Flower Parade

We weren't quite ready to leave Bogota's beautiful weather, but we packed up and headed to the airport this morning for the half hour flight to Medellin. In the local dialect, it's pronounced "Med-aye-jean." No wonder it's so difficult to understand what people are saying here!

The airport is actually some distance from the city, and on the way in our tour leader directed the driver to take a detour to the village of Santa Elena. There we visited "Nacho," an interesting man with excellent English and a passion for gardening, flowers, and history.

Nacho demonstrated for us the "silla" or chair that local people used to carry heavy loads on their backs. Sometimes that load was actually another person, sitting in a chair. More often, it was carrying produce from the mountains into the market. The produce of Santa Elena was primarily flowers. Second only to the Netherlands, Colombia exports more flowers than any country in the world.

To celebrate this heritage, Santa Elena holds an annual festival in which local families create large flower displays and carry them through the town along a two mile long parade route. (Think the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, but entirely on foot!) Nacho's family has won prizes for best display over many years, all with flowers grown in his own garden.

After a demonstration of the silla and a garden tour, we were invited into the house for a refreshing glass of lulo juice (see yesterday's post), and an opportunity to view a video of a few minutes of the parade. Then we were on our way.

The area around Medellin is much more mountainous than we experience around Bogota. This rural area is also significantly less prosperous -- not as poor as Bolivia, but definitely not like the urban area.

The bus took us directly to the center city of Medellin. There is a very different "vibe" in this city than in Bogota. Bogota was sophisticated, relaxed, and businesslike. Medellin is a circus. The downtown pedestrian mall was crowded with vendors, street performers, people shouting through bullhorns. It's a loud and boisterous place.

The people on the streets were not dressed professionally, as in Bogota, but very casually. There is a working class feel, as if this is more of a gritty, industrial city. Also, people here have more indigenous features and body builds. We were told that there are also a great many refugees from Venezuela here, with not a few of them homeless and living on the streets.

We had a traditional farm lunch of beans and rice, but unlike Mexican fare, the beans were kidney beans. Shredded beef, sausages, pork rinds, and a fried egg topped the dish. There was no salsa or other spices, so it was much more bland than we expected.

Back on the crowded streets, we made our way to the state museum where we viewed paintings and sculptures by Fernando Botero. Botero is an internationally-known native of Medellin, now in his 90s, with a unique and distinctive style.

Botero has donated many works to this museum with the stipulation that he has final say in how they are displayed, and that they can never be sold or moved. Some of his display decisions are controversial, such as placing his portrait of Christ next to that of the late Medellin Cartel drug lord, Pablo Escobar. Or, his placement of the Virgin Mary next to a portrait of a prostitute. Both women have almost identical facial features. Unfortunately, photos were not permitted in the museum, but I've added an internet download of just one of the many paintings we saw.

There are a number of Botero sculptures in bronze on display in the square outside the museum, but when we finished our tour, a thundershower had driven most people to take shelter. One family who took shelter in the lobby of the museum had a toddler, a little girl barely able to walk. We noted that her body matched those of Botero's images, with short, chubby legs and tiny hands. Perhaps she embodies something Botero is trying to say about his subjects.

We didn't get to our hotel until almost 6 p.m. It's a pretty fancy place, but far out on the mountainside, overlooking the city. Our bus had to wait for an electric gate to open before entering the grounds. It appears that we are in a walled, secure area.