06.30.03
Posted in Travels at 1:33 pm by Leopoldo
Monday, June 30, 2003 – Santa Marta
We spent the day at another populous beach skin diving. This time Playa Blanca we were able to reach by taking a boat directly from the beachfront where we are staying. Once again there were throngs of people suffocating the beach as all the folk from Bogotá and other cities enjoyed their last day of vacation.
Today I was able to round off my tour of delicious tropical fruit juices. On this trip I have had opportunity to enjoy Mora[1], Guanabana, Lulo, Maracuya, Nisperes, Zapote and of course fresh Orange Juice.
1 = Colombian blackberries are smaller and have a sharper taste
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06.29.03
Posted in Travels at 1:30 pm by Leopoldo
Sunday, June 29, 2003 – Santa Marta
Sara and I got up early this morning to catch a ride into the Parque Tayrona[1]. Rather than spend $50,000 pesos for the ride and another $20,000 each to get in[2] we decided to hitch a ride in the back of a truck carrying supplies and workers who man the various restaurants, booths and rent gear along the beach. The truck ride was a true cultural experience. For $3,000 pesos each we were squished into the back of a covered truck stuffed with people, their kids, bananas, mangos, flats of soda and cooking oil containers full of gasoline to power the outboard motors that the small beach boats use to ferry people to and from the various beaches. The gasoline stunk and threatened to push both Sara and I into motion sickness along with the bumpy ride with only a view between slats of the outside world.
Since we got to the beach with the workers we were there well before the tourists arrived and had it all to ourselves for a good hour. We spent the morning snorkeling around some beautiful coral reefs in crystal clear water. From my diving in Hawaii I was able to recognize and name most of the tropical fish to be found. After an hour or two of this though my sensitive Northwest skin was beginning to threaten to sunburn. That plus the boatload after boatload of tourists that kept pouring into the beach pushed us into the back of a huge open hut where we had reserved lunch.
We tried to relax under a palm tree reading our books but found it hard to do with local kids playing soccer in the sand right in front of us and a large group (about 15) of what looked like frat boys getting drunk and listening to a loud radio right next to us. A sharp ear to the letter of the music blaring out of the nearby boom box revealed that our neighbors were not members of any college fraternity but rather were paras[3]. Their suspected identity was supported by the crew cuts they all wore and the way they carried themselves in their bathing shorts. Being, quite obviously, the only two foreigners on the whole beach Sara and I did not feel terribly comfortable sharing our hut with these folks. To our knowledge paras have yet to kidnap or assassinate US Citizens but as they are basically thugs with guns, and when a bunch of frat boys get drunk while listening to mariachi music about shooting commies and dying with your boots on it is generally wise to move on, so we did. We tried to rent a little beach shelter to hide from the furious mid-day sun but found the wind was throwing a painful stream of sand off the beach towards the shelters. We decided to head back to the beach where we landed early and maybe look for an earlier ride back to town. That evening we learned that after going through many flats of beer the paras had decided to entertain themselves by shooting at beach crabs. I am glad I was not there.
Our plan for an early departure did not pan out. Being a holiday weekend every bus, taxi and group van on the beach was full so we had to wait over 3 hours for the truck that brought us down to head back. As much money as we may have saved I doubt I will want to take many more rides in the back of a work truck in the future.
1 = Tayrona is a huge and gorgeous national park on the coast of Colombia near Santa Marta. It has beautiful beaches and steep mountains covered with dense forest.
2 = At $3,000 pesos to the dollar that comes out to about $30 each.
3 = Paras is short for Paramilitary Forces. They are basically private armies raised by wealthy right wing individuals who fight against the left wing guerrillas and the narco gangsters. The area we are in is under paramilitary control which tends to be safer than guerilla controlled areas (at least safer for rich folk, the paras have massacred whole villages of poor folk), but when you get down to it, narcos, paras and guerillas are all thugs with guns.
