Sebastian, whom I mentioned in this post (a couple posts down), taught me a couple things about Willys in Colombia today.

1) Willys are very popular in Colombia.  They started arriving during the 50’s and immediately became a sensation. They are still used regularly in the coffee plantations.  He assures us that every single coffee beam that we enjoy in a Colombian Coffee has been transported at some point in a Willys (most probably a CJ-3B).  There are cities and towns where you can see Willys everywhere, being used as work vehicles. For somebody from this country it would be like going back on time. They are also used as taxis, carrying people by the dozen. [Editor’s note:  Nice work Sebastian; I am sold on a trip to Colombia :-)]

2) There are many Jeep festivals in Colombia.  Most of them occur between September and October; they are called “Yipaos”.  The festivals were started in 1988.  The vehicles are driven through the main streets of a city and the Jeeps with the largest amount of objects carried with the most harmonious arrangements earn prizes. In fact, in February 2006, a Guinness World Records was established for the “Longest Jeep Parade” in Calarca, with a caravan of over 370 Jeep Willys vehicles.  It seem to me that we need to break that record back! Here’s an article about it on the CJ-3B page.

Sebastian also sent me a powerpoint with some nice big pictures of one festival. You just gotta see it to believe.  Check out the mud flaps … I’ve been looking for some older looking mud flaps!