This blog is about my life...you may even say the sunny times and the upside-down times. Within the blog you may find my: epiphanies, experiences, documentation of my life (pictures may be included.
Three
weeks of traveling in foreign lands, lands that have a percentage less than me
being born yesterday of returning to, caused me to choose my "tude"
and do all that I could to take in and absorb the lands that hundreds and
hundreds of years ago was the sanctuary to thousands of Inca people.
Stone-based structures adorned in gold occupied the poised and passionate
civilization practicing their faith and rituals. Colombia to Chile was once
ruled by the greatest and curious world leaders in all time. One day I hope to
cover a few more countries but this post will include what I could capture on
camera of the current status of this conquered land. ** I am still enter-button-less, which
means, if I could, this would be beautifully formatted. I am taking donations
to replace my almost 4-year old ghetto laptop with a new one, for my blog's
sake, of course. **
What the streets of Bogota, Colombia look like. Many a people ride motorcycles and drive cars. What caught my eye was the graffiti and the blue sky.
I like this :)
in case i forget what my feet look like.
This piece spoke to me, a scene of life, a flower on her shoulder and one in her arm. ( I feel so latin after writing that.)
the garden where you walk to see the art pieces.
Evidence that we were indeed, it's true--there.
guess who took that...
diggin' on Botelo's art--a famous Colombian artist who has his pieces in several art museums in the United States (NY) , Colombia, and DC. What do you notice about his interpretation of the human form?
she's a chubby-wubby. I feel her pain, but not as much as her animal clothes. :S
I, indeed, asked myself why this was special as well.
I couldn't figure it out, so I asked the guard.
I asked him if he, as a guard protecting all these paintings from our fingerprints, knew the history behind the art of each piece and the story behind the artist. He very kindly began explaining. I had seen these pieces before in my history book. The proportions are out of whack and he inflates all the objects he draws, even the fruit, making them more powerful than what we would suspect the knife to be, yet it is inferior to the grapefruit's greatness in stature and size. Good form, Botelo, good form. I prefer this Mona Lisa, to be honest.
Gee-buzz
Our first taste of Colombian meal. That is one ginormous tamali...and for some reason they put cheese in their hot chocolate. Not the biggest fan but gave it a whirl.
my gift from the drunk man selling jewelry. Nope, not awkward at all. A free bracelet for me!!
Rico-suave. I forget the flavors, I think one is Gua..something...Guanava? Foreign flavors, that works.
I truthfully thought that was a statue. I wanted a pic to be a legit tourist and when I got close, he moved! Peopel dress in all sorts of costumes and appear as statues and you pay to take a pic. Way to make a livin', wouldn't you say? I paid my dues or the money and we got a pic together. It's like we've known each other for years. Shoot, i paid for that shot so it best be lookin' that way. jeje
My first Colombian chocolate, <>.
Some Colombian (not Cambodian) helado...to my left Hna. Lucy with her brownie sundae and me on the right, some fruit with ice cream...they adorned it with mozzarella cheese....I'm not sure why cheese relocated away from bread into sweet things. Not the biggest fan but, let me reiterate, gave it a whirl.
About to check out the rocks carved on over 500 years before when all that you will see was under water. "Let's go, hurry".
Heaven and earth.
We just decided to climb that bad boy, who is actually taller that what it seems to be.
purdy
Diana and Sascha
Milton y la familia Guzman Duran.
their God
testing it out, it still works great. Come in, stay a while.
Pride Rock-ish...latin style. It's actually called "el sapo" o "la rana"...meaning the toad or frog.
I look preggers...i'm NOT, thanks( kinda have to be married for that), but I dig the view.
The Spanish arrived and apparently they and the Colombian tribes (if you will) got along well enough to paint them on their walls.
I wish I remembered what these were called but they are like giant wafers filled with "manjar blanco" or a sweet caramel-like/nutella-ish sweet.
Pablo was so excited showing us what Colombia is known for. Can't you tell? The flowers :) They are exported to the United States, Canada, and Europe.
I fell in love with this pole with the Colombian flag painted on it as I walked with Pablo in the town called Madrid. The yellow represents the gold and riches of the country. the blue represents the main bodies of water that enrich it, and the red represents...the blood that was spilled to defend it.
a neighborhood as we drove south to Cali, Colombia.
Diggin' the haircuts! We passed by a man with is team of horses--old schoolin' -it.
The entire drive was filled with rolling hills with their crops on top. Everything is done very old school and I wonder how difficult it must be to till and work that ground with it being anything but flat.
ZOO TIME!
I really liked the view I saw as I looked toward the entrance.
What's a zoo without a waterfall, phh, please. :)
Gotta hold on to the rod. I be wantin' me some fruity goodness. Want some?
Gotta make a wish, especially with a peso!
About to throw it in! What did I wish for again? :)
Do you see this? I watched them for about 10 minutes and missed my guinea pigs. They are NOT guinea pigs. I forgot their name...I just see them as mutated and Americanized guinea pigs...bigger. And cute :)
Oh, Enrique. I remember in high school I had a friend named Brittany (name changed, never know!), and she was absolutely in heart throb love with Enrique Iglesias...I just remember my inner self scratching my inner-self-head and wondering why on earth why? haha I was not in touch with my inner Latina--I don't think I ever mentioned that when I got angry that the Peruvian blood in me would boil. My last name always brought out the Italian roots to the plate, and I'd just go with the flow and stay on the European track. But yes, she adored ENRIQUE and wanted to date someone like him. I stuck with my Jack Johnson and whatever it was I would listen to, perhaps I was still on my musical quest.
Growing up, I was my Mom's passenger driver and everywhere we went the windows were down in our ghetto sea-blue colored car because air conditioning was a luxury our family did not experience. To accompany our sweaty drive would be sappy love songs belted by Julio Iglesias, the world famous Spanish singer. It's funny I noticed his interesting accent but never noticed my own Mothers'. But yes, back to these English-Spanish love songs, there sat eight-year-old Diana, singing along...I became extremely familiar with the tunes, "To all the girls I loved before, who traveled in and our our door..."... I have to say, I have been listening to one of his songs as my study music...yes, the same song on repeat...it's the acoustic version, it's BEAUTIFUL but his version with lyrics is amazing. Why can't more men be more romantic like him? No pressure. :) Here's the song in case your on the edge of your seat:
Now, that was Enrique's Pops...nowadays, Enrique is the modern Julio--the modern big Latino superstar singer...although he has a lot more competition...but I just am noticing him... basically 15 years since he put his first album out to the public, I'm finally paying attention and I can now see why my friend was SO into good 'ol Enrique. I, mind you, am not into him in the physical aspect, but this week I've been getting acquainted with him and his songs. I have to say, I've been singing a few of them in my head and even out loud during this entire day. I'd like to cross paths with SOMEONE who is whistling the same tune. Would that not be beyond coordinated, but accidentally? Gosh, remarkable-ness. I'm still waiting for that.
This week I'm into Enrique's songs...not so sure about next week yet, but feel free to jam away :) I prefer the Spanish version to the English one. Paz fuera.
