bogota

i gotta admit i didn't have very high expectations of bogota. in fact initially we considered skipping it altogether.  we are so glad to have been mistaken and to have budgeted a few days here.   bogota has turned out to be a delightfully artistic city full of interesting people and places.

on the political front the central plaza was dominated by a peace protest (the colombian president had brokered a peace agreement with FARC to end a 50 yr war, but unfortunately the deal was rejected by the people....these folks have been living in the plaza of bogota for the past several weeks to protest this vote)

in bogota we visited the famous museo de oro which has examples of the gold artworks integral to pre-conquistador culture.  it was remarkable how many gold artifacts escaped the spanish thirst for gold (i expected only a few)....which was in itself indicative of how much gold was likely present in pre-conquistador south america.

we don't often take our kids to art museums (although i think they are now of an age to appreciate it more), but this particular artist is colombia's most renown.  the kids ended up loving fernando botero's distinctive style of chubby people, animals and fruit in both paintings and sculpture.

chubby mona lisa de botero

the chubby cat was at the opposite end of the gallery from the chubby bird

by far the most memorable part of our visit to bogota was the graffiti tour we took.   bogota's street art is world recognized and by the time we left we were easily identifying the syles of the different artists.  it was a. ma. zing.  further comment is not needed......enjoy.

our guide in front of a beautiful street mural

we loved contrast of the burro walking in front of the graffiti

much of the art is making a political statement

as a little artistic bonus there are these statues that adorn the rooftops all over the city.

we were blown away by this super artistic city!  such a great couple of days!


our next stop is another farm stay a few hours outside of bogota.
hasta luego!