Medellin, Colombia 🇨🇴 

I am excited today for Tejo! This is a game played Colombia wide and was invented by indigenous people prior to the Spanish arriving. They used to play it with a gold ball with gold targets but the Spanish, spotting the gold, traded it for iron and gunpowder. I have roped Tom in to play and have booked a court with the only gringo that plays the circuit, Chris.

We make it to the court in a district called Envigado just as the court time starts and Chris spots us. He is American and very welcoming, patiently explaining how we throw and scoring options. We are going to throw from half the regular length to give ourselves a chance.  Essentially I just wanted to hit the gunpowder but I’ll try and explain the basics of the game;

The guy that organises the court is called a Canchero. The target area is filled with clay and a metal ring that has 4 triangle packets of gunpowder (called Mecha) around it. When you landed in the middle of the Ring it’s called a Bocin and worth 4 points, but when you land in the middle and get an explosion it’s called a Monona, winning you 6 points. You play 2 Tejos each and the closest to the ring takes a point. The hook that you use to take the tejo out of the clay ground is a Gancho.

Tom is from Holland so we made it England versus Holland, but with my fierce competitiveness I was in it to win it. The other bonus is beer is served as you play, and this seemed to loosen up the game. I was elated when I first hit the gunpowder, and feel these explosions could be introduced to make other games to make them more interesting. It was a really exhilarating game, (which I won!)

We made our way back to El Poblado and after a quick dinner I introduced Tom to the ice cream shop, where I had my last magnum before I leave.