Supermeats

30 December 2013

Today for lunch I decided I wanted meat. I found a place on Calle (Street) 14 just off Carrera (Road) 7 called Supermeats. Looked promising!

I ordered the mixta (mix of all meats) for $COP18.000. A little pricey, but hey, meat is pricey.

Looking around while waiting I realised they'd taken on a superhero theme. There were little statues, portraits, and blowups of comic book superhéroes everywhere. There was even a lighting system on the roof kinda like a web, and they had a spiderman figurine hanging upside down from it. Entertainment value while waiting for the meal!

 

The actual meal was huge! And had some random things in it.... Two jacket potatoes covered in salt, sweet fried bread, a fried banana, guacamole, and then the meat. One slice of steak, chicken, and two slices of pork, and one pork rib. Mmmmmm. The pork was the best. Order that if you're ever here. The banana was surprisingly good; some sweetness to the mass of salty meat.

Zipaquirá

29 December 2013

Zipaquirá is a small town about 45 mins outside of Bogotá. It's very colonial, and it boasts a very odd tourist attraction...an underground cathedral in an old salt mine. It was carved out so the miners had somewhere to worship.

It was much bigger than I expected. I thought it was one room, but it was many alcoves with crosses carved out of stone. What made the place really worth seeing was the spectacular and eerie lighting in blues and purples that gave everything an otherworldly glow.

The town of Zipaquirá:

 

Cerros de Monserrate

28 December 2013

After the graffiti tour I decided to go see the church on the cerro (hill) of Monserrate. You can walk up, but since it's about a 700 metre climb, I decided to take the cable car. It was COP7.900 one way, double that to get back. The line was really long, and they could only fit about 15-20 people in each car, so I waited for half an hour to get up.

The view was spectacular. Up the top there is a panorama of all of Bogotá. The church itself is quite pretty from the outside, but nothing special inside. But it was rigged up with lights everywhere, as were all the tres and statues, so at night the whole cerro lights up like a Christmas tree.

Graffiti Tour

28 December 2013

Today I did the free Graffiti/Street Art tour of La Calendaria and surrounding areas. I had the difference between graffiti and Street art explained to me. Graffiti is words and names (tags) in stylized writing, kinda like calligraphy on crack, and Street art is pictures, which often have the tag of the artist on or near it.

Our guide was an Aussie guy called Christian who is a Street artista and has painted with many of the artists, and some of his artwork is up in La Calendaria, but most is closer to his home. He lives and works in Bogotá because here it is not illegal (frowned upon yes, but illegal no). The worst that can happen if caught is 24 hours in lock up, and that's only if you can't bribe the officer who catches you. Here is a link to his cacebook page: Crisp (facebook.com/Crispstreetart).

In La Calendaria Street art is actually encouraged. It reminds me of Valparaíso, Chile, and Newtown, Sydney in Australia. Most Street artists paint in broad daylight for better lighting and safety. A few years ago police shot and killed a young street artist, and then tried to cover it up. Only a huge protest produced justice. So the Street artists paint where lots of witnesses can see them.

    Los APC is the biggest gang of Street artists in Bogotá. These are some of the images painted by the founder.









Protest Art

 

 These artists are protesting the continued violence of the civil war. More tan 5 000 000 people have been displaced, and Colombia still holds the world's highest rate of amputations (land mines).

The top photo is of two tiles that are protesting for human rights, as there have been many deaths in the ongoing war, and human rights are being abused. The left photo shows a protestor throwing flowers instead of a molotov cocktail. The right shows a soldier with granade balloons, and the bottom is a sticker on the back of a stop sign calling for an end to the reign of voilence.

 

Top left: ''Now I can see it''. Protest on media brainwashing
Top right: Former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez with a crown on his head. Ran for two terms and tried to change the constitution so he could run a third time.
Bottom left: DJ Lu stencil with his slogan Juegasiempre (play always)
Bottom right: DJ Lu's tag

This is an older wall that protests the bull fighting. It isn't a Colombian cultural tradition but a Spanish one, and murdering 600 bulls for sport when no matador ever dies is hardly sport. Bull fighting is now illegal in Bogotá, even though it still happens in other cities in Colombia. However, this depends entirely on who is in political power, as it is still a very popular sport.

 

 This is an amazing 10 storey high mural based on a photo of two homeless people kissing. It's on the main road (Calle 26) heading to and from the airport.

 

 

This is the tag of Rodez. It is incredibly complex, so he doesn't tag all his work. He also includes the names of the other artists he paints with. Look him up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First day in Bogotá

27 December 2013

I'm staying in an area of Bogotá called La Calanderia. It reminds me of Valparaiso, Chile mixed with Cusco, Peru. It's an old area full of colonial buildings, cobblestone alleyways, graffiti and street art, and of course it's extremely hilly. My hostel is called Musicology, and while it's old as well, and the showers don't always have hot water, the vibe is good, and it's right in the center of La Calanderia, right near the action! It also includes breakfast and a traditional Colombian dinner (first hostel I've ever stayed at that includes dinner!). 


The whole city seems to be spread out along the base of the mountain range hemming it in. It's quite a sight from the cerros (hills). I spent 6 hours walking around the area, and boy is there lots to see! I swear there are 8 cathedrals in this barrio (suburb or neighbourhood) alone! Not churches...big ass cathedrals! The Spanish certainly were an ambitious bunch. 


When in a foreign country, best to try the local cuisine. So I allowed myself to be ushered into a restaurant by a waiter trying to push tourists into his eatery. I ordered stuff I'd never heard of. One was a drink containing a fruit similar to the chirimoya (or custard apple) but it tasted better. It was called la guanábana. It was mixed with milk, and it was awesome. 

The actual food however, was a bit of a shock. I ordered a chicken dish without knowing what it was. I was not disappointed in the taste, but South America really needs to wise up on portion sizes. They gave me a plate with half a chicken on it! Not joking! In addition to the chicken and bowl of rice, there was a boiled egg chucked haphazardly on top of the mountain of chicken, with bits of corned beef, two WHOLE potatoes and veggies swimming in sauce. Needless to say, I ate about a third before I gave up. 


I actually saw people selling lottery tickets like this on the street! Crazy!


I've been told time and time again about the thieves in Bogotá, so I walked around with most of my money in a secret pouch under my shirt, and a small wad of cash in my wallet. Apparently if you are robbed, it's bad to be caught with nothing because the thieves get antsy and bad things can happen. Also, unlike Argentina, American dollars aren't really accepted in shops (Argentinians prefer American dollars because they think they are more stable and worth more....probably true). I also had my camera pouch under my jacket, so I looked like I had a huge lump growing on my right hip...but no one stole anything! Yay! Speaking Spanish helps to make me look like less of a clueless tourist.   


I also visited the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum). Those people were seriously talented! As one who's done pottery as a hobby, I can tell you that this pot would have taken a very, VERY long time to make. And in perfect proportion too!


And this disk of gold is ridiculously intricate for the tools they had to work with back then! This was pre-Spanish.