Bogotá Feliz Cumpleaños, Ratoncita (Happy Birthday, Mouse)
Saturday, January 2, 1993
The American Airlines flight from Miami to Bogotá was a great flight and landed on time (9:36 PM). Bogotá recently instituted a double daylight savings time so that they now are one hour ahead of Miami time. Mark feels that this adjustment was made to keep Columbia on the same time as Venezuela.
Customs was easy - no one looked at any bags that I could determine. There were only four agents trying to record the passport numbers of an entire Airbus 330 so it did take a little while to process everyone. We finally cleared immigration and saw Mark and Esmeralda through the glass doors, along with another six more people. Hugs and kisses were exchanged and we all headed out to find a collective (van taxi) and loaded up the bags. As soon as we were all in the cab the driver noticed that he had a flat tire so we had to off-load while he changed it. Then we were on our way to the Godoy home. The family consists of Noé, Edilma, Edilmita (little Edilma), Adolfo, Adriana and her four-year-old son Danilo, and Esmeralda.
We exchanged gifts and we both received a ruana (wool poncho common to this region). Liz received a trenza de la abundancia (braid of abundance), which is their version of a cornucopia and consists of little pottery jars filled with various grains and seeds. You hang them in your kitchen and you will always have food in the house. Mark, Esmeralda and the Godoy’s also gave Liz pearl earrings and a bracelet. We had brought a set of Silverstone II pots and pans, a hand held chess computer for Don Noé, Captain Marvel Jr. and Spiderman figures for Danilo as well as a North American Indian tepee. Mark received a scanner for his computer and Esmeralda got a first grade picture locket of Mark on a silver chain plus photo sweatshirt that Lydia had made of them. We also had Where in the World, a geographical board game in Spanish, and a mystery game for Mark’s computer plus the Windows package with operations manual for his computer.
We had ajíaco for supper. This consists of chicken, potatoes, and papas criollas (little potatoes), which taste buttery in themselves and are eaten much like French fries. They also had a birthday cake with Feliz Cumpleaños, Liz on the top. We stayed up drinking Aguardiente (anise flavored whiskey) and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s that we brought down. We all stayed up until 02:20 AM! [Sueno del Muerte (sleep of the dead)]
141 Domingo, 3 Enero
Power is off (usually) from 7:00-9:30 AM and 5:00-7:30 PM each day except Sundays and holidays (the legal holiday for El Dia de los Reyes - Epiphany - will be on the 11th). Mark says that the power rationing is because politicians have stolen the money already designated to build more power plants. The power rationing means that the small electric water heater loses heat quickly and one must share the water with all of the family as all of the Godoy’s still live at home. You turn on the shower briefly, wet down, shampoo and soap, and then turn water back on to rinse.
Desayuno (breakfast): arepas (two 1/8 inch white corn meal patty made with a whipped cream the consistency of whipped butter and a feta-like cheese between them) that is griddled into a ¼ inch pancake; and tinto (espresso) that is very good.
We give Don Noé a quick lesson on how to use the chess computer. The gift was Mark’s suggestion but Mark is computer literate and likes them. Don Noé is apprehensive of the game and usually Adriana is the only one we see using the game while we are there. After the lesson we took a taxi to the Sunday Market, which featured crafts and second-hand items. Bone grinding poverty is evident everywhere. Beggars easily spot that we are foreigners but they don’t single out us any more than they do the other shoppers. We find little figures - buseta (little bus); flota (inter-city bus); iglesias (church); chiva (open bus); mochila (bag, back-pack); molinillo (hot chocolate wood stirrer/whip); and cazuelas de barro (pottery bowls in wicker baskets). After the market we went to Oma y Libros for beer and collected some matches since they say “Oma” on them.
Almuerzo (merienda or lunch, the main meal of the day): We had patacones (twice deep fried plantains, considered a vegetable as opposed to the banana which is a fruit), ají (very hot tomato-less salsa, yuca (starchy root with a potato texture), corazón (heart), chunchullo (tripe), bofe (lung), papas (potatoes) and ají de aguacate (avocado salsa). This was
142 prepared on the grill in the back courtyard and served with cerveza (beer)
The house reminds me of the French Colonial architecture I saw in Saigon. It is a two-story structure with a wrought-iron gate that is right at the sidewalk and opens to provide a parking space in front of the house and is leased to someone. Next to the parking court the remainder of the front line of the house has a little lawn and a palm tree/shrub. The first floor consists of a half bathroom just to the right of the entry; a staircase and, straight ahead, the kitchen and entry to the back court; to the left is the living room and dinning room. Upstairs are four bedrooms and a ¾ bath. The house is made of red building blocks faced with plaster. The backcourt holds a one room set of quarters with a ¾ bath which used to be a maid’s quarters but is now where Mark lives.
