what I think

it is funny-  when you travel you never know what you are going to get- and sometimes the places you expect the most of deliver the least... as I think I said in a Bolivia post- I actually had always wanted to see Bolivia but wasn't all that fired up about Colombia. Pretty much I went to get to Bolivia.

but Colombia had a diversity of sights that made it a much better trip than I expected, as I mentioned- the musuems of Bogota (espcially the GOLD Museum- which is world class) were super...Bogota itself - was a surprise in a good way- I would definitely put it on the list to visit again- maybe bring Phil- lots ot see and do and good food as well - a world class capital city...

but as we traveled along the Caribbean coast I was struck by the desire to be in Cuba rather than here.  In Colombia there are many poor people living in the coastal areas (no need to really have houses or pay for heat etc...) and honestly much of the area is a pigsty of garbage- in Cuba (along the coast outside of Havana - as we traveled to Cienfuegos and Trinidad) they also were poor people with little to call their own but they did not have yards full of garbage- there was pride in the places they lived no matter how humble that I didn't see in Colombia. 

I wondered if it had something to do with the vast spread of wealth that Colombia has (which Cuba has less of but for a very small minority of "connected" people) - in Cartagena for instance in the Miami Beach style neighborhood of Bocagrande people lived in luxury high rises for costs virtually unimaginable to the bulk of our "relatively" wealthy American group.  I don't exactly know but I can say I wondered why people who were unemployed couldn't be bothered to take some of that time they had on their hands to clean up their yards and pick up trash along the roads...

I said to our Texas couple "where is Ladybird Johnson when you need her?"  This is learned behavior- when I was young we had roads with litter strewn along the sides but then Ladybird had a big public campaign to Beautify American and stop littering.  And I thought of Rudi Giuliani who started his clean up of NYC with graffiti busters.  Colombia is emerging from dark times and I wish it success in developing tourism and my first two suggestions - are clean up the trash and make the walled city taxi free... everyone gets their two cents - that is mine...

now some final photos that I liked but that didn't fit into the narrative along the way-

the bird lived in the back courtyard of the Bantu, the coverlet is from the bed there and the courtyard in the evening light is the middle courtyard of the Bantu. and finally I just like the lines and colors of the closeup view of an old town home...

and because it was my number one choice of memories to take home- a few more photos from the amazing Gold Musuem:

so that is the story of Bolivia and Colombia- up next - a week of theater, food and fun with friends...then off to see friends in Copenhagen and on to Helsinki and Stockholm after that...so as I always say- Watch This Space...Coming Soon....LOL

Safe Travels everybody!