Colorful Colombia

No South American country has captured the attention of North Americans for the last thirty years or so as strongly as Colombia. It is the third largest exporter of coffee in the world, and even today the leading manufacturer and exporter of cocaine. It has a nearly endless history of civil wars with the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in each instance.

But today it is a more peaceful place. The FARC, the last of a long line of guerrilla armies, has laid down arms and its members are integrating back into the communities from which they came. The cocaine trade is no longer the possession of large and dominant cartels that ruled much of the countryside and were free to assassinate their opponents. And the countryside–mountainous, green, lyrically beautiful—is once again a place a visitor can enjoy without fear.  While it is still, like so much of the world, a place of great income inequality (the wealthiest 10{e91edd8b5cd6d50d258497576336ddb12081f3c7cc3076c4ff68e4d1e3eb955f} control 65{e91edd8b5cd6d50d258497576336ddb12081f3c7cc3076c4ff68e4d1e3eb955f} of the wealth), the lives of the poor are improving through infrastructure, education, better medical care and the opportunity to participate more directly in the country’s economic development.

We had but two weeks in Colombia, and they were unfortunately spent almost entirely in three cities: Cartagena in the north on the Caribbean coast; Medellin in a lush northwestern valley; and Bogota the throbbing capital of the nation. There is just so much more to Colombia—the amazingly rugged, high and beautiful Andes; a Pacific seacoast and huge Amazon Basin which we never saw; the famed coffee plantations in their lush mountain settings; and more. As with nearly every traveler we talked to who has been to Colombia, it is the country in South America that is on the top of everyone’s list to return.

Cartagena has a long and rather illustrious history. It was founded early, in 1533, and quickly became that Caribbean port where the enormous wealth of pre-Columbian South America was first collected and then shipped across the Atlantic to Spain. The wealth that passed through this Spanish outpost is simply incalculable and subjected it to innumerable sieges from pirates, among them that wicked Englishman Francis Drake in 1586. In response, the Spanish surrounded the city with a wall and fortifications that were effective enough to prevent any further sieges from success.

As a result, the historic old city is still there, rather immaculately preserved, and for a couple of travelers who are real suckers for antiquated towns, absolutely exquisite.  The facades and balconies of most of the original buildings are still intact,

many covered with vines,

that manage even to crawl across the streets themselves.

Cartagena captures perfectly that sense of the past we so love about Mexico, but with a Caribbean twist like Havana or Trinidad in Cuba. And even when a building hasn’t been restored,

it is nevertheless artlessly beautiful, and when it has a coat of paint, the color is always startling, enlivening, even shocking in its ostentatiousness.

Plazas and squares also sprinkle the city, many with rather striking sculptures

and colorfully dressed fruit sellers.

Here as well sat the Spanish Inquisition, where hundreds were tortured and executed (often in rather grotesque fashion) for witchcraft and devilry.  While part of the building has been restored and houses a colonial museum, it is the unrestored prison yard which somehow captures the ‘scent’ of the events committed here.

And given the frequency of afternoon thunderstorms, some of the streets and plazas manage to flood pretty effectively, at least for a couple of hours and much to the chagrin of this armored truck driver!

If Cartagena represents the effort to maintain and preserve the historic past, Medellin is the opposite. Nearly devoid of historic buildings, it is a city recovered from its more recent reputation as the most murderous city in the world and capital to native son Pueblo Escobar’s cartel. Now almost obsessively focused on the present, particularly the business present, Medellin is modern, lively and contemporary, from its mural art,

to the new and wonderfully efficient Metro system. This includes not only a very effective rail system throughout the city, but also a series of gondola lifts which traverse the more outlying and mountainous parts of the city, most of which are covered with barrios for the poorest of the population.  The effect is that instead of spending hours on winding streets down the mountainsides into the city for work, the barrio residents can take a gondola directly into the heart of the city and connect immediately into the Metro rail system.