Bogotá is listed as 5 million people in my 1989 guidebook with 3% annual growth. Mark says it is now 8M people and the government can’t really get a handle on how many people live there. It lies on a large plateau at 8,600 feet and butts up to a mountain range (10,000 - 11,000 feet) to the east. The main growth of the city is north/south. The further north you go the wealthier are the people. The Godoys live on Carrera 26, 71A-61 that means they live on road 26 and 71st street, 61 meters from the corner. This system is the neatest street numbering I have ever seen. Because of the elevation I forget how powerful the sun is. It is cool but the sun burns my head, neck and arms. I will peel for a couple of days and make sure I get a straw hat to prevent further burning.
Don Noé used to be in the Customs Department but had a reversal of fortune when the liberals came into power eight years ago. He lost his position and had to sell both cars and, three years ago, had to sell their house. They then took their resources and bought a store that sells disposable items. The shop looks about the size of a one-car garage (as do the other shops on his street) and is located about eight blocks from the house. You open a roll-up door and there are two glass counters that roll up to the sidewalk and serve to block entry. They sell paper and plastic cups, plates, utensils, napkins, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and ketchup and mustard containers. In this shop Don Noé, Edilmita, Adolfo, Adriana, Esmeralda and two hired hands work. I am not sure how or why the place holds so many people, certainly there can’t be that much work to inventory the place or move the stock. The store is open seven days a week. Edilma stays at home and with the help of a day maid that is mute she cleans the house and cooks lunch, which one of the hands comes to pick up around 1:00 PM each day. Normally the maid is shared with the next-door neighbor but worked full time at the house while we were there (@ about $3.00 a day).
We have not seen Mark so animated and so much in love. He and Esmeralda are very much in love and extremely happy. Mark dotes on her. We couldn’t wish for more in his life than such love and affection. Esmeralda is the youngest in the family (she will be 21 in June). She attended Convent School (parochial school), which she hated and forced herself to flunk out to quit. She has been working hard to recover the two years she lost in the process and just graduated from high school in December. She would like to attend a bilingual secretarial school next and Mark looks forward to teaching her English.
Company starts coming in. Hugs and kisses to everyone every time you enter or leave the house. Even if you just go to the corner store to get a pack of cigarettes (Mark does often, he doesn’t buy a carton at a time as then everyone would smoke them). As it is no one smokes a cigarette, everyone smokes the cigarette. If one-person lights up a cigarette the others ask to have a puff and then pass it around. More company comes and the music is put on - loud. There are a lot of adults and young children. This is a large extended family and they treat Mark well. All are dancing. Tío José dances the Mambo, which is
143 the predecessor to the Salsa, which is one of the more current dances. Esmeralda wants me to dance but I never learned to dance this stuff. By 8:30 we are pooped. We’ve been trying to hold out as long as we can to adjust to the time changes more quickly. More people walk in, and more kids too! Not too many men though. It appears that most of the women have one child and then their husbands leave them and find another girlfriend. Divorce only recently became legal and Adriana is in the process of getting one. I suspect that divorce is still frowned upon so men still just leave. The country is very poor and this may just be one way to escape responsibility and depressing poverty. If so I am not sure how the new divorce laws will still provide support to minor children.
Mark and Esmeralda brief us about cutthroats, thieves, pickpockets and gangsters all over the place. There are primarily just pickpockets and thieves in Bogotá. Pickpockets lack finesse; they just jam their hand into your pocket and rip it out. They “usually” don’t attack a group so you travel in more than pairs but in some areas of the country you can be killed for just being a Gringo (here the term is used by everyone) because they may suspect that you work for the DEA or some other U.S. enforcement agency. Or you may be kidnapped for ransom “but don’t worry, I’ve kept up with the news and we’ve planned your activities well.” Buenas noches! Lunes, 4 Enero
Woke up Mark at 6:45 and power went out on schedule at 7:00. Mark worked on the computer until midnight. “Windows” works great but he has no color monitor and the mystery game needs one so he will save it until he gets one. He would like to have Bob check on the costs of extended memory chips for the computer. The scanner works too but Mark loads and operates before reading manuals and needs to debug some of the system.
Mark is so pro-Colombian that everything is great and exciting. This is the best, most exciting, most fantastic place he has ever lived. I am surprised that he now feels that he didn’t like Germany and that the people were too stiff and didn’t know how to relax like the Spanish and Colombians can. I didn’t point out that when he first got to Germany he would say the same things about Germans as opposed to the Americans. I hope this doesn’t indicate that his ardor could cool here too. I suspect his love for Esmeralda does affect his vision of the country and it’s lifestyle. The minimum earnings are 60,000 pesos ($90) per month and if one makes more than that you say “I make X minimums”. There is a 24%- inflation rate that has been constant and was reflected by the exchange rates we received for traveler’s checks. Miami gave us 588/$ so that we would have some pesos for the first full day (Sunday) we would be there. On Monday the bank gave us 706/s and 714/s the next day. Because of this you don’t want to cash in everything the first day, besides Mark didn’t want us to carry much at any one time.
Desayuno - Agua de panela Plaza de Bolívar
144 (compressed brown sugar stirred into hot water); pernil de cerdo (like a fresh ham) and pan (bread) plus tinto.