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06.28.03
Posted in Travels at 1:25 pm by Leopoldo
Saturday June 28, 2003 – Santa Marta
Today the vacation officially kicked into high gear. The morning was devoted to lying around on a hammock under a banana leaf hut right next to the beach. There is hardly anyone on this end of the beach so I had a soundtrack of ocean waves and children playing as I read my book. Beach sellers come by regularly offering soda, popsicles and cocadas[1]. One can lie around reading, jump in the ocean, come back out for some more lying around, nap, lie around some more… it is really quite wonderful. The day was devoted to slothful relaxation, tropical breezes and swimming in warm ocean water. Carmen made my all time favorite drink, guanabana juice, and cooked coconut rice, patacones[2], papa sudada[3], fish caught that morning by her brother for the fish eaters and broiled steak for me[4].
1 = A delicious candy made from caramelized milk and coconut. Cocadas come in dozens of flavors and variations.
2 = Fried plantain bananas.
3 = Delicious boiled potatoes.
4 = I am allergic to all seafood so when others eat fish I either eat meat or content myself with side dishes.
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06.27.03
Posted in Travels at 1:21 pm by Leopoldo
Friday June 27, 2003 – Santa Marta
The morning was spent relaxing on the beach with a good book[1]. It takes a couple of days for the stress of life to leak out on a vacation. Today I could feel myself starting to relax. We have hired a local woman, Carmen, to cook for us and keep the apartment. For breakfast this morning she made some delicious Arepas de huevo[2].
In the afternoon Sara and I headed into the city of Santa Marta (about a ten minute taxi ride from the house we are staying at) for some additional supplies. The ride across the hill that separates Santa Marta from El Rodadero can best be described as harrowing. Everyone passes any car that is moving slower; regardless of safety considerations. The taxi we were in was passing trucks, buses and other taxis up a winding two-lane road with rock face on one side and a cliff on the other. Sara chose to at times close her eyes; I opted for the free thrill ride.
Most of the afternoon was spent on a set of 4 consecutive streets full of little stores and street sellers called San Andresito[3]. You can find almost anything that is imported in San Andresito from electronics to shoes to Cuban Rum. We bought some sandals for Nicolas, a new hammock as well as sunglasses and recordable CDs (all for about a quarter of what we would have paid in the US).
We needed some rope to hang the hammocks and asked at the store were we bought it where we could find a hardware store. They directed us to a street about two blocks away where we found no such store. Asking at that corner we were directed another three blocks in another direction. Three blocks later Sara and I started to realize that the costeños[4] were more embarrassed to say they did not know where a hardware store was than to give us bogus directions. Sara asked at this corner for a hardware store and insisted that they give us precise directions, including the names of the streets and the name of the store. Amazingly enough we were once again given bogus information and gave up.
Coming back to the bay a fellow hanging out on a building front called out to Sara and I ‘Thank you for Believing in Colombia’ in heavily accented English. I turned and replied ‘pero nosotros tambien somos Colombianos’[5] ['But we are also Colombians'] to which he quickly replied ‘pero con algo importado’ ['But imported']. The exchange was quite funny and showed the chispa[6] of the Colombian Costeño.
Back on the waterfront I was thirsty and wanted to buy a coke. Soda is locally sold in heavy glass bottles, which are pressure washed and reused by the bottling companies. Because of this you can either pay extra for the bottle, exchange it for an empty one from a previous visit or stay in the store as you drink your soda. Since we did not want to do any of the above the storekeeper did something that I have never seen before but am told is standard practice around here, she emptied each soda into a plastic bag, tied them shut and handed us straws to poke through and drink our soda with. I was quite amused drinking a Coca Cola[7] on the beachfront out of a plastic bag.
On our way out of town we both saw a scene so odd that it impressed us both deeply. We could hear a vallenato[8] being played and sung very where from what seemed to be a parade float. As we got closer we would see the musicians playing the guitar, accordion and maracas that are omnipresent in vallenatos but instead of some tropical scene the float had three hindu gods being shaded and fanned by men with shaved heads and in orange suits. A bit of attention to the letter of the music quickly revealed that we were listening to Hare Krishna tropical son. We stuck around incredulous as the thick coastal beat went on and the lead singer spoke of the ever lasting love of the Hindu god with a chorus of ‘Hare hare hare, hare hare Krishna’.