But for us, Medellin is home to nephew Steve whom we hadn’t seen in well over ten years and who has taught English as a second language in both Prague and Guatemala before coming here to Medellin. No longer in the classroom, Steve tutors individuals such as a PhD candidate writing her thesis in English for broader publication. And we had such a great time with him after all the years. He took us everywhere across the city and above it, and we came away with a real sense of what Medellin is all about and what his life is like as well. We had a bit of fun too, at the expense of Medellin’s most famous artist, Fernando Botero. We are sure you are familiar with his work and the rather rotund world he seems to have resided in where everyone was a bit too round and overfed.  Steve provides a rather stark contrast.

Dave is the more Botero like figure. We just loved our time with Steve and will always be in better touch going forward for sure!

Then it was on to Bogota, the capital, the modern metropolis clogged with traffic in all but its beautiful, slow old residential neighborhoods. We had two birthdays and a holiday coming so we splurged and put up in the loveliest spot we have enjoyed in perhaps a decade (or two), Helena’s Hotel Casa Legado.  Since Bonnie’s birthday fell on the day we arrived, our room was festooned with balloons and greetings.

Helena has taken an older mansion in one of Bogota’s statelier neighborhoods and completely gutted and restored it. With but seven rooms, each individually named and unique, it was such a delight to fall into, particularly as the first paying guests and thus given more attention by the staff than we could ever ask for, particularly from Juanita who quickly became a friend to share all with. Birthday was followed by a grand celebration of American Thanksgiving, right down to the beautifully roasted turkey and dressing, Bonnie’s beloved cranberries, and a table of fourteen friends and the entire staff of the hotel as a family.

Helena, convulsed in laughter at Dave’s carving above, took another day to drive us out into the countryside to property that has been in her family for decades.  It consists of lots of acreage filled with dairy cows and is a country retreat for her brother, her mother in the family’s original house

and Helena’s own place, beautiful in blue and imaginative in design

with views that seem to stretch out across the green, cattle sprinkled hills forever.

It was such a delight and our only real chance to enjoy the countryside of Colombia. But it is also further inspiration for a return.

On the drive back into Bogota, Helena detoured to one of the most famous sites in Colombia, Andres Carne de Res, a huge multi block long restaurant and bar complex, decorated like Las Vegas times ten, and visited by a reported quarter of a million people a year who manage to consume over ten tons of meat. No one has ever been able to estimate accurately the enormous amounts of alcohol consumed, but it well might be the biggest bar bill in all the world. There is no question it is certainly a contender. Even at 4:30 in the afternoon it was absolutely packed with patrons, seated both inside and outside,

or dancing salsa at a furious pace. And it continues until at least 3:00 AM!

As a sort of cultural counterpoint, a wonderful highlight in both Cartagena and Bogota were the Museos de Oro or Gold Museums, which display what is left of the amazing gold jewelry done by the pre-Columbian people that the Spanish didn’t simply melt down into gold bricks and ship back to Spain. Most of it utilized the lost wax technique, still used today for almost all cast jewelry, but just startling to see utilized so effectively by a people who lived in what we would certainly consider primitive conditions.

These are all nose rings which loop through the pierced septum of the nose and then flair across the noble’s face and mouth, and are each about five or six inches wide. The quality of the filigree work is simply astounding.

Below is a closeup of a breastplate perhaps ten inches across and consisting of pieces embossed and cast and then assembled and soldered together. It would have been worn by a tribal leader as recognition of his importance to his people.

Finally, here is the breastplate with the remainder of the leader’s ceremonial jewelry, worn on the forehead and hanging down across most of his face.  Together they demonstrate simply impressive artistry.

Mention should also be made of the burial urns at the top of this posting and on display in the Museo de Oro in Bogota. Each held the ashes of a leader with a representation of his face as part of the lid, and each is about three feet high. They are starkly beautiful and easily generate an emotional response from the viewer.

All in all, Colombia is a beautiful, majestic country with a friendly and engaging people and a countryside that nearly staggers with its verdant lushness and color. We will be back for sure!