We took a taxi to the Plaza de Simon Bolivar. Esmeralda does not like the area and is nervous. It is heavily policed and the Presidential Palace Guards who are in old full dress uniforms at the doors are reinforced by Military Police on the perimeter gates. They carry a mixed bag of weapons; Czech AX- 47s, something like the old British Sten guns and a few M-16s. We walked a few blocks and looked at the government buildings but Esmeralda felt we were drawing too much attention so we left to go to one of the museums. All are closed on Mondays. We started walking north and window shop. It seemed that 70% of the people on the crowded street were wearing business suits or dresses. But there was here was a fair percentage that was in ruanas and rags. We went into Iglesia de San Francisco that has a beautiful gold baroque altar and is very impressive. Mark bought a novena booklet.
Mark stopped at a street vendor who is selling cardamomo (pistachio type shell containing 8 - 10 black seeds about the size of sesame seeds) that tastes like eucalyptus smells to me. Later Liz thinks these are cardamon. No one but Mark likes them. Next he wants us to try mamoncillo (green, plum size fruit with leathery skin) which you bite to break the skin, peel it and pop the pulpy, sweet fruit in your mouth and suck it until you reach the pit. Liz does have two but I gave up on mine. It was a good walk and we stopped at the bullfight arena to get tickets but the next fight will be on the 17th and we will be gone by that time. We grabbed a taxi and headed back.
Almuerzo - chorizo (sausage), patacones (twice deep fried plantains), fríjoles con arroz (red beans with rice), ají, and jugo de mora (blackberry juice). I should point out that we taste every food that is offered. Most work out but some do not but everything listed is at least tasted (except one).
After lunch we looked for poles for the tepee we brought for Danilo (we will look days for them until Liz sees some metal poles in a curtain shop that will work). It would appear that one shops this way, you look a long time to find anything out of the ordinary. We went to La Hacienda de Santa Barbara which is a U.S. type shopping center (Arrow Shirt Store, Gucci etc.) and Mark tells us there is a better mall further north and we tell him that we would rather see the type places where he regularly shops. We did go into the grocery store here though to get some cheddar cheese, sour cream and a flour burrito that we will use to make fajitas that Mark has asked us to prepare for everyone. Mark says that people who shop here and the mall further north just wish to emulate the U.S. By the time we take the taxi back there are police, National Guard, Custom’s Police and Military Police at every major intersection. The scheduled power outage also gets all the traffic lights and all these people are needed to control the traffic.
We have caldo de papas con caldos (potato with toast, like zwieback) soup for supper. After that we played Where in the World, the game that Lydia and Bob sent. Mark went out to get a pint of rum and we gave Esmeralda a first grade photograph of Mark that was on a pendant on a chain. We also gave her a copy of his high school photo. She loved them but Mark couldn’t believe that we still had them, and what was worse, brought them to give to Esmeralda.
Martes, 5 Enero
Desayuno - huevos pericos (scrambles eggs) w/tomato and onion; pan integral (whole wheat bread), galletas (crackers, also cookies), café con leche o perico (coffee with milk)
145 We went to the store across from the Godoy store to look for souvenirs. We order more of the trenza de la abundancia for next week. Then we are off to Foto Japón to get some duplicates of some of Esmeralda’s earlier pictures and then to get some swimsuits that we will need later. The store has a system like that we saw in East Berlin. A clerk waited on me and wrote up my order; he gave me a slip of paper and then walked down a flight of stairs with me to a counter; he put the swim suit in a pigeon hole cupboard which was right next to a woman he could have handed the suit; the woman took the suit out of the pigeon hole and wrapped it; I presented my receipt to another woman who stamped it after I paid for it and then handed it back to me; I then handed it to another woman who checked it and reached into the pigeon hole and handed me my suit - we were all within three feet of each other!
We went out to 72nd Street and hailed a flota (bus). Here buses drive up the street and a ticket taker leans out the door and tells people where the bus is going. There is also a sign in the window that lists a final destination. If you want that bus you wave the bus down or else it will just drive by - and it may anyway. We went to Zipaquirá (85,000 people), which is 35 miles north of Bogotá (the bus fare was about 50¢). It is the site of a salt mine which supposedly could meet the world's needs for 100 years. There is a church built in the mine that is quite famous so we climb the hillside to check it out. By the time we get there we find that it has been recently closed for safety reasons. We then went to an open market in the town for lunch. We had fritanga (assortment of meats rellena (blood sausage), chorizo, pollo (chicken), and costillas de cerdo (pork cutlets) plus plátano and papas criollas which are all placed in a large wok type pan of hot oil to warm them up. Most places give you a half napkin. I always felt that I had grease up to my elbows because you eat a lot of things with your hands.
Esmeralda said she was sorry that things were closed and hoped that we were not disappointed. I said it was not important when you were with family and that was the right thing to say because she laughed and clapped her hands and seemed to relax a bit more after that.
