 |
| Photos: Jann Segal |
There is a legend in
the Andes about a beautiful princess who was whisked away by a Condor never to
return. I think that story can apply to the spirit of any traveler. You can
visit a county and be whisked away by the power and purpose of old traditions
and symbols of the country, and your life will never be the same. The Andean
people and their spirit and simple ways touched me when I took the Overseas Adventure Travel trip Colombia’s Colonial
Jewels and Coffee Triangle. On that trip, especially when I was
appreciating all the art I saw in Bogota and Medellin and connected it to the legend
of the indigenous Muisica people, I felt that in my travels I flew with the
spirit of the condor, both independently and with the group.
One of the things I
did on my own which I booked through a Viator.com tour, was to hike to the lagoon
where the indigenous Muisca people found the gold that is in the Gold Museum,
and which is part of the legend of El Dorado. El Dorado is where legend has it the
streets are paved with gold. I had to climb 150 stairs at one point, huffing
and puffing to get to 10k feet to see the lagoon. A week later, once the OAT
tour began, we visited the Gold Museum, and it was so very meaningful to me.
And having traveled quite a bit around both Central and South America, I could
tell that it was the best Gold Museum I have ever seen, with the most beautiful
artifacts anywhere in the Americas. Of course, it ties back into the legend of
El Dorado and the Muisca people, and I was grateful that I had hiked up to the top
of the lake where so many treasures originated.
But all on one street
in the Candelaria district of Bogota are three additional museums that I
visited. There is a total of five on the same street. The best was the Botero museum, an interesting Colombian artist, and there were write ups in English
and Spanish. It's connected to the Fine Arts Museum of the Bank of Colombia,
which is also bi lingual and has all modern art. I couldn't figure out what the
connection was to the Bank of Colombia and art, until I got to the attached
Coin Museum. That, of course, was all about the history of money in Colombia
including bills, and that was all in Spanish. Two other museums worth noting in
Bogota are the Convent Museum and the Military Museum
 |
| Botero Sculpture |
 |
| Zocalos in Guatape |
Once our tour group got to Medellin we visited another Botero museum, so I was glad that I had taken the
time to see the one on Bogota. His art is all over Colombia, and he is
literally as revered as the Nobel prize winning author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
who has a cultural center named for him in Bogota right near the five museums. But
both Botero museums also had some fantastic modern art from other artists. So
for art lovers, this trip is a real treat if they take advantage of seeing all
the museums that are available – and in many cases, free of charge.
One destination we had
during our time in Medellin was Guatape, and it's famous for its colorful and artistic
zocalos. A zocalo in Mexico is a public square. In Colombia, it's a piece of
art on the exterior of the house, and it represents something about the
individual living there. It's usually vibrantly colored, sometimes three dimensional.
It can be a book if the owner is a book lover, a horse for a horse lover, and
so on. I honestly don't think I have ever seen a town with such vibrant colors
before, and it reminded me of the stark contrast with the history of the
country. This is especially true since we had a discussion on the way there
about Pablo Escobar, and prior to seeing Guatape, we were on a boat ride around
a lake that once was surrounded by many of his properties, one where he was
killed in a shoot-out.
But seeing these
unique zocalos are a fun and lively addition to the trip, especially since we
met one of the artists after we toured the town in tuk-tuks to see them .As I experienced
it, they are on the outside of nearly every house and structure in the main
area of Guatape, making it one of the most
vibrant and colorful places I have ever visited.
Seeing artistic venues
in a country, which I do every chance I can, sheds a light on the culture and
history of the country that might not otherwise be illuminated for the
traveler. Sometimes when I do see a museum at the end of a trip, it literally shows
me art that is representative of all that I have experienced, seen and learned
about during the trip. In addition to other magnificent street art we saw in both Bogota, Medellin and Cartagena, the museums and colorful zocalos we saw on
this trip exposed me to a hopeful country, rich with culture, and dancing to
the joy of its own art.
No comments:
Post a Comment