Great Escape 2018: Busy Day in Bogata

On the way to the airport yesterday, when we opened the first envelope, we discovered we were going to Bogota, Columbia. YAY …  a new destination (although we did go to Cartagena, Columbia a few years ago on the 2015 Global Scavenger Hunt). We met up with Marnie and Greg at the IAH airport and had an interminable check-in experience (Avianca managed to successfully checked in only about 3 people an hour… thank goodness we had lots of time). Our plane landed in Bogata around midnight, so we did not meet up until 9:30AM this morning, when we opened our second envelope (which had clear “Do not open until breakfast” instructions). In the second envelope was a set of scavenges for Bogota today and information about our flight out tonight to meet the rest of the teams in Buenos Aries, Argentina.

We are staying in La Candeleria district of Bogata (the historical district) which has great architecture, cobbled streets and LOTS of graffiti and color.

Look at the character in this woman's face. What sorrows has she seen?

First scavenge of the day was to take a tram car ride to the top of the hill (Montserrat) for a panoramic view of the entire city.  And Bogota  is HUGE.  It stretches as far as you can see in either direction.  Eight million people.

Scavenge: Visit the Botero Museum

This turned out to be a very hip, modern art museum (which was free of charge).  It has dozens of Botero pieces as well as a few Picassos, Salvador Dalis and one Matisse.  I know that "art is in the eye of the beholder" but this Picasso - in my opinion - looks like a 2nd grader's art project. Honestly the street graffiti was so superior. 

But then I got hooked on the Botero pieces. Fernando Botero is probably the most famous artist from Columbia.  He was raised in Medellin and started out as an apprentice Matador, before he realized that art was more his calling than torturing and killing bulls (yes, I'm not even pretending to hide by disdain for bull fighting). Botero predominantly depicts voluptuous forms, often in the nude: a unique and easily recognizable style. Some critics say his work is silly or trivial, but I found his pieces (which are very large) almost magnetic.

Across town to the Botantical gardens which are an oasis in the middle of concrete madness. 

Pigeons swarm in the main square with Spanish styled architecture all around

An interesting scavenge today was to photograph political graffiti.  We found lots dealing with the various civil wars.  I like this one… in the game of war, no one wins.  So very, very true.

We had to interview people on the street about Columbia’s feelings on Venezuela’s economic instability. So, when we ran into come college kids looking to interview tourists for one of their classes, we did a fair exchange.  We answered their questions and they talked to us at length about Venezuela.  Since Venezuela has fallen apart economically – and there is no food or medicine etc. – Columbia has been overrun with people fleeing that collapse.  While Columbians believe that they must help their “brothers,” the sheer numbers of Venezuelans arriving every day has overwhelmed this country, especially its medical care system. This matter is a central issue in the upcoming elections here.

We are off now to Argentina for another adventure... we will miss the color of Bogota