I was thinking about how interesting it was that so many people from Bucaramanga have a different interpretation of its history, and who was in control. Some people are frustrated that Spain took over the indigienous people and robbed them. People are trying to honor the Guanes through museums, and to remember that this was their land before it was Spain's, and even before it was "Colombia," because Colombia did not exist yet!
The flag of Santander is everywhere in Bucaramanga, and it represents a lot of its history. It did not become the official flag unil 1972 -- very recently! The flag of Santander has a thick, vertical red line on the left. Red stands for the dignity and bravery of people in Santander, and how they fought for their freedom. In the red line, there are eight white stars, which stand for all of the areas that are a part of Santander. There are five horizonal stripes on the right side. The green stripes stand for loyalty, hope and certainty, because of the ways they take care of their land and grow their businesses. And the gold and black stripes represent all of the resources the land provides that Spain tried to steal from them, like their gold and coal.
I think it is so cool that even hundreds of years later, the flag of Santander remembers the past, the nature that makes up Bucaramanga and how hard their people fought for freedom for hundreds of years. In Explorer's Club, you guys explained to me that the explorers go on missions and have a flag to represent the mission. But in Bucaramanga, there were many people who had missions: the indigenous, the Spanish and then what turned into Colombians. Missions and history are so complex!
