The 30th edition of the BBVA Route begins tomorrow in Madrid
This year’s edition of the BBVA Route, dubbed “An Adventure in the Country of Emeralds”, starts tomorrow with the arrival in Madrid of the 174 participating students from 21 countries, who will embark on a journey that will take them across Spain and Colombia. Now on its 30th edition, the program – directed by Miguel de la Quadra Salcedo –renews its commitment to the Ibero-American youth.
This year’s will be the 30th edition of the BBVA Route program, and to celebrate 174 Ibero-American young adventurers will embark in an trip that will take them across different regions of Spain and Colombia in the coming weeks. Over 10,000 students have taken part to date in this cultural project, declared of “Universal Interest” by the UNESCO. The expedition will set off from Madrid on an academic program with a strong social component: By engaging in different entrepreneurial projects and learning about different social enterprises, participants will expand and improve their views and insights.
To this regard, BBVA Route’s social entrepreneurship program will offer its young participants an opportunity to propose innovative and sustainable solutions to social issues within their communities, using their talent to become drivers of social change.
Also, attesting to its long-stating tradition of supporting the disabled, BBVA Route has renewed its agreement with CERMI and the ONCE Foundation, thanks to which two disabled youths will join the rest of the group, acting as Ambassadors for the Disabled to promote social inclusion.
Spain and Colombia, the destinations of the 30th edition of the BBVA Route
Madrid will be the departing point for the 2015 expedition. The students will visit the Prado Museum and the Royal Palace, where they will be received by King Felipe IV at the Zarzuela Palace on the following Tuesday.
In Toledo, the next stop in the journey, the expedition will study the second volume of the Quixote, on the 4th centenary of its publication. Our young explorers will be introduced to St Teresa’s work in Ávila, a city that will be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of the mystic. The expedition will then stop in Leon before completing three stages of the Way of St. James, to arrive at Santiago de Compostela on August 4th.
After the Spanish leg of the tour, the party will cross the Atlantic, following the “magic route of the green pebbles”. Cartagena de Indias will be the starting point to meet several entrepreneurs that are developing interesting social projects. Later, they will head towards Santa Marta and the Tayrona National Park. A special stop will be the visit to Aracataca, the village where Colombian author and Nobel prize winner García Márquez was born. The most adventurous stretch of the journey will take place within the Santander department, with a trek across the Chicamocha canyon The entourage will complete its journey on August 26th in Bogota, where the closing and diploma ceremony will be held.
For more information: www.rutabbva.com