We stopped to get some suntan oil. My head would light up a dark room now. Then we went to a little store around the corner to get some empanada (deep fried meat pies). We'll try to get the recipe for these. You can also buy ½ packs of cigarettes (they contain 10) or you can buy one cigarette at a time.
Miercoles, 6 Enero
Desayuno - roscones (doughnut rings filled with arequipe, a caramel confection made by reducing sweetened condensed milk); calado (crackers) and changua (milk based soup with an egg poached in it along with onion).
146 Today we are off to Chinauta, which is south of Bogotá where some people maintain homes away from the city. We are visiting friends of the Godoys. Because we are going south we will go to the bus terminal. It is about as big as New York's Grand Central Station because everyone goes by bus in this country (I did see one set of railroad tracks but I never saw a train). I was rubbernecking and saw a sign to Pensilvania and we got separated. Liz was a little anxious but we returned to where we last saw Mark and he found us. We had assigned seats and the bus left on time. People on the corners all wearing T-shirts with U.S. logos, Bart Simpson, Mickey Mouse, or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on them (we never found any "Colombian" T-shirts to take back).
The drive was lovely! We drove "off the mountain" which is the phrase used when you leave the plateau. The drive took us through a Silvania, which had fantastic trees and flowers. We overlooked mountain paths and deep valleys. There were basket and pottery stalls along the way and it would have been fun to check them out. The bus even showed a video (An old American movie "The Brave One" with Spanish subtitles. After one and one half hours we stopped at a dirt road that made a "T" with the main road. It was clear and hot and we started walking down the road. The friends of the family were walking towards us and when we met we exchange greetings and walked another two blocks to an elegant home with lovely grounds and a swimming pool. I took pictures of the back yard and the fruit trees (mango, guanabana, limes and mamoncillo).
For lunch we had sudado (sweated one, stew) consisting of mazorca blanca (white corn on the cob), yuca, papas, and carne de res. It included a salad and a fresh tropical fruit cocktail and it made an excellent meal. Later we swam in the pool (Esmeralda doesn't swim) and we started to teach her a few strokes. Then the locals took the Gringo pigeons to the cleaners playing Parcheesi (they took us for about a dollar fifty for the whole afternoon). A very hard rain knocked out power (or it was the 5:00 PM scheduled outage) and the game broke down. We were given a ride back to the road and Mark flagged down a flota. This time the bus was full and we had to stand all the way back to Bogotá. When we got back the streets were often full of water as the rain came down too fast and the sewers couldn't handle it. Cars tried to go too fast and stalled out. Earlier we had seen how people sometimes steal the manhole covers to sell them. The streets often have taxi car size, six-inch holes that have been dug in preparation for patchwork street repairs. I don't know how people avoided these places in the deep water.
The bus station was a disaster. Lines of people waited for taxis. Our line was over 100 meters long and it took over an hour to work though the queue to get a taxi. We had to take two taxis for the group. Ours had a window partially rolled down to prevent fogging up the windshield. We got splashed when a cement truck drove by us. Edilma's taxi didn't have a windshield and she got soaked. We got back to
147 the house at 11:30 and crashed. Esme said, "Leave the bed unmade tomorrow, we are going to spray for fleas." Great! We never actually saw or felt a flea but they must be a problem or they wouldn't have mentioned them.
Jueves, 7 Enero
Desayuno: We have tinto, huevo tibio (soft boiled egg) y pan (bread).
Esmeralda got sunburned yesterday. She is light and got burned worse than I did. Liz brought along Neosporin, which we have used. Esmeralda has a favorite soap opera, which she watches religiously, and she does that while Liz is getting the fajitas ready for almuerzo. The color is broken on the set so I de-tuned it so that it will seem like black and white instead of distorted colors (big help, they like the distorted colors because the set was back to that a few days later). The fajitas seemed to be a big hit with everyone (Esmeralda doesn't like cheese, raw onions or sour cream) and those who were at the store later said they liked them too.
Esmeralda took Liz to the beauty shop for a manicure and a hair cut (less than $5.00) while Mark took me to the post office to get real stamps (instead of just franking) for the postcards we had written. Each of 20 postcards took three 80-peso stamps and we waited as the clerk individually moistened each stamp and affixed them to the postcards for us. Then he directed us to the mailbox where we deposited them (Lydia's postcard arrived on 19 January). We took a city bus (you still have to flag them down too) for 100 pesos (14¢).When we all got back Esme gave me a Merengue dance lesson so I would be able to dance at least a little on Saturday night. Mark has all the dance moves down pat – he dances well and looks good dancing with Esmeralda.
We had chicken soup and bread for supper and then Don Noé wanted to listen to the Country and Western tapes we had sent. He loves our country music and wants us to videotape the White Horse Café dance tapes and send them to him. The girls all do a line dance so I'm sure they can easily master one of ours. We play Skip-Bo, Mark's favorite card game, which we brought down with us. We had given him a game in Germany and the guys in the dorm loved it so much he left it there so he was glad to get another. It is a good game.
