In Colombia, Safe and Sound

Before coming to Colombia, I really debated whether to switch my ticket and head to Nicaragua. Nicaragua is much cheaper, easier to find volunteer opportunities as well as obtain Spanish classes. Colombia does not receive a lot of tourism and is not set up for volunteers. In fact, the government is a little weary of volunteers. At last, I could not change my frequent flyer ticket, how I am getting around from place to place for the year, and so I am now in Bogota.

When I first arrived in Bogota, I ran into Big Ben from Guatemala in a random encounter at my hostel. I guess he slowly made his way down to Colombia after Guatemala and is now off to Ecuador. I enjoyed finding a familiar face in a foreign country. We immediately hit the night life. The nightlife here is as good as I have heard; the Colombians like to party and there are plenty of dance clubs and bars for them to do so. I especially love the quaint cafes located throughout the city. My favorite is El Gato Gris that has loads of nooks and crannies with couches for chairs and Dali art throughout the old house. Doris, an Austrian, and I went to the rooftop and sat next to one of the fireplaces and just chilled. I much needed this time off since I have been on the go ever since Beijing. In fact, tonight, I took a very long nap and am too tired to go out therefore updating my blog. The night before, Sariya, a Brit, and I checked out the dance clubs in Zona Rosa. We danced the night away to techno while the second floor played spanish pop, of which we were not a fan, and the first floor played random music. The entire area of Zona Rosa is full of clubs and bars and every young Colombian seemed to be out in party mode. We left when most of the clubs closed at 3am although, many of my new friends stayed out til 7am at the after hours clubs. I just didn't have it in me.

My attempt at finding another volunteer opportunity has been limited. I tried calling a few places, but without success and then the weekend hit and so I haven't tried calling again. The hostel has told me volunteering is difficult as well. However, I did meet a woman who gives food to the homeless and I plan to work with her when I return to Bogota on my way home. For now, unless I make a more concerted effort in Bogota to find work, I plan to head to Medellin about a 9 hour bus ride to the Northwest where I hope to have better luck.

Overall, I have found Colombians extremely friendly, and even the taxi drivers entertain me. They are more than willing to help me find my way around the city and the police readily answer my questions. I would never have guessed that there are multiple leftist groups causing havoc and a drug cartel in this country if I didn't read about it regularly back home and if I didn't see multiple policemen with dogs standing around on street corners. The police tell me that the dogs are not for drug sniffing, but for extra security and they keep the dogs muzzled until needed. Still, at night, I do not feel safe here and homeless and drunk men often follow me around looking for money. I keep to taxis at night and stick to groups.

Earlier, I ran into a group of guys heading to the salt mines an hour and half north of the city and so I joined them. Millions of years ago, the ocean once covered Colombia, and due to earth movements, a bit of the ocean became surrounded by the earth. The water dried to form salt plains, and more earth movement caused the salt plains to fold underground. The indigenous discovered this salt about 1000 years ago and used the salt to barter for goods. Only about 200 years ago, the Colombians started mining for the salt to support 80% of Colombia's salt needs. Inside the mine, the Colombian miners built a salt cathedral for worship and good luck. I toured around admiring the great statues of crosses carved out of the salt. My guide explained that due to the ability of the salt to absorb shock, the mine can withstand over a 14 pt richter scale earthquake. Pretty impressive.

Soccer is the favorite national sport and when I heard that Colombia was about to play Uruguay Saturday night, I had to buy tickets. I rallied 5 others to join me and we set out to buy tickets from a scalper. After much haggling, and only $5 over base, we all obtained tickets in time. The Colombian spirit for soccer is incredible! They even have cuss-filled songs in Spanish that they sing in unison against the opposing team. The guy next to me translated the songs and the guy in front shared his food with me. I loved being surrounded by such high national pride, where everyone sings the national anthem at the start, although at times, I wondered if the crowd would get too rowdy and might run me over. Sadly, Uruguay scored early, and Colombia could never make a comeback. Enjoyable, nonetheless.

Plenty of museums shape the city center and gorgeous lush mountains surround the city. I had the pleasure of viewing the city from the top of Cerro de Monserrate, a mountain peak, as well as touring some museums. Inside the Bortero museum, a friendly guide gave me a personal tour of the entire Bortero collection. Bortero is the most famous Colombian painter, and is known for his paintings of “fat” people. However, my guide explained that he doesn't paint “fat” people, but rather experiments with volume and time and likes to include social commentary in his paintings. I gained a much greater appreciation of his art after her explanation. He considers people objects and all the objects in his paintings are over enlarged. However, their proportions are out of whack to increase the effect of their volume. For example, in this particular painting, the arms are not large enough to support the bodies of the people and their eyes are much smaller than normal. In terms of social commentary, the serpent in the photo and the half eaten apple on the ground represent Adam and Eve as well as sin. He is stating that there is a sinner in the photo, but who is the sinner. The serpent and apple are in line with the wife. However, when looking at the husband, I noticed two rings, one on each hand. This is to say that he has two wives, but he slyly points to the girl in the photo who looks nothing like the father. The boy does though. The husband is trying to tell me that the girl is not his. He may have two wives, but his wife is not faithful either. Bortero is highlighting the social scene in Colombia in the 40's and 50's, where infidelity commonly filled the air. The falling apples in the painting also provide a sense of time. He has captured a moment in time and this is not still life. All in all, lots of activities have filled my last 3 days in Bogota.