Mother's Day in Colombia

Wish I had the pictures, but my camera didn't accompany me today. But we made our own day and it was delightful.   My friend Rosalba and I had a Mother's Day spree, taking ourselves out.  She is a delight -- always a smile, always good cheer, but not a Polyana, just out to enjoy life. She is a good influence. 

We started out at a local hotel -- five star -- that offers a free Sunday of cultural activities every Sunday -- generally kicking off with mass (very Catholic Colombia) an artisan fair,  a musical performane of some kind, and jugglers, clowns and more for the kids (and the adults, too).  It was an unusual day in Bogota -- no rain, which got things off to a really good start. So an outdoor mass was very appropriate. I even sat in on it -- as a good non-Catholic, nice Jewish girl, but it went with the territory and it felt right.

Then wandering around the artisan fair, got myself a pair earrings -- dangling ones which I can now wear again...A glass of wine in the hotel restaurant where we had intended to stay for lunch, but the service was terrible, thank goodness, because we left and went to Usaquen for a totally different experience.

Katmandu -- a little bit of India/Nepal/China/Marrakesh/Iran tucked away in one of Bogota's oldest colonial neighborhoods. Walk into the restaurant and you are walking into a different world. The sounds, the scents, the lighting, the ambiance, the way the tables are arranged and the dancers and musicians. A belly dancer and a drummer from Cordoba (Colombia) who accompanies her, but dressed for the part, looked more like I could have found him on the streets of anywhere but here. He played the darkuba, the drum used for bellydancing, like he was born to it. He wore the robes, the head gear, the earrings like a second skin. And they played to each other as she danced and he played.  Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, the food was great, too! 

Icing on the cake -- not just the dessert -- but they had gifts for all the mothers. Before we opened our  bags, we imagined they had given the moms chocolates. But it was even better -- two bars of scented soaps from Indonesia.  Yes, if I forgot to mention earlier, Mother's Day is a very big deal here. On every street corner, there was someone selling roses.  Wherever I went in the days leading up to My Day/Our Day, everyone wished him a happy mother's Day.  I am not going to make snide remarks here, but just take it at face value. It was nice.

P.S.  There is some hope for the pics, if Rosalba downloads them and sends them to me. And I will post them because we both look like real mamacitas. And that I do want to shre.