I’m now moving on from Bogota, where I spent a fantastic few days, and where I kind of wish I could spend more time (but then I say that about so many places, I suppose, and there are still so many yet to come). You may find it hard to believe, but one of the things I liked most about Colombia’s capital was its cool, cloudy, and, at times, torrentially rainstormy weather. Having felt sapped in the sticky heat of my last couple of destinations, Bogota’s climate actually felt like a bit of a blessing to me. It also reminded me of home. Yes, I know it’s odd, but sometimes I do actually pine for the patter of rain on the window and the unmistakably British feeling of zipping your coat up to keep out the chill while walking down a cold grey street!
I arrived in Bogota on Monday afternoon shortly before a very heavy downpour which saw my poor elderly and arthritic taxi-driver ploughing his little yellow taxi through vast puddles to get me to Veronika and Eduardo’s house in the north of the city. A friend of a friend of my Mum’s, Veronika is Austrian, but married to Eduardo, a Colombian. She has spent the last 23 years here in Bogota and she and Eduardo have two daughters in their teens (Karina, the eldest, is currently studying in Vienna). Veronika works for the Austrian Embassy here, while Eduardo is an orthodontist. However, like so many of the Latin-Americans I have met, he has a ‘side-line’ passion for poetry, art and literature, and has just completed his first novel. He gave me a proof to read of the story, which is about a young runaway growing up on the streets of Bogota. I very much enjoyed the first few pages, which I got through slowly with the help of my dictionary. As far as Colombian literature goes, it was a bit more manageable than Marquez for me! Roll on the day it is published, when I will hopefully be able to say that I have met a famous author…
The Rodriguez-Winklers really were a great family to stay with, giving me lots of tips about what to see and do in Bogota, and also helping me to make some useful connections. As Veronika and Eduardo were out at work during the day, and Silvana also at school, they put me in touch with their neighbour’s son, Oscar. He and his friends Manuel and Santiago swiftly became my unofficial ‘guias’ (or guides) throughout the duration of my stay. These three guys were aged between 19 and 20 and had time on their hands before a delayed return to university after the Christmas holidays (from what I gather there is some kind of strike with university staff in Bogota at present). Therefore they were happy to hang round with me and show me some of their city’s sights. Generally we had a blast as they were very amusing and entertaining! Of course, my Spanish couldn’t quite keep up with all their slang and ‘chistosos’, or jokes (maybe a good thing, as the things that teenage boys joke about are sometimes best kept amongst themselves!). However, we managed to communicate pretty well, in spite of me still feeling a bit like a crackly old radio – picking up the most part of what people are saying, but never with precision or clarity.
Anyway, these boys helped me out lots - with my Spanish and with other stuff. Manuel, in particular, was of great assistance helping me to finally buy some new shoes on Tuesday (girls, if he is anything to go by, Colombian men have impressive levels of patience while shopping – much more than most British ones!). I also had lots of fun going up to Mount Monserrate with the three of them yesterday in a cable to get some spectacular views of the city. This huge hill overlooking Bogota is climbed every Sunday by many pilgrims, who apparently make the journey on their knees as some kind of penitential ritual. At the top there is a church and a meticulously tended garden with statues of Jesus and the ‘Stations of the Cross’. I’m afraid to say these very sombre and serious depictions kind of gave us the giggles, prompting my new companions to launch into a round of mimickry and jesting which they recorded on their mobile phones. As my pictures show, I got roped into being the cross in one of the scenes! It was hilariously funny at the time, but I did ask them if they were sure we weren’t all going to go to the ‘inferno’ (hell) for being so blasphemous (Colombia is still a staunchly Catholic country). Hmm, maybe I had better go and say some ‘hail marys’ when I next find myself near to a church or cathedral in order to absolve myself!
Before I met up with my new young joker chums yesterday I explored ‘La Candelaria’ (the old part of Bogota) a bit on my own, having got a lift into the centre with Eduardo on his way to work. He had provided me with a very helpful map of the area’s many museums and areas of interest, and I started off in the ‘Museo Botero’. This is a collection of paintings and sculptures donated by famous Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, mainly featuring his own inimitable work. I say ‘inimitable’ because Botero really does seem to have a style of his own – based upon, well, plumpness. It is said that his paintings can even make an orange (which is essentially round) look fat, and I guess the photos I took show how the human figures in his pictures come out. I’m not sure I’d want one hanging on my wall, but they were quite entertaining and colourful. Also, on Eduardo’s recommendation, I went to see some very powerful and arresting nudes by another renowned Colombian painter, Luis Caballero. The museum therefore furthered my knowledge of famous Colombians beyond the incongruous pairing of Shakira and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who I have to say were the only two I had in mind when I arrived here!
One of the other things I liked so much about Bogota was its intellectual and studenty feel. Next to the ‘Museo Botero’ was the ‘Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango’ - the biggest library in all of Latin America. This was a great place to while away some time browsing through the impressive bookshelves, while people-watching and spying on the students with their black-rimmed spectacles and earnest expressions (from what I have gathered my light-hearted young companions were the exception to the rule when in comes to national characteristics – apparently Colombians are generally very serious-minded).
It was later that evening that we returned to the library to meet up with a girl called Lorna in the café there. Lorna is from Dublin, and the daughter of some friends of my Mum’s. She’s working here in Bogota for an Irish NGO, and has been here for just over a year, travelling around Colombia, and doing all sorts of interesting and very valuable work with impoverished communities in the country. It was great to chat to her and to learn more about how she gets on living here, and how she finds Colombia in general. I think Oscar, Manuel and Santiago were also quite pleased to find themselves in the company of another older woman! After a coffee we all went out for some beers, firstly in a bar in the studenty ‘Chorro de Quevedo‘ area, and then in a little corner-shop-come-drinking-den near to ‘La Macarena’ where Lorna lives. I especially liked the local vibe in this second place, and we had some laughs there, with Lorna and I trying to advise the younger guys on their girlfriend troubles!
So, now it’s off to Cartegena on the Caribbean coast for me – a ‘walled city’ that I have heard is magically beautiful, and that apparently provided the inspiration for a lot of Marquez’s literature. I think it is going to be very picturesque so I’ll get my camera battery charged up and will see what I can capture of it.
|  | 
|
