Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Colombia es pasión!


Last day in Bogota... 

Here I sit in the plane... reflecting on four weeks and four days Colombia.

More than 4 (FOUR) weeks in an extremely beautiful and interesting country!

When I will land in Nl I will have flown 10 times in a month and I calculated that out of those four weeks I traveled almost one week of it... by cars, taxis, all kinds of busses and planes.

I have seen Baranquilla, Bogota, Cali, Cartagena, Farallones National Park, Guatavita, Medellin, Minca, Sopó, Tayrona National Park, Santa Marta, Zipaquirá and many more places...

I met 18 UNESCO-IHE alumni.

The blog has been read close to 1250 times...

Some friends I want to thank especially in this blog for the enormous efforts in guiding-, taking care of -, feeding -, driving -, housing me, handling my fears and tears...
Ana, without words... we don't need words anymore, ... and a special thought for your parents.
Carolina, the strong rock in anxious days.
Carola & Sergio, my foster parents and much more...
Erika & Andres, the long awaited encounter.
The Rada's in Santa Marta and Delft, the healing family.
Viviana Valencia Zuluaga, my landlord in Cali while being in Down Under...
Neiler, my landlord in Medellin...
Assiyeh, my conscience in the outside world
Stefania, another part of my conscience 
Elena, my guru
Pato, always there, supporting in the background

Carlos Martinez,   Daniel Lopez, Andrés Toro, Harold Hoyos Goez,, Julien Chenet , Martha Deyanira Garcia Gonzalez,, Paloma Ve, Martha Deyanira Garcia Gonzalez,, .... for their special involvement

Also to all those who made it possible to send me to Colombia!

It has been quit an adventure...
Colombia es pasión!

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Day two at Medellin.A crown with many pearls!

This is one of those days you want to do everything since it's your last day, at risk that the plan collapses any moment because of unforeseen circumstances.
We rush into the city visiting the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica at the Bolivar Park. The interior is impressive because of the sobriety. I'm wondering if we would keep our churches open in Europe and not asking entrance money ... maybe people will stop and pass by for a short prayer or mediation as I have seen in ALL churches in Colombia.

A run into the flea market. Buying Botero buttons (I like the three bees!) in Antioquia museum and taking the Metro; Medellin is the only city in Colombia to have one. We continue our trip with the Metro Cable, an extension of the metro with a gondola lift system that brings us to the hills of the city where the poor inhabitants of the city live. It was designed to reach some of the least developed suburban areas of Medellin. Despite clear poverty I'm impressed what people do to make their houses and streets look pretty.
Halfway we quit the Cable metro to visit the El Parque Biblioteca Pública España, also known as Biblioteca España,



Spain Park Public Library, better known as Library Spain, is part of a series of urban projects and social development in this area of Medellin for the cultural and social transformation of the city.
For this work the architect Giancarlo Mazzanti has been awarded, at the Sixth Ibero-American Biennale of Architecture and Planning, Lisbon 2008.
Library named after Spain in honor of the contribution made by the government through the Spanish International Cooperation Agency with the provision of an auditorium.
The site consists of small brick houses fruit of self construction waste and green areas, all because of inability to build in the area on the slopes so steep. This organization produces a uniform texture of town without any visible element of hierarchy, which is why the proposed building in the city seeks to excel as a building-landscape, as an icon, built in the place and keeps the tension, geography as an element of hierarchy and the architecture and texture.
The project is visible from much of the city, as symbol of the new Medellin, making people identify their sector and develop a greater sense of belonging, so much so that today is one of the sights of the area.
The project is located in one of the sides most affected by the violence of the eighties, Santo Domingo, drug product that operates in the city of Medellin, capital of Antioquia department, Colombia, and part of the social inclusion agenda City Hall to provide equal opportunities in social and economic development to the people.(Source: WIKIARQUITECTURA)




Several activities are going on and we visit a small exhibition about how locals advertise and look at publicity. The Biblioteca España seems to contribute a lot to the development of the area and for the personal development of the inhabitants.
Outside of the building a boy starts to give us spontaneously a history of the area. For sure we reward him for his clear speech.





