Ghosts and Graffiti in La Candelaria

My current favorite graffiti piece in La Candelaria

Greetings dear readers from freezing Bogotá!

Okay, so freezing might be an overstatement, but how miserable is a place that hardly ever gets warmer than 55 degrees (13 or so Celsius), and doesn't believe in central heating? Persistent chill in the bones, and looking forward to moving on to the "City of Eternal Spring," Medellín, before too long.

We arrived in yesterday from hot and muggy San José. Despite all my whining about the miserable mountain climate, it is lovely to be back in a city again. Ariel and I are staying at a new hostel, Musicology, in La Candelaria. I'm still working on my class assignments, and have accomplished 90-95% of assignment 5 of 6 total. I'm rewarding myself with the rest of the evening off, though part of the reason for the night off is that my computer is having an acute relapse of turn-itself-off-suddenly-with-no-explanation-itis. I had thought it was caused by the heat in San Jose, but it appears that it's generally unwell now. Highly frustrating. I've started the draft of this post on a clunky hostel keyboard, but will have to wait to finish it until my computer is back up again, as I don't trust my USB with the hostel computer's health...last thing my computer needs now is a virus. [I figured it out! It was my Picasa software turning it off for some reason...photos loaded!]

It's particularly unfortunate that it happened now, with assignments due and with the glory of REAL wi-fi on hand. The internet here may not actually be that fast, but after SJG it's amazing--graphics load, Skype works...un milagro! I've gone back and corrected the warped photos from the last post, too, as well as added a few new ones.

Anyway, it's been about 4 1/2 weeks here in Colombia, and yet it feels like it's already been twice that. I suppose that's the really wonderful thing about traveling, that you feel like you're eking every last drop of life out of each minute. Throughout Colombia at roadside stands, they have signs advertising 'MINUTOS' for your pay-as-you-go cell phone. It does sometimes feel like I've made a purchase, but on a life scale. I've found that nearly every night I go to bed exhausted, the day filled with new people, lots of listening, note-taking, heavy foods, and experiences out of the ordinary. La vida es buena.

Until relatively recently, the project blog was public and I was trying to direct people there to read day-to-day events of San José. We've made it private recently, as we're using it as a source of data management, and it may end up hosting some potentially sensitive information. In light of this change, I will, sometime in the next few weeks, summarize some highlights and post them here.

For now, I'll leave you with some photos. I went a little crazy today...if any appliance had the right to quit, it was my hard-working little camera. I've captioned the photos below, including some from the drive in from San José. Enjoy, and more again soon!

This, to me, pretty much describes an average afternoon site most anywhere in Latin America: whitewashed building, corrugated tin roof, plastic tables, red (sometimes yellow or white) plastic chairs, a few bikes or mopeds, and a lot of beer. There should be a Coca-Cola or local beer poster hanging on the wall to make it complete.

Monday was a holiday to 'some saint or something' so the gentle rivers or 'caños' along the drive were filled with bathers (and bather-watchers)

Where we stopped for lunch. The specialty of this part of the plains is 'momona,' which is a really young calf roasted like this. It hasn't been very easy to be vegetarian here, but the description of an animal still on the teat was enough to cement my rice and beans and avocado order (thus thoroughly confusing the waitress).

I love well-made hand-drawn signs

They post army officials along the sides past the tunnel at Villavicencio. I asked why, and didn't get any sort of concrete response. 1) It doesn't seem like there's a legitimate military purpose to them being there, so Whew!; 2) They like to give thumbs up to everyone who drives by, so maybe they are an esteem-booster branch of the Colombian army; 3) They have one of the world's largest armies, so maybe they have to figure out something to do with them. Could be anything...

One of several beautiful canyons and waterfalls along the drive through the mountains up to Bogota.

Arepas!

Arepa-making in progress.

Back in Bogota, land of expression

A man dressed in traditional Arhuaco decor. Full disclosure: I know absolutely nothing about the Arhuaco. I had to look them up with Google...have enough indigenous group memorization and learning going at the moment anyway.

Take a look at the juggler. Whimsical, right? Kind of charming? Read on...

I feel like only a city like Bogota, which seems to turn tragedy and strife into artistic expression, would have come up with these: the 'Ghosts of La Candelaria'

Quoting from my Green Guide book: 'It will not escape your notice, as you take the Candelaria walking tour or if you stray a little from the suggested walk, that there are further curiosities in this barrio. Worth a mention are the so-called 'ghosts of the Candelaria.' Often in a state of anguish, they may 'appear' on rooftops and balconies. These blue painted papier mache creations made in the likeness of actual human beings are part of the living history of the Candelaria. Placed in the actual location where someone who was executed used to live, or more sinisterly someone who was murdered in that very spot, the ghosts of the Candelaria add to the macabre, yet fascinating Republic and Independence eras of history here in the Zona Colonial.'
Wow.

Moving on, then...

Coca leaf cookies...they taste like grass.

Chau for now, catch you again soon!