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1994
Colombia - South America
Bec2004-09-20 16:13:48
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Cúcuta
Coming from Mérida I entered Colombia at Cúcuta, the place where Simon Bolivar was named President of Gran Colombia by a constituent congress in 1821 in recognition for having defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Boyacá in 1819.
Now, Cúcuta is a rough border town where it is not advisable to linger. I don't know if the town's bad reputation was justified or not for I took a bus to Bucaramanga directly after going through the border formalities.
Bucaramanga
I did not stay long in Bucaramanga but I really loved that place. As I was taking a random tour on a city bus, a young school girl came up to me, looked me in the eye, said "Estan bonitos los ojos" and returned to her seat with her friends. I was immensely flattered of course and decided that Bucaramanga was a fine place...
Bogotá
In Bogotá I stayed with the Bernal family, friends of my Colombian friend Carlos in Montreal. It was a lovely experience to see how these happy people enjoyed life and made jokes all day in spite of the violence that surrounded them.
Here is my silhouette in front of the Cathedral on Plaza Bolivar in the center of the old city. Bogotá is a is fascinating but dangerous city with a population over 6 million. The center and the modern north-east are relatively safe, at least during the daytime, but most of its suburbs are best avoided if you don't live there.
And here is the silhouette of my friend Irma Bernal in front of the City Hall also on Plaza Bolivar. Bogotá is in the mountains at an altitude of 2600 meters so it gets cold at night even in their southern hemisphere summer (which is our winter of course).
I was lucky in Bogota for Irma took time off to show me the old city, its plazas, churches and numerous museums, some of which are quite remarkable, particularly the Gold Museum.
...
See photographs from:
Colombia Gallery