Next stop, a traditional meal in one of Neiler's favorite almuerzo places.

Up to grand finale and also the last official place to visit during my Colombia holidays:
Museo De Arte Moderno.
At my surprise the whole museum is dedicated to an exhibition about Louis Caballero, a most fantastic Colombian painter, which I discovered through Ana since my arrival one month ago. The exhibition lasts till March 3. Sometimes you are lucky in life... sometimes!

His earliest paintings, executed in oil on paper in the late 1960s, represent large and energetic nudes—influenced by the work of Francis Bacon—among gestural splashes of intense color. He subsequently toned down his use of color and began to work from life, showing the human body in varied postures indicative of emotion and energy. He used sexuality and his own erotic pleasure as a means of heightening the impact of his nude figures, which he described as painted ‘with semen, not turpentine’. His exclusive subjects in later paintings were athletic young men in recumbent positions, their expressions suggestive of a state of sexual trance or death. Violence, blood and suffering dominate images of figures piled together in dramatic orgies and states of sadness and desire, projecting an intensity of emotion rooted in Romanticism.
Grove Art excerpts - Electronic ©2003, Oxford Art Online

L. Caballero died in 1995. Since I have seen his work I can ad him to the small circle of my favorite painters, e.g. Hopper, Pollock...





This is the most perfect way to end my rush visit of Medellin. It tastes for more... a lot more!
Neiler and his gf decide to accompany me to the airport and with a last view from the surrounding hills I'm heading to the airport for a last return to Bogotá.
Harold and Neiler fulfilled their duties exemplary. They gave me 48 hours to fall in love with their city...
I became a worshipper!


A few hours later I'm in Bogotá for a last drink with the friends over there.
My heart is swollen, teeth clenched I hug goodbyes.
It's like self-flagellation.
I think I know why I like the work of Caballero, at least the reason for it.




Arrival at and day 1 in Medellin, The Pearl on the Crown!


More pictures to come in 'Medellin, The Pearl on the Crown!'  on Facebook!

Day 1...About 'sleeping policemen', 'no gracias', Neiler's jail house, the marvelous Botero and much, much more. 

In Medellin the numbers of 'sleeping policemen' are uncountable. We, gringos etc. call them simply roadblocks but the romantic name reflects pretty well the relaxed atmosphere this city shows as soon you enter it after a ride through a beautiful landscape coming from the airport.
Good old Harold picked me up with a smile you never forgot after he quitted IHE years ago, to drive me to Neiler's jail house. Neiler, on a shit mission in Barranquilla, left me with a set of keys to make a prison warden jealous. The first fence is already a problem and Harold and I look rather two buglers than two descent people entering an edificio (12'). After the first hurdle being taken, we climb to the individual jail cells and behind the second fence the front door is decorated with several slots. Once the fence opened (another 5') the search for the right key in the right slot takes us at least again 5'. Seems most of the slots are simply decorative to discourage eventual thieves. I was never happier to see an open door than now.
Following Neiler's carefully written instructions (in Spanish - always thought this guy has a particular humor) we explore the house having a beer, connecting internet and making plans for the evening.
Harold quits and I'm writing my blog report about the weekend.
When Harold is back the key closing ceremony starts but we manage to escape and I can smell freedom from the surrounding hills viewing one of the most beautiful panoramas of all the city's I visited the last couple of weeks. A sober diner in an Italian restaurant, I have to avoid the all in beans recipes from the region, and a few drinks on a square full of light and music terminates my first day in Medellin. Harold manages to lock me up...


Tuesday. The hills surrounding the city are dark and grey and misty caused by a light rainfall. I don't want to see grey weather before I land in Europe! Later a mild sunshine will invade the streets, parks and squares of this magnificent Medellin. If you ever wonder why we don't have that many participants from here... who wants to change this city with a fantastic climate and joie de vivre for eighteen months in NL?
The Sculpture Plaza or Plaza Botero is probably the next world wonder on a UNESCO list. I didn't expect to see that many of Botero's sculptures here and they are so imposing by their beauty as by their volume.
Don't make the mistake to think that that Botero's figures are 'fat', they are his formal bid for expressing the sensuality of form, for exploring the possibilities of volume and to give monumentality to the protagonists of his pictional world.
A hat reseller is following  me and shows up after every possible sculpture bum, hiding when I take a picture but determinate to sell me a hat every time I walk to another Botero. I had to say as many 'No gracias' as there are sculptures on the Plaza.


