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.

Theater, Tango, Flamenco, Film … What a weekend

This was my high culture weekend in Bogota it seems. Didn’t know it would be quite that chockfull of highbrow activity for me. But if I ever had any doubts about the sophistication of Bogota or just how much is there for the taking – sometimes for free, sometimes not, this weekend dispelled my doubts.

First, the movies. There is a wonderful cinema arts house in the neighborhood I call home, Cinemania. All the movies shown there are quality – more than entertainment, but generally movies with some kind of message as well. I stopped off early Friday on the spur of the moment to see Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo,” which I delayed seeing because I mistakenly thought it wouldn’t hold me. What a delight and Ben Kingsley was amazing.  It was a tale of a boy, a girl, a clock tower, a police offer, and an elderly man who owned a toy store in the train station.

That was just the start. On Friday, the Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro in Bogota kicked off. It is a two-week theater extravaganza with dance, musicals, theater .. for a price and some offerings for free to the public as well.  On Saturday, despite the (now usual) Bogota downpour, I went to see my first festival play, “Alto” or “High” from Venezuela. I got drenched on the way over and watched the play with a dripping umbrella at my feet, wet pants, wet sweater (sleeves). But it was worth it. The play was about a priest, a nun and a drug addict and their respective addictions and past (all is not as it seems to be) But the acting was amazing. The addict disrobed on stage (totally) … which I guess is why the play, which was originally to be presented in a church theater, had to be moved to a different location. No matter. The actor who played the addict had a very cute butt..

Tango, the next day at a free performance at the Fontana Hotel, part of their regular Sunday afternoon gig.  They were not professionals, just older folks like me with a passion for salon and classical tango.  They were delightful to watch; a real pleasure. Ran into a friend there..Luis Carlos Pena and we had lunch together. But he has the cell phone addiction. He is too frugal to have a smart phone, but he kept checking for messages and texts on his phone every five minutes or more.  I wanted to grab the phone out of his hands and throw it away..It is so annoying..people are so concerned about missing something from someone they don’t see, that they just forget about the people right in front of them. 

But not to dwell on that…still was nice to catch up with him.

Then on to Cayetana and the passion of flamenco. I do not have words to describe how absolutely amazing that performance was. The singers, the musicians, and the dancers..oh, the dancers.  Cecelia Gomez and Antonio Canales, the lead dancers were just too good to be true. So much passion and sensuality in that dance. Gomez is also the company director. How do they move their feet so quickly. How do they convey so much with a flick of the head or a twist of the wrist?  The applause lasted forever and we did get an encore…twice..Did not want it to end..Ever!  A fantastic Sunday afternoon – a rare instance of urban pleasure in the urban jungle … truly… that is Bogota.