1 = Currently reading ‘The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay’ by Michael Chabon.
2 = Arepas are a flat bread that looks like a pita but is soft and made from corn.
Arepas Con Huevo are filled with eggs and quickly fried making them delicious and crunchy.
3 = So named because most of the wares being sold have been imported thought the Colombian islands of San Andres and Providencia.
4 = Coastal people are called Costeños, they refer to inlanders as Cachacos. People from the capital city (where I grew up) are called Rolos.
5 = Sara was born in the US but grew up in Colombia and knows the language and customs as well as any local.
6 = Wit
7 = In the USA the Coca Cola bottling company started using cheaper corn syrup over better tasing sugar to save money years ago. Most people do not remember how delicious Coca Cola with sugar is until they travel to South America where the original formula reigns true.
8 = Tropical music that monopolizes the coast of Colombia. Sara calls it the soundtrack for coastal Colombia. It plays in every restaurant, bar, store, taxi, bus and building you enter making it impossible to be in any populated area without hearing vallenatos.
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06.26.03
Posted in Travels at 1:12 pm by Leopoldo
Thursday June 26 – Bogotá and Santa Marta
This morning we got up early and got to the airport so we could catch a plane to the beautiful tropical city of Santa Marta. Nicolas was enchanted with the ways bags disappeared into the insides of the airport. There were beauty queens traveling to who knows where from Bogotá so the airport was full of tall thin women dressed in the most odd and interesting costumes. Oddly enough it seemed as if there were drag queens everywhere with the sequins, the outrageous shoes and clothes and the huge amounts of makeup.
We got to Santa Marta around mid-day and the heat hit me immediately. It is so different being among the palm trees and tropical breezes of Santa Marta than the thin air of Bogotá. It took a while to settle in so there was not a lot of relaxing to be had, but the setup is quite nice. Casa Del Mar is an impressive building. Our fourth floor balcony has a great view of woods, beach and the Atlantic. Off the front of the building is a very nice pool, then some stalls for cleaning sandy feet and then a good expanse of private roped off beach before the public beach and the sea. The private beach part has little open huts where one can either take a plastic chair or hang a hammock. The beachfront has very soft waves, just perfect for Nicolas to play in. The building is the last one on a tourist beach called El Rodadero. The house is quite far from all the other buildings making it nicely private.
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06.25.03
Posted in Travels at 1:05 pm by Leopoldo
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Tuesday night we spent at Himelda’s apartment in Bogotá. The hide-a-bed was very uncomfortable but larger than Nicolas’ bed in Maite’s apartment and for the first time since we got here we had a chance to sleep in. There were no screaming kids at 5:30 AM, no drunks coming out of the bars at 2:00 AM, no dogs barking through the night. What is even better, once we got up the maid had fresh orange juice, scrambled eggs and coffee (and with coffee I mean real Coffee with a capital C, not that brown water stuff you get around Portland that most people confuse with coffee) ready for us. We enjoyed a lazy morning after which we went out for a day in the city.
Sara, my dad and I took a taxi to my sister’s were we had lunch with Maite, Herman, Luz Clarisa [1], Laura Camila[2], Maria Elvira[3], Nicolas and Catalina. It was a madhouse of people coming, going, answering the telephone, receiving deliveries and at times eating.
After lunch Laura Camila walked my Dad, Sara and I most of the way to the Botero collection in downtown Bogotá. The exhibit was truly impressive. I honestly do not like the art of Botero (though I am not sure I should say that out loud or they might kick me out off the country) though he did have some sculpture that appealed to me (specially one of a cat). What was truly impressive is the other art that Botero has collected and put up on exhibit. There were a number of Picasso, Degas, Monet, Dali and other recognized names in high art. It seems dangerous to keep so many classic pieces together in a country that is in the middle of a civil war, but cest la vie. The museum is located in a gorgeous colonial style house in the middle off the city. After walking through the exhibit we all shared a tinto in one of the house’s plazas then my father went back to my sister’s house for a siesta while Sara and I headed across the street for more art.
