Bogota impressions

Colombians are an upbeat, happy people. Instead of “Buenos dias,” they greet one another with “Muy buenos dias.”

The Spanish founded Bogota four and a half centuries ago. People have inhabited Colombia for the last 5,000 years. (Archaeologists have found human remains dating back 16,000 years.) Unlike the Mayans and Aztecs, the original inhabitants did not work in stone. They lived in houses made of grass and mud; none remain. In fact, the entire precolumbian history of Colombia would have vanished had not the Banco de la República assembled more than 30,000 artifacts, mostly gold, in the Gold Museum.

The rivers of Colombia wash through the mountains, picking up gold and emeralds that are deposited downstream. Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Nariño people began making objects of gold.

Nancy White and I are in Bogota for the Quality in eLearning Conference sponsored by the Ministry of Education. I’ll blog new insights into learning at the Informal Learning blog; I’ll post tourist stuff and cultural observations here.

Slide show of Nancy’s and my photographs.

The conference is now ending and we presenters are on our own. Nancy and I walked a few blocks to a shopping area. I hadn’t eaten so we stopped at a twelve-seat eatery named Deliciosas California. I ordered grilled chicken breast and a jumbo fruit salad. First a bowl of sliced mango appeared. Then the jumbo, which turned out to be two large scoops of ice cream, lots of cheese, chunks of a dozen kinds of fruit — enough to feed three. After the jumbo, my grilled chicken paillard arrived, accompanies by French fries and a salad of tomatoes and onions. Total price for the meal was six or seven thousand pesos; that’s three or four dollars.

Several people asked if Bogotá was what I expected. I didn’t have many expectations. I assumed Bogotá would be similar to the Mexican cities I’d visited; I was wrong. I have yet to stray far from the Dann Carlton Hotel, but my neighborhood is fresh, clean, tastefully decorated. It is modern here. Except in the old part of the city, the Candelaria, most buildings look like they were built after 1960.

Bogotá rests at an altitude of 2650 meters, hemmed in by mountains. This “Valley of Palaces,” so named by the Spaniards because of its stunning natural beauty, is like a big coffee cup in the sky, perfect conditions for smog. Some people walk the streets with masks or scarves over their faces as protection.

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