Colombia gained a new idol this past weekend. Nairo Quintana was already incredibly popular in his homeland before he rode to victory in the ‘Vuelta a Espana’ cycling race on Sunday, but his victory has catapulted him to a new level of adoration in Colombia. I’ve even heard people suggest that, at the relatively young age of 26, Nairo has the potential to become the greatest Colombian sportsman of all time! This may seem like a hyperbolic statement but it rings true for me: Nairo has the humility, talent, drive and relatability that it takes to become universally adored in your own country. And on Monday, after some of the hype and excitement of the weekend’s finale had died down, I paid a visit to Cómbita in Boyacá department to visit his childhood home, where his parents still live (and where many of his extended family can be found most days), to offer my congratulations and find out a bit more about the origins and story of this most Colombian of champions.
It’s an odd sort of tourist attraction, the home of the parents of a sporting hero, but in Boyacá ‘la casa de Nairo’ is very firmly on the tourist map: to get there you head to Tunja’s main bus terminal and find a bus to Moniquirá (not to Cómbita: the house is on the road between Tunja and Moniquirá, in Cómbita municipality, but not in the town itself) – knowing when to get off the bus won’t be an issue: just ask for ‘la casa de Nairo’ and all the drivers know exactly where you mean. The stop even has it’s own set fare: 3.000 COP! It’s about a half hour trip from Tunja to the house, and when you arrive, you’ll know: the house is plastered with it’s own giant Nairo mural, and every passing truck driver honks their horn in appreciation and admiration for the local hero.
Nairo Quintana was born in this little house, along with his two brothers and two sisters, in 1990. His parent’s, Don Luis Quintana and Eloisa Rojas, still live in their son’s childhood home, and his sister has opened a tienda at the front of the house. As well as this, the family operate a small Nairo-store where you can buy Nairo shirts, mugs, and ruana ponchos. Nairo began cycling very young when his parents bought him a second-hand mountain bike to make the 16km journey to school and back (one story has him towing his younger sister on her bike on the uphill sections!). The heavy bike and the tough ascents and descents of the Andes’ Eastern Range were the perfect setting for a future-champion to develop, and his father, an avid cycling fan, recognized young Nairo’s potential and saved up around 380.000 COP to buy his son a racing bike. It certainly seems to have been a wise investment: in the few hours I spent at the house the family sold at least double that amount in Nairo merchandise!
Don Luis is a short man, red-faced and garrulous, who can usually be found holding court in front of his house, telling stories about his son. On the day I met him he arrived in his car after lunch looking tired and a bit worse-for-wear. He was sick he said, but the weekend’s celebrations may have had something to do with it! He was still happy to talk, and even cracked a smile when I joked that, being English and named Chris, I might have been a bit wary of visiting had Chris Froome pipped his son to the podium over the weekend! His wife, Eloisa, is lovely: humble and slightly shy, but with a ready smile and a friendly nature, she was happy to pose for multiple photos with the busloads of well-wishers who turned up throughout the day. She would show me Nairo’s first bike she said, but she’d lent it to someone. This seemed typical of such a kind and humble family: most would have this ‘relic’ under-lock-and-key or on display in a glass case, but she’d lent it out to someone who needed to make a trip!
I also met and chatted with Nairo’s cousins, Camilo and Anderson, both cyclists who regularly make trips of over 100km around their home department. They were keen to stress their pride in their famous cousin (Camilo: “Nairo’s the best cyclist in the world”) and ran the Nairo merchandise store with an eye for detail and an organized seriousness. Once the store was shut though, they relaxed and we joked around while waiting for a bus back to Tunja – their pride as Boyacenses was evident (Camilo: “Somos Colombianos de Boyaca“), and they made welcoming and friendly hosts. All in all the family were classic representations of the Boyaca spirit: kind and welcoming, humble and hard-working. They were happy to have visitors, and I’d urge anyone travelling in the department to make the trip and pay them a visit.
The iconic mural itself was painted (and recently updated to include the red jersey Nairo gained by winning the Vuelta) by Bogota artist Aldemar Marin, a family friend who was there on the day I visited (with a few more Nairo canvases to show off as well). It’s Aldemar’s work that makes the house stand out and is responsible for the constant honking by passing truck drivers (Anderson: “It only stops at night because they can’t see the mural!”). He described his “great pride” at being able to “share my work with the great champion” and sharing such a special day with “a humble hard-working family full of values.” You also couldn’t meet a much friendlier and more open person than Aldemar: the next day he sent me a photo of a drawing he’d done of me after our single meeting. It’s a cracking likeness too! The experience of visiting Nairo’s house was like that the whole time: I felt welcomed from the start, and even the other visitors wanted to pose with a photo of the foreigner (one man when I asked him why he wanted a photo with me: “We don’t see many foreigners around here”). One lady joked that I looked a lot like Chris Froome, but there was also universal concurrence that Froome was “a gentleman.” Being English and living in Colombia I’m basically connected to the two greatest cycling nations in the world right now, and it’s good for the sport to have some relatable and down-to-earth idols after the scandals of years gone by. That’s exactly what Nairo and his family are: kind, welcoming and perfectly representative of what people love about Colombia and Colombians.
So, if you happen to passing through Boyaca (and even if you’re not – it’s only a few hours from Bogota), make sure to take a morning out of your schedule and pay a visit to Nairo’s house and his family: you won’t regret saying hello and you’ll be met with the kind of welcome that so perfectly encapsulates the magic of Colombia.
Chris
