Bogota – and leaving Kansas

First of all, how amazing that the Museo Botero is free to everyone all of the time!! It is considered one of the 5 most important collections in all of South America and nearly a thousand people visit every day. It houses an extensive collection of Fernando Botero’s work plus other artists like Degas, Monet, Renoir, Picasso and Dali. The museum also has several beautifully curated contemporary exhibits, including a thought-provoking photography exhibition chronicling the displacement of indigenous people in Colombia. It was incredibly powerful and also disturbing. But my favorite part about the Museo Bogota was observing all of the children and teenagers. Julio, my Airbnb host, said that many young people went to the museum because art is very important to the younger generation in Colombia but honestly I didn’t really believe him. I was (as I often am) wrong – there were so many young people visiting the museum. There were 2 classes of elementary students on guided visits. I was both surprised and impressed by the curiosity and respect shown by the 10 or 11 year old children. The level of their engagement with the guide was remarkable. I’ve been on several dozen field trips, both as a teacher and a parent, and… well, let’s just say that I might have been a little less frazzled if these students had been my students. But the very best part was seeing so many people between 15 and 20-something in an art museum of their own free will. Some were on dates and some were in groups, passionately discussing artists, eras and disciplines. The Museo Botero was absolutely wonderful. I definitely recommend a visit to anyone who comes to Bogota, but watching all of the children and young adults appreciating art made the afternoon even more magical.

As well as 2 museums and Monserrate (beautiful mountain with a lovely view of Bogota – 10/10 recommend if you like to walk up steep stairs), I also went to 2 different markets in Bogota. The first was in and around the Plaza Bolivar. It was similar to markets I have visited in Guatemala, Morocco and Tanzania. I love a good street market – so much color, so many voices and accents, lots of excitement and always an unusual collection of humanity. I have spoken to some lovely, kind people and heard some unusual and uplifting stories at these markets. At the same time, I am always surprised (and to be honest, slightly annoyed) when people complain about being “hassled” at the street markets and are rude to the vendors. The vendors do often push quite hard, and yes, some of them are less than subtle in their sales tactics and maybe they are even truth-stretchers, but they are just trying to make a living. And if you are coming to one of these markets, then presumably you are a tourist potentially buying something so you are basically entering a kind of unspoken contract to be pestered. It always upsets me when I see people being nasty to the locals – if you do not want to be ‘hassled’ at the markets then it seems pretty obvious – just do not go the markets. I have also learned, after buying a couple of unwanted items (like maybe a full length to the ground, long sleeve, 3 (!!!) flounce, baby blue dress as a random example) that if you learn to say “thanks but no thanks” in the local language and you say it very firmly but with a smile, then they generally will not bother you anymore. Anyways, off my soapbox for now and on to the second market that I visited.

In some of the cities I have visited this past year, I have tried to leave the tourist area and find where the locals shop and gather. The first time it happened was actually in Casablanca with my daughters and we were definitely in a market that was where the locals shopped. In my head, I think of it as ‘leaving Kansas” (as in Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore) and it’s one of my favorite things to do in a new place. Today, I wandered past the market in the Plaza and across the main train line and then through dozens of streets crammed with hundreds of clothing stalls – I had found the local shopping area! And then into even more crowded back and side streets, with vendors in shacks and stalls selling everything from stereos to Halloween costumes to socks to car seats and even some make-shift tables with odd collections of face masks and perfumes. It reminded me of one that a friend showed me in Nairobi, but it was more condensed and so much more crowded, louder, brighter and shinier. It’s hard to describe the crush of people mixed with trucks and motorcycles but it was so crowded that at one point a truck actually rubbed against my arm as it passed by (thankfully slowly). In these types of crowds, I always put my phone away but I wished I had taken a picture so I could capture the vibrant, loud, aggressive but friendly, swarms of people. But as I found my way back to the area where I am staying, which took quite a while, I realized how far I have come (insert cheesy groan here) A few years ago, I would have been too unsure of myself to ‘leave Kansas’ and now it is one of my favorite ways to really get to know a city. Honestly, I would have been too scared and nervous to go anywhere unfamiliar. Now before anyone accuses me of being naive or too fa-la-la, I am hyper aware when I am in busy areas like these because pickpockets are an issue in almost all large cities. But I do feel secure in myself to go explore and well ‘leave Kansas.’ And so between my random, and only sometimes successful, attempts at speaking Spanish with strangers and realizing that I am brave enough to ‘leave Kansas’ – well I have decided that I am bad-assy enough and I will be continuing on my South American journey. On to Cartagena!