Photo: Roasting meat over fire in Colombia's Andes mountains : NPR

Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

In the central plaza of this remote northern Colombian town, I came upon a ring of metal rods skewered with tenderloin, ribs and brisket, encircling a smoky fire.

Men in cowboy hats were making carne a la llanera , which means "prairie-style meat." It's a culinary tradition from the plains ( los llanos ) of southeast Colombia, where cowboys and cattle herds still roam.

But what were they doing in Monguí, which sits 9,500 feet high in the Andes Mountains?

Turns out carne a la llanera is popular all over Colombia. In Monguí, the succulent aroma helped draw hundreds of people to the plaza, where their purchase of a raffle ticket included a plate of th