Colombia

Today we have hit our stride. Rudy headed to the panaderia across the street first thing in the morning for a couple of hot croissants. With our pot and miniature teacups (everything in this apartment is made on a small scale) we managed to make tea and coffee. After breaking our fast we headed up Carreterra 4 towards the Candelaria district to the Museo de Botero. It did not disappoint. There were sooo many pictures and sculptures by this famous Colombian artist who hailed from Medellin. Rudy could not help chuckling throughout the whole building. Just take a look at the pictures below. So fabulous and the characters have so much to say through their tiny eyes.  I loved it. I felt like I wanted to put a caption beneath each one of the paintings.

There were a number of galleries attached to the Botero one so saw some other art.

From there we headed up through the streets past market stalls. Rudy got himself a coffee and I purchased a large cup of mango. Mmm… both of us enjoying a small pleasure. Mine was probably better;  you can’t get a cup full of fresh mango everyday, whereas coffee is not so rare.

We headed to another square and found ourselves at the huge Museo de Oro. It was massive and we did only one floor before we headed back to our place. How can I summarize the experience? I don’t know except that it was a whole lot of gold, silver and copper. Wow.

I am trying to attempt some art on this holiday so I spent the rest of the afternoon working on a pencil crayon piece inspired by a gold mask from the Museo de Oro. I also tried to do another study of the piece I did yesterday. Today I tried it in watercolour. So far no masterpieces but it is satisfiying and frustrating at the same time to try to create some art. I have purchased some travel art supplies: a tiny watercolour box, a box of pencils, a set of pencil crayons, and some markers. If nothing else, I will document my days with some visual representation of what I am seeing on my travels.

Once we check in to our accommodations for the week we crash. I am able to sleep a couple of hours and Rudy not so much. Our 8^th floor loft is exactly out of an IKEA catalogue. It makes very good use of very little space. It is really like a glorified motorhome. Rudy can stretch his arms across the width and basically touch both of the walls. But the bed is comfortable and there is a pot to boil water for tea so I am satisfied.

We foray out to get some cash and a phone card for me. Because everything is so new we are bamboozled by many things. The Colombian pesos are hard to figure out. One Canadian dollar is approximately 3,000 pesos. We have worked up an appetite after procuring a whole ton of pesos from the ATM so we stop for some street empanadas. Who knows how much they cost?

The man says something that neither of us understand and Rudy gives him a 100,000 peso note. Did we just give him 10 dollars or is it 100 dollars?  The man gives Rudy a fistful of cash back, Rudy smiles as if he understands, and we head off. Were we ripped off? How much is a piece of fried dough stuffed with meat? We have no idea. Next, we comb the streets for a Claro phone shop. We finally find one and the man is super nice. He explains a whole bunch of stuff about the money and the phone cards and we feel like idiots. The one thing we come away with is that Rudy was ripped off at the airport for his phone card. We slink on back to our apartment to count our stacks of cash and see if we can figure out how it all works.

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In our walk around the neighbourhood in the morning we found a Cinemateca that was holding a film festival during Janurary. We find a film called Aqui that is in English with Spanish subtitles. Perfect! The film is not perfect but I try to get my Spanish brain in gear by reading the subtitles to see how much I remember. The Cinemateca  is like a cultural centre that holds all sorts of film classes etc. and is impressive.

For supper we go out to a beautiful old restaurant in an ancient building. It is quaint with quirky art painted directly on the walls. We have a lovely attentive waiter who hovers and anticipates our every whim.  We have arepas for an appetizer (corn meal paddies filled with cheese). I have some sort of traditional soup with chicken and vegetables and rice and avocado. Rudy has some delicious ravioli. It is a great way to start our Colombian adventure.

Hot on the heels of a trip with my girls, their partners, and their kids, Rudy and I are heading to Colombia for a couple of months. I have only had 6 days of turnaround time and into this short week I have packed in walks with friends, a trip to Morden to visit my sister, multiple trips to art shops and other stores to pick up much needed supplies, and loads of other running around. Rudy and I are traveling with only a carryon bag for each of us and it is amazing now much I have packed into that small compartment while at the same time I wonder whether I have packed the right things.

Because of this whirlwind I have had little time to worry about the things that need to be worried about. Thanks goodness Rudy has done some prep (and although he would hate to admit it, also a little worrying). We wake up for the last time in our king-sized bed and Leona and Donna drive us in to the airport on sloppy wet roads. (the weather is what we might experience in March and I wonder why we are getting away for the winter although I know there will be much more cold and blizzardy weather yet to come in Manitoba)

We fly from Winnipeg to Montreal and arrive there late afternoon. I am struck by how Zen I am feeling. None of the usual trip anxieties and my stomach is not upset at all. I am also struck with how airports are the same everywhere. There are so many diverse people and it feels like we are in a foreign country already with all the French being spoken.  But even in this foreign feeling environment Rudy manages to find a TV that is broadcasting a Jets hockey game. We can’t catch all of it before our flight leaves for Bogota but the Jets are ahead and all seems right with the world.

The overnight flight is just what you might expect. It is impossible to catch more than a series of catnaps as it is sooo uncomfortable and the flight seems to drag on forever. But arrive in Bogota we do and after a long wait in customs lineups and a ninety-dollar visa fee we make it out of the airport, into the cool Bogota morning. It is 4:30 a.m. We stop at an outdoor café for a delicious cup of coffee and feeling much revived we catch an Uber to our apartment for our week in Bogota.