In the old City Hall, now called Palacio de la Cultura "Rafael Uribe Uribe" (build by the Belgian architect A. Goovaerts) we visit a temporary exhibition about Rodrigo Arenas Betancur He was a Colombian sculptor, born on October 23, 1919 in Fredonia, Antioquia. At the time of his death in 1995 he was recognized as one of the most important sculptors in Colombia and Latin America. Most of the main cities in Colombia have monumental statues sculpted by Arenas.


I like this city, more and more. There is an atmosphere of permanent joy. People, even those who are working are completely relaxed. It seems everybody created his own little business. On the squares there are musicians, the streets and the parks are full of color at the image of the fruits that you can buy on every corner of every street.

The Iglesia Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria in Parque Berrío spits out hundreds of people on a mid weekday, a service is over, another prayer session already begun... Never seen such a lot of devotees nowadays. The future pope should be Colombian or at least Latin American...church is a living thing here.

The pigeons on the square in front of Iglesia La Veracruz, are prepared to give me a private show. They are as happy as the people of this city.
So many beautiful and interesting monuments and buildings from the past and new... The Coltejer Building in the form of a needle, the tallest building in Medellin, has become a symbol of the city. The La Raza Monument, a work in bronze and concrete by Rodrigo Arenas Betancur, 124 feet tall. It is located in La Alpujarra Administrative Center.the Central Rail Station... And too many places to visit... the Metropolitan Theatre, The Botanical gardens....There is only a beginning but no end.

After a quick lunch, no time to lose... we visit the Museo de Antioquia, in the center of Medellin on the Plaza Botero. Botero's finest works are on display here, a lot he donated and also a part of his private collection.
Other artists on display... Pedro Nel Gómez. Manuel Uribe Angel, Francisco Antonio Cano, Oswaldo Guayasamín, Picasso, Caballero, Grau... in spacious rooms with Botero's sculptures watching his other creations on the Plaza. At the end of the afternoon we quit the museum together with the staff through the backdoor... I would have loved to sleep there...







We spend the evening on one of those squares with bars and restaurants full of light and music drinking various lemonades, beer, Aguardiente and beer, waiting for Neiler, making plans for the next day and finally also thrown out there seen the late (read early) hour.


Last weekend in Bogotá.


After an enervating Friday with one of those impossible goodbye's (foster parent Carola is at resque)  Erika Nino and her husband Andres invited me to a contemporary circus performance 'Tropico Destino' by La Gata Cirko in Teatro Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in Bogotá. A mixture of dance, theatre, circus, music almost on professional level made it possible for me to relax at least for a few hours. For the first time I feel cold in Bogotá when leaving the theatre. A good diner in an Italian restaurant completed the evening and soothed my confusing thoughts.

Guatavita.
On Saturday Julien and Martha took me to Guatavita, Village and Lake, History and True Legend .
Guatavita is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. There you can find the Guatavita's lake, that were a sacred and ceremonial lake for the Quimbayas Indians.
The guide is perfect on all levels, historical, environmental, philosophical. Julien is perfect in simultaneous translation.
The views are amazing. The place is magical. The flora of the paramo  unique!
Loaded with unprecedented images in my head we quit the place with a sense of eternal beauty and historical awareness.
Driving back home (did I say home?) we have a late lunch in the rebuilded town of Guatavita. The town was built in the 1960's as an architectural heritage site and replica of of the original old town of Guatavita which was sacrificed to create a reservoir, an artificial lake.
With a mind full I go for an early sleep preparing myself for another emotional day.
Sunday. We take all our time as it should be on Sundays. Sergio and Carola are excited about hanging the paintings of his deceased mum. The paintings are absolutely amazing.





