generous so proud so eager to love and be loved back i come back to my own country from
Speaker A
colombia and i think if they can fix that if they can make things better then surely there's nothing we can't do for now however i'll settle for fixing my headache that hurt [Music] [Music] you
Topics:Anthony BourdainParts UnknownColombiaAmazonMirafloresFARCdrug warcocainetravel documentaryColombian cuisine