Viernes, 8 Enero
Desayuno: - huevos con maíz (scrambled eggs and corn) y pan y tinto.
Edilma and the four of us went shopping. Liz had seen the tepee pole candidates so we were going to check them out. We found the poles but had to take them to another store to have them drill the holes we needed to tie the tepee to them. Nothing is easy. Edilma needed to go to the market to get banana leaves, which will be used to make tamales for Saturday. We also went to visit several fabric stores for cloth to take home and to get some elastic to make a pre-tied necktie for Esmeralda. Mark bought a cábano (like a Slim Jim sausage) for us to try. It was spicy and good. The market has fascinating fruit and vegetables that I have never seen before. We also found wicker stalls and checked them out. The meat and poultry stores looked pretty ragged and the meat seemed to air dry and I'm sure there was no way to keep the flies off if it.
148 Noé, Edilma, Mark, Danilo and us went to Sasón Chocoano for lunch. It is a seafood restaurant and Esmeralda can't stand seafood so she stayed home and made lunch for the store. We had cazuela de mariscos (fish stew with shrimp, octopus, scallops, mussels and fish) with rice. It was delicious! And the restaurant was packed!
We got back from lunch and set up Danilo's tepee. He got dressed in the Indian costume Liz had made for Geoffrey that no longer fit him and it fit Danilo just fine. Elvia (the maid) came down with an iron that wouldn’t work. I took it apart and fixed it and thereby established a reputation of being a wizard. I later fixed loose handles on the shower, a loose faucet on the downstairs sink and a broken light. They only have Mark's pliers and small screwdriver so they don't fix much by themselves.
I took a nap in preparation for our evening at the place where Mark met Esmeralda. Supposedly we will be out until 2:00 AM. We are to leave at 10:00 but the mañana concept takes place and the women don't start putting on their make-up until right before 10:00 PM. This isn't just set on the women. Any time for an appointment should add from ½ to 1½ hours. Mark gets frustrated and says one of these days he will set a time limit for something... and then give them one half hour longer… and leave without them. He really sounded tough then, boy! Edilma, Adriana, Mark, Esmeralda, Liz and I then took two taxis to the club. One taxi driver charged 1,000 pesos and the other charged 700. There was an argument because they didn't charge the same to the same distance (Mark says they never do) and threats were made to call the police and the driver then left with the 700 pesos (97¢) that Edilma offered.
The Tienda de Guasca had an open-air veranda with eight or so tables. Then you enter the front room, which looks like the scene from a 1940 movie showing a Mexican canteen. There were ten raw lumber tables with bottle candleholders dripping with wax. Square top stools (8 X 8 inch tops) and corner benches covered with burlap. Towards the bottom of the wall you could see that the walls had been once green and had been written on but they were now an adobe color. Between this room and the next was an alcove which held a CD player which only accepted U.S. dollars (you could buy them from the bartender). The next room contained the bar and had room for 20 to 25 tables. You must buy a bottle of whiskey (rum for our table) and then you can have anything else you may wish (I drank beer). We listened to the very, very loud music (you have to compete with other open air places in the block) while people beat on tables, stamped their feet and sang to the folk songs. We stayed until the fifth gave out and then walked two blocks east to a more major road and hailed two taxis. We were back in the house by 1:05 AM - whew!
Sabado 9 Enero
The mosquitoes found me at the club last night. They clobbered our legs right above the ankles.
Desayuno: tinto, chocolate, queso y tostados.
Off to the market to take pictures and to go on to a shopping district (Chapinero) to find a hat before tomorrow's bull fight. We walked about ten blocks before Mark checked with someone who then advised us that we were one block over and ten blocks too far south. We walked back and found the places we were looking for. Found a straw hat (2,800/$3.89) for me, and a basket purse which easily filled Liz's love for baskets from all over and she can easily carry it on the plane. We also got a purse for Lindsay, some little wooden spoons and a pottery bowl we can use for ají. We showed our treasures when we got back. Mark does know how to dicker and everyone felt we did well.
149 Edilma and her sister Carmine were out in the kitchen making tamales and Liz joined them. These are different than the Mexican variety we know. Primarily rice with achote spice for color and topped with pork, chicken, onion, carrot, a slice of hard boiled egg and finally wrapped with four banana leaves into a tight, softball sized globe that will later be steamed in a large pot. We will be over 50 people tonight for the fiesta.
Almuerzo - sopa de menudencias (I call it chicken foot soup). It is chicken soup with stomach, heart, liver, leg bones, neck, potato, carrots, green beans and, in the center, a chicken foot. This dish didn't make it! The soup was good but Liz told Mark she was sorry but that she just wasn't going to eat the foot. She looked at it hard but just couldn't do it. I did try one toe and it was just gristle as far as I could tell. Mark did eat the other two toes for me - what a sport! He must have a gizzard himself.
