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Of Fracking and Bullfighting
Is this Colombian animals' biggest problem? A Colombian bullfighter at workthis February in Bogotá's Santamaria Plaza.Recently, there's been lots of critism to two activites in Colombia: fracking and...
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Better Late than Never for Renewable Energies
Checking out a windmill's blades.Colombia has a tiny but growing and enthusiastic renewable energy sector. They were on display this week at an exhibition at the Colombian Engineers Association, in La...
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The Cemetery's Art of Discord
The empty mausoleums along 26th Street, with their stencils commemorating the conflict's victims.Does anybody notice? Drivers pass the mausoleums decorated by Gonzalez.You've probably noticed them...
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The Perpetually Provisional Polluting SITPS
Celebrate! Bogotá just extended the life of the city 'Provisional' Integrated System of Public Transit (SITP) for yet another year. Just translate 'provisional' as 'perpetual' and you'll have a better...
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Women's Works at the Street Lynx Gallery
Gallery owner Lorenzo Masnah shows prints to a group of Irish tourists. Hurry down to La Candelaria's Lynx Art Gallery, on Calle 18 just above Carrera 6 (diagonal to the Freemasons' Temple) to see...
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A Dangerous Idea: Invading Venezuela
Semana magazine calls invading Venezuela 'Playing with fire.'As Venezuela's disintegration accelerates and millions of economic and political refugees spill across its borders - especially into...
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Hiking up Cerro Aguanoso
High above Bogotá.Today, I joined a hike thru Bogota's Eastern Hills, which are beautiful, but almost off limits because muggers wait up there for unwary hikers. As a matter of fact, our guide,...
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How U.S. Policy Drives Latin America's Homicides
The United States is hurting instead of helping.The Washington Post published this interesting editorial yesterday about Latin America's homicide plague: It is the planet's most homicidal region, a...
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Duque Kills the Minimum Dose
Got any weed on you? Police search young men in Bogotá's historical center. The 'minimum dose' of drugs - supposedly the amount a user needed for his own consumption - was the object of many jokes and...
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Lunch With Fido?
Animals stay out! Parchita waits for me on the sidewalk. Dogs accompany us at home, on walks, on vacation. So, why can't they join us at lunch?Bogotá's prohibition against pets in restaurants is...
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Pigeon Prohibition?
A human pigeon perch.Pigeons are also a problem. Some people hate them and call them flying rats. And their feces corrode statues and public monuments. Which is why the city government recently banned...
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Short People at a Tall Man's Game
Colombia is futbol country. Across Bogotá, the football pitches are usually crowded, while the few basketball courts often sit empty - except when they're being used to play football.There are a few...
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The Students March
'Colombia on a war footing for education with dignity and liberty.'Today, thousands of students - mostly from public universities - marched for more funding for public education.A pair of indigenous...
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Latin American Democracy in Retreat
Authoritarian Venezuelan Pres. Nicolas Maduro.In the mid-2000s, Colombia's popular and hard-right Pres. Alvaro Uribe wanted to run for a third consecutive term. But the Constitutional Court ruled...
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Making Bogotá a Walkable City?
Pedestrians walk down the Eje Ambiental in La Candelaria.This week, Bogotá hosted a conference, called Walk 21, of city planning experts keen on creating more walkable cities. The hope is to make...
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The Rolling Chimney Hack
If one day soon you see one of those ubiquous 'rolling chimneys' - buses, trucks or cars which belch out greasy smoke every time they move - sporting a sticker proudly announcing that it is a...
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Seventh Avenue's Suspended Works
Pedestrians walk around a pit on a stretch of Carrera Septima sidewalk beside the San Francisco Church.Nobody at work here!Be cautious if you take a walk on Carrera Septima north of Jimenez Ave. these...
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Bad Times for Brazil
Brazil's Bolsonaro celebrates - but should Brazilians be celebrating?One of the planet's largest, most multiethnic democracies will be governed by a racist, homophobic, misogynist with an admiration...
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Just Explain The Money, Mr. Petro
Petro and wads of cash, in the leaked video.Gustavo Petro is generally remembered as a poor administrator as mayor of Bogotá, and he lost badly when he ran for president. But he has at least been...
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Noche de las Velitas 2018
The Noche de las Velitas, or night of the little candles, is an annual celebration marking the start of the Christmas season. People light candles on sidewalks and windowsills. But it's also a time for...
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Bogotá's New Megamurals
Recently, the city sponsored these huge murals on warehouse and factory walls in the otherwise very gray and gritty Puente Aranda neighborhood. The murals, which line two streets near the Carrera 53...
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A Radical Makeover for the Trash Museum
The Teusaquillo neighborhood's Museo de la Basura, or Trash Museum, used to look like this:and this:With its constant denunciations of our human mistreatment of the planet.'Cosmic suicide will awaken...
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Scenes From The Armed Conflict
A girl and her father, driven from their homes by violence, carry away their few belongings.Jesús Abad Colorado is Colombia's most distinguished documentary photographer, particularly of the country's...
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Don't Hold Your Breath
'By 2040, only electric and zero-emission cars will operate in Bogotá.' (El Tiempo)The story never changes: Just wait, and Bogotá will have clean air (and a clean river). But whether Does anybody care?...
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Doris Salcedo's Empty Rooms
During the exhibition's inauguration, the artsy wait in line to visit empty rooms.The floor is the work of art. Appreciate it!When I visited Doris Salcedo's memorial to victims of Colombia's conflict,...
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