Zipaquirá.
One of my last visits around Bogota brings us to the the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá.
It is an underground Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine 200 meters underground in a Halite mountain near the town of Zipaquirá. It's a spectacular attraction, especially the real miners walk wherein  our orientation in a claustrophobic environment has been severely tested, and that after having a coffee 180 m. deep into the mine.
As a side attraction I was fortunate to warp successfully a coin in a basket while making a wish. No. I will not tell you the wish before I see the result and that will take some more time.
There is a Dutch expression that starts with (can you imagine me using it?) ''Tired but satisfied..." we were returning to Bogota after a photo shoot around the local church...
... and Sergio promises  to make one of his fabulous pasta's...









The evening is long especially when the moment you feared the most is approaching and nothing can  stop it but a hurricane.
Walking in the streets around the house my tears can roll without  being seen in what I hate the most and for me an obstacle I almost can't take anymore... saying goodbye... feeling the separation as the worst punishment life has in store for me... sometimes you wish you hadn't been here.
This time there is no alternative because I know the regrets would be as unbearable.
It's pain heavier than pain. My body hurts from my hair to my toes and I cry as if I'm burning in hell.
When the crisis comes slowly to its end I go back to the flat there is a comforting Carola to ease the pain. I'm able to eat the best pasta ever and exhausted due to the emotions I can sleep a few hours.
Tomorrow I will lick some wounds in Medellin.
Suddenly I realize this was my last weekend in Colombia. Four more days to go. I own all my friends to make the best out of it, also myself. Writing does not ease the pain but it makes the pain tangible, I guess also for the reader.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Cali... The sequel


Chontaduro...

The surprise of the day should have been the chontaduro but as most of foreigners it's not my cup of tea. Even with honey it tastes like dried cotton to me but I have to confess that Andres could keep the tension and attention till the end. After offering me a great lunch named after the Faralones National Park I was ready for the chontaduro but fortunately the coffee was good and strong.
Andres I own you one.
For two days I was trying to find out about the  Tertulia Museum of Modern Art. Now the moment was there! Imagine my disappointment when at the front door I discover the museum is closed for REORGANIZATION of the collection. This time a special permission will not be delivered so I head for the Biblioteca Departamental del Valle where I first visit the:
Museo Departamental de Ciencias Naturales
I should mention that a very friendly police officer has put me first in a taxi telling the driver he should not ask more than 4000 pesos.
I suspected Paloma to start my conversion to biologist after visiting the museo. It looked all very interesting and despite the language problem I could understand a lot as far it became not to scientific.
The Biblioteca Departamental has a perfect wifi connection so I manage to send and receive messages and chat in what's up. The moment is there... Paloma picks me up in her brother's taxi and despite super traffic jams we manage to reach the airport in time. As I said before... the trip to Cali was too short but thanks to Paloma, Andres, Daniel, Carlos, it was worthwhile.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Visiting Cali the Japanese way....


You should admit... Spending almost seven hours, some of them reflecting your life, is a bit long to wait for a flight that hardly takes forty minutes! Even the taxi ride from the airport to Cali took longer! Paloma's brother, driver at service, was entousiasticely explaining me the different parts of the city on my way to the south, or was it the north, no, it was the west or maybe the east of Cali!? Paloma and Andres waited impatiently for that guy finally arriving from the other side of the ocean, with a flight from Bogota delayed for more then two hours. We shared some drinks in a local restaurant making initial plans for the next day. My two hosts delivered me safely to Vivian's (doing a PhD in Down Under) house, a place that will be my HC for the next three days. Only one goal for now... Sleeping... Not thinking. There is no wifi so no internet. My only contact to the world is a mobile phone to call and send messages locally. I'm alone for the first time since three weeks. Not able to localize myself immediately at wake up, opening the curtains and seeing surrounding mountains bring me back to reality. I start to operate doing basic stay alive things what differs significantly from the five star service and "feeling protected environment" of the last week in Santa Marta. Waiting for some bell to wring or a knock on the door I'm promising myself but more to my friends to enjoy the day...
Viv's place
Andres Toro is there to pick me up and we start a trip with three different bus lines going from quiet luxury (blue Mio) through less luxury and ending in a shake and rolling towards our destination: the Faralones National Park. Our first climbing starts and ends on the closed gates of the park. A guardian tells us we need a special permission to enter but that we can buy those in the camping we probably crossed a bit earlier. 45 ' later we are back with the requested paper. I'm wondering why they don't sell tickets at the entrance but the feeling is now that we are (the only) special guests in paradise. I have to face more climbing and with my toe that still hurts I don't like the idea but I have the feeling that something special is waiting for me. Andres keeps telling me that next the road is flat again....smart guide! I can hear water but I don't see it till the next stop where i see a first waterfall... From there two tubes are leading water to a small community somewhere in the mountain and an ingenious construction is made to regulate the precion of the water into it. More climbing follows and while I have more attention where to put my feet Andres tells me that if i wanted to see water I should look in front of me. A world wonder is caressing my eyes, a huge waterfall , I guess hundred to hundred fifty meter is throwing masses of water down. We are at 1500 meter altitude.......... Sitting on a rock we stay there listening to the heavy water music and I understood that I'm one of the few that Andres brings here.
Faralones National Park.


