The impressionist landscape that looks like what Pissarro would have painted is a three-hour drive away from Bogotá. It is one of the most intact colonial villages of Colombia. Villa de Leyva a dramatic setting lying on the edge of a mountain range. The hilly lush landscape of rich greens, red roofs and bright blue […]
English Bulldog Kira apparently they are good at skateboarding and surfing?! The other day I went to a friend’s wife’s parent’s country house. It’s very popular to have country houses among those Bogotáns who can afford it, because they hate Bogotá so much.. The one I went to was more like a palace though.. After […]
A typical address marking in Bogotá The streets in Bogotá are governed by numbers. Just numbers. You don’t have any names at all (well, apart from a few in the old town area – check my previous post). To some, this is godsend, to others, like me, this is a nightmare. For those who like numbers, […]
Went straight for arepas the other day after a blasting night at Armando Records.La Areperia Venezolana is where everyone goes after a night out on Calle 85 (‘Street 85’, yes, very imaginative). It was the London experience relived – to have the hang-over cure of a kebab on the way home from the club in […]
The reason for writing about arepa is that it embodies quintessentially what Colombian cuisine represents – filling, comforting and warming. Arepa is so commonly eaten in Colombia that its status can be compared to that of toasts in the UK! Arepa is consumed as breakfast, a snack, lunch and dinner. Put it simply it’s a […]
Coriander from wikipedia Coriander from Bogotá The other day I wanted to make Mexican so I went to the supermarket for some ‘cilantro’ (coriander), as they call it here.. It’s quite a commonly-used herbs so I didn’t expect any difficulty in my search. To my surprise, after spending five minutes in the fresh herbs section […]
Armando Record is the talk-of-town at the moment! The killer combination of a relaxed joint, constant reliable supply of good music and a happy crowd is sucking up all the party-goers in town! The interior: Cool tones, retro, geometrical shapes, idiosyncratic (or simply strange?) The crowd: Think arty-farty; moustached customers and DJs The music: Latino, indie, lounge, techno Random […]
I have found my 糉（Zong, or 粽 in simplified Chinese..) in Colombia! But, rather than sticky rice, salty egg yolk, fatty pork and mung beans wrapped in bamboo leaves, a tamal is cornmeal, carrots, boiled egg and chicken in banana leaves. It’s not really the same but it’s the closest that the country would ever come […]
In this photo, you see the poor old man with 3 yellowpages/directories.. So why the hell would he need so many of them? ‘Why did the directory man give you 3 phonebooks?’ ‘Because we have 3 telephones.’ So, yes, it appears that in this country, phone directories are given out based on the number of […]
Mandolin on a chair, 1957 Of course.. How can a blog about Colombia exist without mentioning Botero?! He’s the hero of the country because he’s pretty much the only Colombian artist that is known internationally. But his style didn’t exactly make contribution to the stylistic development the history of art.. His paintings don’t even have […]
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