Across from the Botero exhibit is one of Bogotá’s largest libraries the Biblioteca Luis Angel Arrango, a huge public library with many interesting rooms full of books, music, diplay halls and three art galleries. On this day there was a photo exhibit, a modern art exhibit and an exhibit of Colombian classical painters. For some reason there was a heavy compliment of military outside the library including some special forces that patrolled the front with heavy bullet proof vests and an interesting assortment of weapons ranging from small shot guns to heavy machine guns. The contrast of so many students and scholars in the library doing research and enjoying Colombia’s cultural heritage to the ever present reminder of the ongoing war seemed oddly poetic.
From the library Sara and I walked down to Seventh Avenue and as Mavira[4] would say ‘hechamos un Septimazo’. La carrera septima (seventh avenue) is a very busy main drag in downtown Bogotá full of stores, street sellers and a lot of people. En route we stopped by a huge used book fair, watched the emerald sellers sell their wares on the black market at the corner of the seventh and Caracas avenue, found some awesome music collections at good prizes and browsed dozens of stores selling crafts of all sorts. Sara was able to buy a new leather wallet as a gift for her brother as well as some nice jewelry. We barely noticed in time that it was time to stop shopping and catch a taxi for the Ministry of Education.
At the ministry we met up with my dad and Himelda and I was able to browse the online Apple store for a new computer for Himelda. The store had exactly what she wants and at a good price, the trouble is with shipping it down to Bogotá. Apple has a number of stores that sell Macs in the city, but all at much higher prices than what you would pay in the USA. If you buy the computer in the US and bring it in you have to contend with the limits in luggage enforced by the airlines.
From the ministry we picked Nicolas up at home and then went on to the house of my cousin Clemencia who hosted us and most of the family of my aunt Maria Teresa for an Ajiaco[5] dinner. It was great to see the whole family again, especially in a more relaxed setting. One very frustrating thing about the dinner though was the desire to join in the various conversations taking place but not being able to due to the holes in my Spanish vocabulary. I could understand everything around me and was able to speak but had to constantly stop and think of words or occasionally ask for translation from one of the bilinguals in the crowd.
[1] = German’s niece
[2] = German’s daughter
[3] = A good friend of my mom and dad for many years. Her daughter Beatriz was almost the third child in our family for all the time she spent with us.
[4] = Mavira is short for Maria Elvira
[5] = Ajiaco is a traditional stew made with chicken and potatoes that is absolutely delicious and had definitely been missing from my sampling of Colombian food during the trip.
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06.24.03
Posted in Travels at 8:13 am by Leopoldo
Tuesday, June 24, 2003 – Bogotá
After the party a bunch of us met and went to an art film theater to see a French movie called Le Roi Danse (made by Gerard Corbiau the same director who made Farinelli). The movie was quite fascinating, about King Louis XIV and his fascination with music and Ballet. It was also interesting in that it was a movie in French with Spanish subtitles, something I have not done in a long time. With the little bit of French that I understand I was catching all kinds of miss-translations.
This morning we had a great breakfast of Tamales Boyacences (very different from Mexican Tamales). I then visited the Xerox office in Bogotá and met a number of people. After that we went to the museum of modern art where they had a great exhibit of modern photography. We had enough time at the museum that we were able to drop by their theater and listen to the trail end of what was a very interesting seminar on Colombian cinema.
We met my sister and various relatives of her husband for lunch. My mom, my dad, Sara and I then went to a crafts fair. The fair was amazing. It was set up on huge fair grounds with each pavilion specializing in art from a different region of the country. In addition to sampling a lot of very delicious regional foods and seeing some amazing works of art I was able to buy myself some nice wooden spoons, a new leather handcrafted belt and a few gifts for the folks back home.
In an hour we will have dinner with my dad, Himelda and some invited friends. It is still early but I am already very tired. I look forward to sleeping a lot tonight.
