Colombia: Playing the game of "tejo" (1987)

Because of the difficult terrain, not many railroads were built in Colombia. One that was built was converted into a tourist train that leaves the north of Bogotá and proceeds to the towns of Zipaquirá - the town where the salt cathedral is located - and Nemocón. In the areas surrounding Bogotá, including Nemocón, there are many places to play the game of tejo (TAY-hoh), a game going back to the pre-Columbian days, which is similar to horseshoes. Here I'm throwing the disc (it reminded me of a shot put cut in half) toward a target that is a raised platform, filled with tightly packed mud or clay, with four pouches filled with gunpowder surrounding the center of the target. The goal is to hit the center target and make one of those pouches explode. Tejo is associated in people's minds with beer, because plenty of it is consumed during the tejo matches.

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