Saturday, March 9, 2019

el monte: the bush (or the backwoods)

el monte: the bush (or the backwoods)

I lean towards the bush, I think the connotation is closer. Along those lines, I render romper monte as bushwhacking. I recently saw el monte rendered as just 'the woods,' which I think is a bit off, but it was in this excellent article comparing how the Colombian government is trying to remake both victims and demobilizing guerrillas, which I recommend.

Not sure what bushwhacking is? Read this masochist's guide to bushwhacking, where I got this photo.  It's really much better done with a machete in hand, which rompiendo monte always seems to involve. Just imagine a campesino wearing a helmet like this to do it!