Part One of Bogota

PART ONE: Bogota, Colombia *June 2012*

motto

 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 :)

TO BE CONTINUED