The dinner was very and I mean VERY interesting. The guests were a cousin of mine,Vicky Coulver (founder of ‘The New School’), her husband, Agustin Lombano (the Colombian representative for the Fulbright scholarship and a board member of the Ford Foundation), his wife, my dad (who is a professor and co-founded the Bertrand Russell school), Himelda (who is vice-minister of education for Colombia), Sara and myself. Needless to say the conversation focused on the state of education in Colombia and various other education topics. Sara and I mostly stayed quiet and listened (partially because we were both half asleep and partially because there was some serious education power housing going on that was well above our heads) which was really quite fine since just listening to these people we both learned a hell of a lot.
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06.23.03
Posted in Travels at 7:50 pm by Leopoldo
Monday, June 23, 2003 7:20 PM – Bogotá
I just returned form a huge party that my sister organized. The party was held at the school I attended as a kid, the Bertrand Russell [1]. The party was huge, with some 85 people invited and some 95 people attending. It was a mixture welcome back to Colombia for me, and birthday party for Nicolas.
All the family was there… and I mean ALL the family. We did a round of remembering who is who before the party which was good, but honestly once I was there I was able to recognize and remember pretty much everyone. I got to see my aunts and uncles, my first cousins and since most of them have since married and had kids a whole slew of second cousins that I had never met. There were also friends, including my best friend from my childhood Catalina who has grown up to be a delightful young woman and has three beautiful kids.
The party was an asado[2]. They had the school auditorium totally decorated. The school kids had made signs welcoming me back and wishing Nicolas a happy birthday. They also had one of the schoolteachers there shooting video from the entrance through to the last goodbye. They served Augardiente[3] as well as beer and pop. The menu consisted of papa asada[4], papa criolla[5], steak, guacamole salad, chorizo[6] and plantain stuffed with cheese… all quite delicious. The party was a huge success.
Earlier in the day we dropped by the house of Himelda’s mother[7]. The house is a grand old Bogotá house with a huge private residence in the back, a beautiful patio and a travel business in the front with enough room for some 10 employees, a private office and two meeting rooms. As we made our way through the private entrance towards the front I started to hear louder and louder a grand concert with chorus that at first sounded like Tchaikovsky but turned out to be Vivaldi. Coming into the private office I was very impressed to see Himelda’s mom working on a top of the line full screen iBook while classical music roared out of an impressive sound system playing off a laser disc. The concert was in the main plaza in Vienna and had moments where the sub-woofer shook the house. I did some research for a new computer for Himelda after which we sat down for a tinto[8] some homemade cookies and great classical music. We could not stay long though since we had to get to the party.
1 = The Bertrand Russell co-founded by my father and my aunt. My aunt has always been principal of the school and my father used to teach there.
2 = An asado is a sort of a barbeque with meat cooked over a spit.
3 = Aguardiendte is the liquor that most people drink around here. It is terribly strong; I believe in the US it would be considered moonshine. I cannot stand the stuff myself.
4 = Boiled potatoes served with salt stuck to them. I have never figured out how they get the salt to stick.
5 = Little golden deep fried potatoes. A favorite dish of mine.
6 = Grilled spicy sausage.
7 = Himelda is my father’s second wife and someone I very much like.
8 = A sort of Colombian espresso, very strong and usually served in a tiny cup.
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06.22.03
Posted in Travels at 10:06 am by Leopoldo
Sunday, June 22, 200310:34 AM – Bogotá
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. For the second leg I had to sit for five hours in an airplane seat that I eventually realized was smaller than most (I think the back of the plane flared inwards so the rearmost seats had a bit less width to them). The International airport in Bogotá is very well set up, getting in and through customs is very easy[1]. The hard part is coming out into the throngs of hundreds of people all waiting for their friends and family to arrive. My mother has been collecting baby clothes and toys for my sister’s kids for months so she had three huge backs to haul through the airport and into the tiny Chevrolet that picked us up.
We got to Bogotá late enough that I got to see my nephew Nicolas and my new Niece Catalina asleep. Maite (my sister) served us some nice tea and tropical fruits that I have not had in years. I got to eat Granadilla and Mamonsillo, two of my favorites.
