Gold! And more gold!

Actually 55,000 pieces of pre-Columbian gold belonging to the Calima, Musica, Nariño, Quimbaya, Zenú, Tairona, San Agustín, Tierradentro and Tolima civilizations. You can see them all, for a mere $3,000COP at the Museo de Oro (Gold Musuem).

There are all-sorts of gold from, offerings to the gods to clothing. One can really see why the legend of El Dorado grew.

Looks like a Pink Floyd album cover, doesn't it?

 

Map of indigenous groups  in Colombia.

The wasp cut off our tail, the tail that people once had. We all had a tail. The wasp cut off the tail of the frog and ours too. That is how we became human beings. Eventually the wasp got tired of cutting so much. From that moment on the humans that still had a tail became long-tailed monkeys.

 Uitoto, Vaupés (A Colombian state located on the border with Brazil in the Amazon)

 

Tobacco was once people. It liked stories; when it heard people speak at home, it got close to the wall and listened. That is why Mother Earth always had tobacco grow around houses, near the walls. There it could listen. Also, Mother Earth made sure that tobacco was consumed with coca, so that all of the stories could be heard.

Kogui, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Mountain range on Caribbean coast, not too far from Venezuela)

 I can't wait to go back to the museum to soak it all in. There's a lot of cool stuff to see there.

Saludos desde Bogotá

La Feria del Libro

La feria del libro (or the Book Fair) is a much bigger deal than I could have ever imagined. It's a big party. I'm not sure what came first, the party or the book. Also it wasn't clear if reading was just an excuse to party or if people just who like to read really like to party. Well, whatever the case was, the Colombians made it clear that nobody celebrates reading quite as well as them. Between the celebrities, famous authors from all over the world (i.e. Mario Vargas Llosa, famous Peruvian author, who just one last year's Nobel Prize for Literature) the Presidents of Ecuador and Colombia, food, salsa music, beer, whiskey, rum, techno music, parades, national treasures of Ecuador, Peruvian and Ecuadorian cinema, the oldest copy still around of Aristotle's Philosophy and millions and millions of books, I had a great time. Too bad my camera ran out of batteries.... I didn't charge it because I didn't think it was going to interesting...I was wrong.

Outside the fair.

The entrance to the 24th International Book Fair. Lot's of people.

Just one of the more than 20 concourses. Each one has more than 3 floors of exhibits and books. Some had more than 5 floors. Each are stocked full of alcohol venders, restaurants and advertisements for any publication available in the city.

An ad for El Tiempo, the most popular newspaper in Bogotá. 

View from one of the concourses. It was only 5:30pm. It gets dark here very early. By 8pm the place was packed.

Of course you can't read without Dunkin Donuts!

McGraw Hill's stand in the college text book concourse. All of the books were for sale. But at a really discounted price. Books that cost $100 could be bought for $15.


The Book Fair is one of the most important cultural events every year in Bogotá. Colombians love to read, evidently. In 2007, Bogotá was named the World Book Capital by UNESCO. There were literally thousands and thousands of people. Each year Colombia names one country as the Guest of Special Honor. This year it was Ecuador.

Ecuador was just a big party.

I'm not calling Ecuador wimpy. Wimpy was the first hamburger chain here in Colombia. Someday I will have a Wimpy Burger.

My favorite picture I have taken in Colombia so far. "Máximo 3 consultas por persona" Translation: Limit 3 questions per person! Anyone who knows Colombians know that they ask A LOT of questions! Here's proof! Just kiddin. Now, of course people found a way around it by dividing up 9 questions among 3 family members...

Book Fairs seem to be common in the Spanish speaking world. Bogotá, Buenos Aires (has 2), Madrid (has 4), Havana (however, probably censored), Lima, Guadalajara (Mexico, has 2) and Santo Domingo all have International Book Fairs. If you ever get the chance to go to one. Go! It's fun!

Bogotá is a great city. There is always something interesting to see or do. Really, I have no idea what awaits me on the next street.

Surprises like this. Or a guy juggling fire, or a guy handing out fliers saying God doesn't exist, and that us humans were created by an alien race called "the Jews. " 

Everything is going great down here!


Saludos desde Bogotá!

Something Strange

In case you had any questions, this was street theater. It's popular, but this group was a bit strange, although their make-up was very well done and they could all play the drums better than Ringo.

We randomly stumbled upon them and they happened to be going where we were going. El Chorro de Quevedo. El Chorro de Quevedo es where people say that Bogotá was founded. Well, I couldn't get a good view of the place because of the street "theater." But it was still entertaining. I edited together the videos I took of the performance.

P.S. We weren't in any danger. They had a police escort, meaning they asked for permission to do that and it was approved.

Saludos desde Bogotá!

Ciclovía!

 

A common expression here in Bogotá is, "¡no tenemos playa pero tenemos ciclovía!" (We don't have a beach, but we have ciclovía). So what is ciclovía? The ciclovía (ciclo = cycle, vía = lane, road. So it roughly translates to Bicycle Road/Lane. However, ciclovía sounds cooler.) is the astonishing tradition in Bogotá of shutting down certain main roads and highways and allowing only people on foot and on bicyclers ride on them.

Ciclovía started in 1974 with 5,000 riders protesting against the increased presence of automobiles in Bogotá. Since then it has become a staple in Bogotá with more than 2 million riders 120km (74.5 miles) of roads reserved for bikes and pedestrians every.

Map of Ciclovía. It literally covers the entire city.

On Saturday, we bought bikes. Really cheap bikes.

Safety first! People here drive like maniacs.

Me being goofy on Ave. Boyacá.

Deidi resting after a long day of riding.



Bogotá is a bicycler's dream town, with over 313km (194.5 miles) of bicycle lanes crossing all parts of the city.  

The bike lanes are really really nice. You can get anywhere in the city on bike. And Bogotá is 65 degrees year round. Perfect bike riding weather.

The city is also covered in incredibly elaborate pedestrian/bike bridges, which make crossing busy streets a breeze (if you're not afraid of heights).

Okay....about the mayor. He got suspended from office for three months. Here's why:

The city is littered with construction projects like this one (which has closed down one of the main roads in Bogotá). No progress has been made. And supposedly, the construction company used the money given to them by the mayor (who also received a kick back of 6%) to buy nice condos in Miami.

But rumor has it that Peñalosa (one of the great mayors in the videos posted below is coming back). Hopefully he knows what to do to clean up this mess.

Well, that's all for now! I'm still having fun and doing fine!

Saludos desde Bogotá!

Bogotá Change

The history and especially the recent history of Bogotá. I have no idea how accurate it is. It seems to maybe be an advertisement for Peñalosa and Mockus. But entertaining none the less.


PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

PART 7

The documentary is by Felipe Acevedo and is called "Bogotá Change."

I hope you all enjoyed it.

Saludos desde Bogotá!