 There is another waterfall somewhere in the park reserved for tourists and weekend holders, this one here is pretty hidden and more spectacular. I'm really thankful Andres brought me here and despite another roller coaster drive back to Cali It was worth to visit the park.
On our way back we cold even enjoy a Gallito de roca, a rare bird extremely beautiful posing for the camera, unfortunately only from the side and the back but with red feathers to make any cardinal in Rome jealous.
Gallito de roca
After this I spend an hour at Paloma's place. Juices, cake internet... The dinner experience with Paloma, Andres and Daniel is at Fritanqa JyJ: a local food restaurant where they serve us a basket of marranitas, aborrajado, chicharron, bofe, empanada, rellena. Great food aroused with stories from Delft a.o.


We end the evening after a digestive walk to the 'heights' of the Capilla de San Antonio in a fantastic coffee house 'Macondo'...postres y cafe! Ask Paloma about the postres! The message for the night is: el amor es el triunfo de la imaginacion sobre la inteligencia. Paloma does not agree... I' m to tired to think about it ... Mi sole imaginacion is my bed after a great first day in Cali. Tomorrow I plan to visit town, getting lost in the streets of the center, trying to forget what is permanently bothering my mind in the background.
Archaeological museum La Merced 
Paloma's brother picks me up at 10 and delivers me in the center of the old town. Archaeological museum La Merced & La Merced religious complex. What an important collection of ceramics exposed in thematic exhibition rooms. Normally I don't like to much this type of exhibitions but this is amazing.







Museo del oro Calima
Museo del oro Calima. This is the third museum about gold that I visit and every time I notice a different approach because of the regional differences. Smaller then the previous ones the presentation is so well done and it shows and explains very well the in and outs of the Calima culture.


















Further I spend my day in the streets surrounding the financial center of the city, having lunch in a typical coffee house, enjoying fruits on the Cazeydo Plaza, uploading pictures to FB. Breathing the city! Late in the afternoon I have an appointment with Carlos Martinez. He insist to show me a few touristic attraction points. So we visit in a rush the Sebastian de Belalcazar (another conquistador - founder of the city) and the spectacular panorama on the city. From there we have a closer view to the monument of the Tres Cruses on a nearby hill, erected to protect the city and now a pilgrimage place.



Next stop, the Gato del Rio monument, in the Gato Tejada Park a monumental sculpture by Hernando Tejada, surrounded by a lot of female cats decorated by other well known artists. I take pictures from all of them and a local police officer takes a picture of Carlos and me and was so kind to allow me a picture of the Gato, himself and me.





















Then Carlos takes me to taste the ULTIMATE fruit sensation: The Cholados! Why was this hidden for me all this time? If you imagine something as a full fruit meal than you have only half of your imagination fulfilled. I' m Full and tired and Carlos brings me home.




A long night without sleep, to much thinking, neck pain... Only at sunrise I can sleep a bit. Today I plan to walk around a bit in the area where I am residing, having lunch with Andres and this afternoon I will visit La Tertulia Museum of Modern Art before heading back to Bogota. I feel I will miss a large part of this city's culture e.g. the salsa part, but it gives me a reason to come back one day, because of so many more attractions I couldn't see this time.