Back to Bogota

I'm starting to feel very guilty about my carbon footprint this summer. I knew I was going to be traveling by plane quite a bit, but I have ended up taking some unexpected flights in order to avoid day long bus trips through the mountains. Am I lame for not toughing it out? Perhaps. Am I getting more work done? Definitely. My most recent unexpected flight took me from Cali back to Bogota a day ahead of my flight to Lima. Since I arrived in the afternoon, I took some time to FINALLY see Plaza Bolivar (photo 1). I also had the good fortune of sunshine, so the buildings were extremely beautiful. Naturally, there was also a gigantic screen where they are showing the World Cup games when they are on.

After that, I visited the Botero museum. I was a little bit surprised to see works by some very famous artists in a free museum, like Dali, Picasso, Rodin, Monet, and more. The sculpture below is a work by Dali. There weren't very many pieces by other artists, though, and as you might expect the museum was mostly full of pieces by Botero. He has a very distinctive style. All of his subjects are fat, including one painting of a skeleton and a sketch of a wide but very defined crucified Jesus (see picasa album). He also likes birds and very, very large fruit. I have included the Pair of Dancers and a statue of a man with a child standing on the mother's back. What could he possible have meant by that one?

After that I had some sushi in La Candelaria. Between the Spanish and the Japanese I'm not really sure what exactly it was that I ate, but I really enjoyed the maki with mango. The place was totally funky and I loved it, so I randomly started taking pictures in the restaurant (self-portraits included, below). I was having a really great day when I was wandering around, and really productive when I was working. The well-being must have carried over into the morning, because apparently my alarm clock can be set for particular days (who knew?!) and didn't go off. It was set for MONDAY at 5:30am. Luckily I woke up at 6:30, which was half an hour after I wanted to leave the hostel but still gave me enough time to catch my flight to Lima. Whew!