This morning I woke up and got to spend time with my nephew. He turns three years old today and is simply delightful. Last time I saw him was almost a year ago and he was barely starting to speak. I have a hard time understanding him at times but love all the ideas he has. He is delighted with fire trucks, dinosaurs, elephants and movies. Nicolas will watch movies over and over never tiring, a man after my own heart!
Maria Catalina is only six weeks old and very beautiful. She is still too young to make sense out of what she sees, but will look around her and go through all kinds of expression changes. She just learned how to smile a few days ago but does it pretty indiscriminately. At times she just decides to smile for no reason, almost as if she is trying out different expressions to see what they are like. Right now her life consists basically of eating, sleeping and pooping.
Bogotá is at 8,600 ft. For anyone who has spent time at this altitude knows that it takes some time to get used to the thin atmosphere. I did not really notice it last night but it hit me hard today. Going out for a short walk totally winded me. Just going up a few sets of stairs made me feel faint. I knew this was coming and that the only thing to do really is to take it easy the first couple of days and get used to it.
1 = If you take a plane into El Dorado use the leftmost line for moving through customs. There is a special line for I am not sure what purpose next to it that is seldom used. That official will if not busy take people from the nearby line thereby moving it twice as fast as most.
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06.21.03
Posted in Travels at 8:56 am by Leopoldo
Saturday, June 21, 2003 5:33 AM - Portland Airport
I got up at 3:30 this morning so I could be at the airport by 4. Am waiting at Portland Airport to take a flight down to Houston TX. After three hours in Texas I will take another plane that will deposit me in Bogotá around 8pm tonight. On my way to the airport an hour and a half ago I saw the aurora begin to paint the sky a pale blue. I realized that I was seeing light so early because today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. I was very pleased to realize that I will see the solstice from dawn to dusk.
It was 1984 when I left Colombia as a child. Since then I have only returned once, in 1992 to visit. It did not dawn on me until a couple of days ago that a full decade has elapsed since the last time I saw the city where I was born. I am curious to see how my family and my childhood friends have grown and changed. I am excited and nervous to take this trip. Exited and happy to see family that I rarely see (I have not seen my sister in about two years, the extended family in ten) and nervous that I will not fit in.
Colombian culture is in many ways very similar to US culture and in others very different. There are certain things that you do and do not do that are assumed known by everyone. I hope that the people I meet realize that I could not possibly remember all the customs as I make inevitable social faux pas. I also hope that people are understanding and patient with me as I communicate.
I still speak Spanish pretty fluently but make occasional mistakes, most of them false cognates. There are also some subjects (such as sex, technology and politics) in which my vocabulary is sadly lacking. I left the country at the age of eleven, before I had the need or opportunity to develop my ability to converse on these topics. I have had people attempt to carry a conversation on popular culture or politics with me in Spanish, always with the same result: a look of consternation as the person tries to figure out if I am truly stupid or just not very knowledgeable. From what I remember of Colombians they tend to be very understanding and accommodating, yet I know the frustration of knowing something but not being able to communicate it (I lived in this intellectual purgatory for the two years it took me to develop my ability to converse in English) and am not looking forward to it.
I left Colombia on a blue moon. I will return on the solstice. There seems to be some poetic synchronicity to the spin of the universe and of my life.
12:09 PM – Houston George Bush International Airport
The prerecorded voice at Houston Airport has a number of lines. The most disturbing one is and I quote: ‘Any inappropriate remarks or jokes concerning security may result in your arrest’. Wow. Shall I salute the fuehrer now? Speaking of which, we just walked past the statue of Bush (Sr.) standing in a heroic pose with his coat flying behind him and his tie furrowed by the wind. The statue stands about seven feet tall. Makes me wonder how tall Sr. actually is.
Bush International Airport is actually pretty nice. Or rather the brand new concourse E is very nice. The older concourse C is a bit lacking. Being an international hub for North, Central and South America there is the most fascinating mixture of people walking around. A tremendous place for people watching.
My mother met me at the gate as I arrived in Houston. She has been here for something like six hours now waiting for our connecting flight to Bogotá. We had dinner at a restaurant called ‘Pappadeaux’ here on the concourse that turned out to be remarkably good and very comfortable.
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