We took another dance lesson from Esmeralda after the tamales were done. After that Liz went upstairs to shower while Mark and I sneeked out of the house to taxi to a flower stall. I got a dozen red roses with baby’s breath for the surprise tonight. When Liz came down we were playing Skip-Bo and she joined us. Tio Jose came in and gave each of us a key chain (India Catalina - the Colombian Oscar - which I put on my pocket watch) and another of a parrot drawing in Lucite. Then he and Mark go out to get a few beers for Liz and I tonight. People are starting to arrive and Mark tells me to take Liz upstairs so she doesn't see the preparations as everything will begin in 10 minutes. After a few minutes Liz asks what we are stalling for upstairs. We are up there an hour and it would be impossible to keep any secret so I tell her that they just want us out of the way while they get ready for the fiesta.
Mark came upstairs grinning and said, "What are you two doing upstairs?" He is so proud of himself. When we went downstairs all the chairs were lined along the wall and will filled with great Grandmother, uncles, aunts and all the cousins. Liz is shown to a chair of honor and the lights went out. Guitar music starts playing, the lights are turned on, a four-instrument guitar ensemble is singing. I present the roses to Liz and the Serenata begins. Liz is crying, Mark is beaming, Esmeralda is happy and the rest are all clapping. The serenata lasts over an hour (usually they play five songs according to Mark)'. There is a break while the tamales are served. They are delicious and huge and one is enough for each person. The players sing a few more songs (Edilma taped the evening for us so we have it on tape) and then the records are played so people can dance.
Talk about loud! More energy displayed here than we have seen all week. They do know how to party. Liz and I do a little bit of the Merengue to show off Esmeralda's instructions and then they play Nana Mouskouri's, Whenever I See Your Face and we do a slow dance. We talked, laughed and danced until 1:05 AM. Some of the folks, with little babies, left around 12:30 so we thought we were about finished (and actually we were). We crashed immediately but woke up a few minutes later. The music was so loud you could feel it through the bed. We drifted off to sleep and at 2:00 AM there are a series of whistles (like those used to hail a taxi) and we are awake again. Back up at 3:00 AM and we're told Don Noé chased everyone out at 3:20. What a party!
Domingo, 10 Enero
We got up around 7:45 AM. Edilma came down a few minutes later and made tinto. Mark struggled with the clock at 9:30 AM. There were more than a few severely wounded so the morning ran slow. Liz finished a hand towel cross-stitch that she was doing for Esmeralda.
150 At noon we head north by flota to Cajicá. We are going to the Becerrada – a little bullfight. This is a small, local operation as opposed to the professional bullfights downtown (a Colombian is currently the world champion bullfighter). Ours is more like a semi-pro operation. We go into the grounds and find a place to sit and talk. We order beer and some people have brought botas which we fill with apple wine. We order ternera a la llanera (veal from the plains) that must have been a little long in the tooth because it fulfills everyone's need for gnawing.
The matador (no bulls will be killed in this event) is a bit long in the tooth too. You can see a three-inch seam let-out in his trousers, which, along with the jacket of lights, has been sun bleached and worn. The bulls are about 1500 lbs. as opposed to the 2,500-pound bulls at the professional fights. It is fun to watch and there are some exciting passes. Often the most exciting part is getting the bull out of the ring to get ready for the next event. After the fourth bull finishes the local drunks jump in the ring to test their bravery. The bulls are big, the locals are not as brave as they thought and, though it is comical, I thought someone would get hurt. Fortunately no one did. After the fights were over we had a helado - a cone of vanilla and raspberry ice cream with a wafer and topped with lemon syrup and strawberry syrup. It was very good. By now there are drunks everywhere and Noé decides it is time to leave. We head back by flota and have to wait for several to pass by before we can find one that we can board. We have to stand for the 35-minute ride back to Bogotá.
We had arepas con queso (with cheese) and café (tinto with milk). Liz worked on a bread cover cross- stitch for a while and then “Casino Godoy" opened. Noé' and a friend, Fernando, played chess; Edilmita and six cousins played Where in the World; while we played "Reto" (Colombian Trivial Pursuit) with Mark and Esmeralda (Mark translated) for. We did all right on the international questions but the history and sports were primarily Colombian and a disaster for us.
Lunes, 11 Enero
Edilma rushes out to meet the trash truck. They do pick up at the house but garbage collects in the common areas. Basurero (professional rag pickers) go through piles of rubble to see if they can find anything of value they can sell. Mark says the River in Bogotá is the most polluted in the world and I believe him.
Light breakfast - tinto, huevos y pan. Today we are taking Noé, Edilma and the party that met us at the airport to dinner. We are going to Tramonti (The Frommers’ Guide says, "Bogotá's most spectacular restaurant, located a mile above the city...named for the mountains of Italy").
151 Eight of us walk three blocks to get a collectivo (van taxi) Four others will join us by taxi after the shop closes at noon (today is a holiday). When everyone arrived I talked a waiter into taking a couple of pictures and then we ordered.
