Took a longish route from where our taxi dropped us off in the city centre to walk to the Museo del Oro savouring the last of the sights and smells of downtown Bogotá. The Museum of Gold is simply amazing. World class. I thought I might be a bit bored by it but it was beautifully displayed and really interesting. The museo is owned by the Banco de la República. It showcases an incredible collection of impressive gold pieces from pre-Hispanic groups in Colombia, including one of the most intricate pieces la balsa muisca (the Muisca raft), as well as a varied collection of other pre-Hispanic artefacts and metalwork collections.
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Bonus was, we paid nothing to go in as we are over 60 (hmm! Age does have its blessings sometimes, not many!) and the excellent audioguides in English were only 6000 COP each ($US 3). We did all 3 floors. I was interested to finally get the local name of the gold and copper alloy used: tumbaga. I had heard of this a number of times whilst here in Colombia.
Afterwards we walked the long walk to the bus station along the main street Carrera 7, retracing the route we had taken with Melissa from the tourist office on our first evening here. It was a walk past casinos, tramps, beggars, food stalls, shops and people everywhere: walking, cycling, pushing barrow loads of produce or the little icecream carts we see everywhere.
We also came upon a grand church. We popped in to have a look: La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Las Nieves (the Virgin of Our Lady of the Snows), consecrated in 1585. It is quite impressive with its Gothic-Byzantine influence in its tower and its geometric patterns and stripes of alternating red and yellow.
Certainly our touring of Bogotá has been varied - almost deconstructed you could say. We have done it from various angles: by bike, walking through at night with Melissa from the tourist office, the walking tour with our guide Ana and then today: freelance.
We successfully purchased the tickets and found the correct departure queue for the bus back to our hotel - again with some help from locals who always seem willing to assist. In fact, we had asked a TransMilenio employee but he had pointed us to a colleague further along; however, as it turned out, before we could ask the colleague, a young woman came up and affirmed the correct place to catch the bus. It seems like the first man had spoken to her and asked her to help us as she knew a little English? Can't be sure this is the case but this has happened more than once in Colombia so I suspect it is the case.
This time we found our hotel easily unlike our first journey on the bus when we had to go to a Starbucks (ugh!) for a coffee just to get wi-fi because we got lost.
Our hotel, while simple, has been great. It is not in the centre but this has not posed a problem and the amenities have been comfortable. Good breakfast - and late checkout (1:00 p.m.!!) so we were back in plenty of time to sort ourselves, finish our cheese and bread left over from yesterday's lunch (the bread from Villa de Leyva has certainly been long-lasting!) and we took the car provided by the hotel (comfortable, clean and with a competent and friendly driver) to the aeropuerto. And the price was little more than what we had been told a taxi would be - bonus: without the hassle.
We are at the airport now - early in fact, as security is meant to be amazing - 5 levels. Will let you know when we get through. The airport is huge and modern with nice facilities - and after security has many nice shops and nice cafes.
So far the experience has been as we had read about; in fact was straightforward for us as we had read up about it beforehand. If you queue up at check-in & forget to deal with the departure tax, you will pay $33 pp under 30 days stay or you will be sent to the tax exemption counter - you cannot check-in, in other words. We went to the tax counter first (because we knew we had to) and had no wait at all and then checked in. By now, the tax counter had 50 people waiting to be processed!! Phew!!! So we are now having a coffee with the last of our COPs (pesos).
Yes, indeed! We counted 5 security checks on the way from check-in to the boarding gate including a physical frisk by the military. The counting kept us amused and we were glad again that we were early because we walked straight through without a delay; goodness knows what chaos there might be if there were queues.
We have enjoyed Colombia. It has been a thorough visit from our point of view. Perhaps it might have been nice to get to places further south like Cali but we have seen and experienced a lot. We have liked the people too. They are friendly and quite relaxed with us gringos. I found they engaged with good eye contact and nice smiles and are dignified in the way they go about life.
Underlying this, there is a feistiness: they have a poor regard I think for authority; a mistrust borne out of broken promises and unstable politics. Their political history is violent and bloody. The drug wars have left a terrible legacy amongst those who lived through the fear and horror of the cartels warring in the streets. The involvement of the US in the cocaine trade and the big oil and mining multinationals has contributed to the exploitation and suffering of ordinary Colombians. As Robert Stone in the New York Times said:
"Colombia had always been a country known for three things: the cultured elegance of its elite; the entrepreneurial skills of its merchants, who were no more inclined than the Founders of the American Republic to be bound by colonial or post-colonial restrictions on free enterprise or definitions of contraband; and the utterly terrifying level of violence that prevailed there within a criminal element whose tolerance for conflict was so low as to be barely detectable."
Who knows what will happen next? Surely Colombia will not turn back on itself like a serpent biting its own tail? Tourism may make a difference and bring prosperity. The challenge will be to alleviate poverty by involving the locals, protecting the natural resources from exploitation and maintaining the essence of Colombia - a real balancing act.
As Garcia Marquez says of South America in "The General in His Labyrinth":
''It is ungovernable, the man who serves a revolution plows the sea, this nation will fall inevitably into the hands of the unruly mob and then will pass into the hands of almost indistinguishable petty tyrants.''
POSTSCRIPT:
Talking to Regis tonight, he says that the upper and middle class in the cities in Colombia really don't know much about what is going on. He agrees that the military we have seen along the roads in rural areas (he says there is no longer any "para-military" as I called them earlier in this blog) are there because of guerrilla activity, and maybe near the border with Venezuela because of contraband. He says also that Venezuela is a 'basket case' that they (the UN) are watching very carefully at the moment. He also says that, in rural areas of Colombia, kids are snatched off the streets and that these areas are still of concern and not quite as the tourist guides may portray things.
In fact, this article makes for sober reading and the statistics are compelling:
More than 50,000 people have fled their homes in three years out of fear, according to a recent Human Rights Watch report. At least an additional 150 people are reported as disappeared over that period; police and Human Rights Watch believe most were snatched off streets or from their homes and presumed dead. And the homicide rate in this city [Buenaventura] of 400,000 is three times that of Bogotá, government statistics say.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/colombias-bloody-gangs-color-vote-1402098548
So, adios Colombia. And thanks for the 20 or so mozzie bites!!!!!
Now we are off to Panama. Our COPA flight (first time we have flown with this airline) is good: comfortable and nice food. Good landing too!
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