The restaurant was very elegant. We had cocktails as well as wine with dinner. Mark ordered a dozen oysters on the half shell and Liz and I shared a dish of garlic mushrooms. Both of these dishes made Esmeralda literally turn green. We had ordered a plate of melon and prosciutto with bread sticks for her appetizer and she didn't like that either. Her dinner was a steak (which she loves) but it arrived with mushroom gravy on it and she doesn't like that so she traded with Liz who had ordered the Chateaubriand. The béarnaise sauce had not yet been added so Esme ate that. I had rabbit and Mark had a huge lobster (which also made Esmeralda turn green) and he provided little samples to Eugenia (Adolfo' girlfriend), Edilma and Noé. We had dessert (they had a fantastic flan), coffee and amaretto. The waiters brought silverware depending on your order and the place settings intimidated some of them but Mark just told them to work from the outside to the inside and not to worry about it. We were able to have a spectacular afternoon for twelve for less than $450.
We returned for a quiet evening. Ha! Casino Godoy opened: We played Skip-Bo with Mark and Esme; Noé, Edilma and two cousins played Parcheesi; Edilmita, Adriana, Tio Jose and two others played Reto. There were children all over the place playing in Danilo's tepee and the noise level was up. Everyone shared Mark's wine and Liz's cigarettes. At nine the visiting horde left and peace reigned. Don Noé agrees that if he moved a few blocks north he would cut out all the visits. Noé joins us in Skip-Bo and won. He gets hooked fast but is so excited and expressive that he should not take up poker playing for a living. Martes, 12 Enero
The holiday is over - power turned off at 7:03 AM and everyone is up to get ready for work. We will be going to Melgar, a tourist town in the Department (state) of Tolima, where Edilma is from. It is three hours "off the mountain" to the south. We will leave a little late in the afternoon to avoid the heat of the jungle all at one shot.
Almuerzo - cocido (vegetable stew) - habas (huge lima beans), chugua (bean with a beet texture), cubio (white and purple root), arbeja (peas), with carne (beef), papas, yuca, mazorca y arroz. This was followed by curuba jugo (like and orange/peach juice but thicker. Then we were off to the bus terminal, which we cleared at 5:00 PM, along with a row of drunks in the back of the bus who throw bottles out of the windows.
Melgar is hot and humid. The plaza is full of stalls selling to the tourists. We catch two taxis to the villa where we will stay. It is very nice but has been closed up so it is truly hot. We open windows and turn
152 on the ceiling fans. Esmeralda, Adriana and Danilo are in one room and they keep their room closed to control the insects but then have to suffer the heat. Mark, Liz and I are in another room and we brought along insect repellent. That plus the fans also help to keep off the insects.
We had sobre barriga (skirt steak) with cerveza (beer) for supper. Later we all jumped in the shower to cool down (one control just provides water - no hot, no cold). We brought sheets and towels but didn't know we needed soap and toilet paper too. Adriana brought paper and we got soap the next morning. We played one game of Skip-Bo and then died. Miercoles, 13 Enero
07:35 AM - jungle birds calling, chickens crowing, fans off (the power is off). This could be a step back to Da Nang in 1967 except that we are in a suite and have real beds! It is very muggy already!
Went out for desayuno. We had steak, fries, coke, tinto, lettuce, onion, and tomato. Then shopped for soap and souvenirs. Found a toy teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figure between two sticks that jumps when you squeeze the bottom of an a-frame; a toy hammock for Lindsay; wind chimes for the backyard; place mats, chiva (open bus), rope sandals and maracas. Back to the villa and the pool before the day gets hot.
We played in the pool from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM and then went back into the hot house for a few games of cards. Then we were off to lunch and a great bean soup. The butcher shops are a lesson in lost sanitation principles. The meat hanging on the hooks are of multiple colors, to include yellow-green. Back to the pool! After another hour we are tired so we go into the house to play some cards and drink beer. The power goes off at 5:00 PM, the flies become very bold and we all rush back to the pool until the power comes back on at 7:30 PM. Then we go out to supper at the place we had breakfast. Mark and Esme shared a large steak and fries; Adriana took Danilo back as he fell asleep at the table. I only managed to stay awake because I figured my head would fall further when it hit the table. Liz had a bowl of soup. A monsoon hit and we had to take a taxi back.
Jueves, 14 Enero
The pollo despertador (chicken alarm clock) started crowing at 4:30 AM. The power had failed at 02:30 AM so the rooms were hot already. Everyone wants to leave early to get back to Bogotá.
We left at 8:10 AM and walked 15 blocks to the plaza where the buses stop. The next bus leaves at 9:00 AM so we get tickets and went to a restaurant across the street. Liz and I had tinto and the rest had tamales. Despite the bus driver’s assurances and protestations, there are no seats
153 on the bus, only places on the bus - they want us to stand for the three-hour drive through the mountains! We got our money back and got into another bus line - and seats! We get back at 12:30 PM. Esmeralda was cold when we hit the plateau and put on a sweater. We are very comfortable and enjoy the cool. Edilma fixes lunch consisting of lengua (tongue), ensalade (salad), yuca and arroz.
The vacation is almost over and we have a lot of things left to do. Edilmita has been working on getting me a gold wedding band (to replace the one stolen last year) and some emerald earrings for Lydia. We also picked up our trinkets at the basket store that we had ordered last week. We "pre-pack" the "gift" suitcase to see how we are doing. We will put all the breakable items in the two carry-on bags and stuff one suitcase into another so we will have only two bags to check.
Viernes, 15 Enero
We are up early again (4:30 AM), I am sure this will all catch up with me later. Today my mother will be taking Mark, Esmeralda, Liz and I out for cocktails and snacks (she sent me money to treat all of them). We also need 95,000 pesos for the ring and earrings if we decide to buy them. We do, the jewelry is beautiful. This is also self-indulgence day - we get a manicure and I get a haircut and beard trim for $6.75.
Almuerzo is arroz atollado (mixed up rice) with chicken, beef, red peppers, chorizo, peas and carrots. This is a repeat of the great chorizo we had days earlier. The day starts to go downhill for a while.
The banks computers are down and they don't know how to cash travelers checks off-line. We taxi off to a real ratty section of town (you could smell the clutch of our beat-up cab) to a recommended bank but they couldn't help us either. I remember that the Hilton (now the Orchide Real) was mentioned in the Frommers and cashed travelers checks so we took a taxi there (it was right across from the first bank). They could cash the checks (at a hotel-favorable rate) but not for an hour so we went upstairs for a cocktail. We did get the money and our purchases were secured so we could relax and go on to our original destination.
The Frommers had said the view from the lounge of the Tequendama Hotel was quite spectacular and worth the view. Unfortunately the restaurant and lounge is open only at lunch. We talked to the desk clerk and he said we could go up to the 17th floor to take a picture but the express elevator was already locked. After a bit of discussion and looking our way the security chief for the hotel came over and invited us up. Sensing that the photo shots through the hotel section side window wasn't that great, he took up back stairs and doors to the roof where I shot off the last of the seven rolls of film that I brought.
We had cocktails and snacks while discussing the Museo del Oro we had visited. We had never seen so much gold in any one place before in our lives. The museum was fantastic and will be a must on a return visit. After drinks in a cozy lounge of the Tequendama we went to Omas y Libros again to get some coffee candies and matchboxes and then back to the house. Tomorrow will be a long day.
154 Sabado 16, Enero
Woke up early and took showers at 5:30 AM so we wouldn't interfere with the 6:00 shower schedule of Adriana. Then too Liz would be able to dry her hair and use the curling iron before the power went off at 7:00 AM. Wrong! Just as she plugged in the curling iron the power went off at 6:00 AM today. We lit candles to see and Edilma brought up tinto and we finish packing bags. We went out to the corner and caught two taxis for our last Bogotá Taxi Scare. The driver was up to it! Four or five vehicles raced down the road side-by-side and only inches apart. There were huge holes, missing manhole covers and other vehicles, which entered our path. It is like watching geese in flight. When one veered just a little they all moved in unison. Amazing, but we never did see an accident in the 14 days. There were a lot of beat up cars and two close calls but no accidents. Considering that red lights are only a guide to slow down a fraction and then race through them, we were lucky.
The morning had been full of tears already and after check-in we had tinto and more tears and hugs. We will miss Mark, Esmeralda and everyone else!
We had to be at the airport three hours before the flight and there were reasons. Checkpoints: 1. An interview about who packed bags; 2. Bag x-ray; 3. Process ticket that is flagged with today’s color sticker as is the passport, which is flagged with another. We also have to pay $17.00 each for airport tax (I suppose to pay for all the security checks); 4- immigration check at the international gate; 5. Passport check by computer; 6. Ticket check at gate waiting room; 7- individual hand-carry luggage search and body pat down; 8. Ticket turn-in at gate; 9. Another inspector looks at passport before you walk down the ramp. Then they let us on the plane and we could think about our visit.
Mark would like to marry Esmeralda next December. Edilma would like them to marry in five years and Noé' says it doesn't have to be that long. Considering the mañana factor, I suspect it will be a year from next July at least. Mark will continue teaching English and math at the Abraham Lincoln School and would like to buy a house, with adjoining apartment, for all of them. He would like to live three years in Colombia, then three years in the U.S and alternate between the two countries.
The flight back to Miami was just great! We had three hours to process at customs and immigration. It took half an hour so we had plenty of time to relax and call Monterey and Madison. We boarded the next plane and then got held up for 14 people who had been delayed on other connecting flights! We would have 29 minutes between planes in Dallas and we were held 50 minutes so there was no way we could make it! We mentioned this to our crew but this leg must have had rejected Pan American stewardesses on board because they lacked either information or concern. Sure enough, we get to Gate 22 in Dallas and ran to Gate 33 to find our plane was gone. They put us on a cart and race to Gate 12 to catch a plane for San Francisco. We called Lydia from the air to tell her of the mix-up and she and a tired Geoffrey met us at 11:50 PM. Geoffrey insisted he come to meet us but he was one tired puppy - so were we!
What an adventure!
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