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12-24-05
Yesterday morning Carlos and I went to the National Museum. We got there a little early so took a walking tour of the National Park, the bull fighting arena and the planetarium. When we got back the museum was open and we went in to look around. The museum is located in an old prison and the building is really strongly built and very beautiful.
Museum National X
The walls must be four feet thick and they left the bars on the windows as well as huge barred doors separating the different wings and floors. There was some interpretative signs but they were all in Spanish. It was nice to have Carlos let me know about important things as we walked past. He has had Colombian history in school for years and he knew most of the major political and military events that happened. On of the most colorful characters was Simon Bolivar and they had a special wing all for him. He is a hero in the entire north of South America as he was responsible for their independence from Spain. He was really a handsome man and the paintings of him are wonderful. .
Simon Bolivar X
They had a small collection of gold there and one of the best photos I got is this one. They are hard to take photos of as everything is behind glass and the lighting was poor.
Gold X
There was a really nice display of ancient artifacts that are very similar to the Mayan stuff I saw up north but evidently they are no relation to them. In one wing a guard came along with us and told Carlos some really interesting things about one area where he, the guard, grew up. It is an area where they found large statues of some really mean looking monster man shapes. They had a photo of them being dug up and exposed. The guard pointed to one man in the old photo and said it was his grandfather. He was a really nice guy and when we were about to leave he took a small object wrapped in toilet paper from his pocket and showed us. He asked Carlos if I would be interested in buying it. Wow, it was really cool but I couldn’t imagine buying something like that and trying to smuggle it across a border. Geez, I have enough problems as it is and anyway I don’t want anything that I can’t carry on my motorcycle.
Guard artifact X
There were some really nice art works throughout the museum. They had mostly paintings of people that were portrait style but there were sections of more modern style paintings by famous artists in Colombia. I really liked this painting of a woman looking at a print.
Woman painting X
There are several really nice woodcarvings of men’s faces. This one is my favorite.
Woodhead2 X
I am not sure just who these guys are but I think they are death masks cast in bronze. I am not sure why I find all this morbid stuff interesting but I guess it is something a person isn’t confronted with much in our society. It could be that I am realizing that I am getting closer to the end as well. What ever I think these three death masks are pretty cool.
Deathmasks X
After we left the museum Carlos took me to one of his favorite restaurants near where he used to live. The restaurant is sort of small homey and with lots of stuff hanging around on the walls. There were bunches of the large plantain (big green type bananas) hanging between rooms. Carlos ordered for me, as I have wanted to try different types of Colombian food. What I was served was really cool. It consisted of a sheet of plantain that is somewhat like a hard corn tortilla only huge. On it was a big helping of a sort of hamburger pieces in a red sauce topped with grated cheese and topped with a salsa sauce. Also on the plantain was a scoop of avocado dip. To the side was a dish of corn, rice and I am not sure what the topping stuff was. Wow, this was a really cool and good meal. I was really eating off this plate that I ate, as I went along. The whole thing is put on piece of paper on a wood board to serve it. Simple and efficient.
Lunch X
Today is Christmas eve day and we went in the car over to the restaurant where Lucy had ordered the Christmas supper meal of turkey. It is really not a turkey but I guess the turkey meat taken out and mixed with other things and put back in the skin and baked. It looks really good and Lucy snuck a little taste to be sure it was ok. We went in the car to one of the nicer malls in town and looked around. There were shoppers there for sure but I didn’t see the mad rush to finish Christmas shopping like I have seen in the states. The people down here don’t seem to get in that mega shopping extravaganza like back home. I think it is more a family and friends time. Carlos said that when he was a kid the families would gather in huge groups but now they tend to be smaller gatherings. When he was a kid it was common for 50 or more to gather on Christmas. Actually I guess they would gather the day before Christmas as everything happens on this day and nothing on Christmas day.
We went to an Italian restaurant for lunch and after that we went to another nice mall building where we all had an ice-cream. Carlos and I had a waffle cone which turned out to be the biggest thing I have ever seen or tried to balance, while Lucy got a small dish but they packed it and stacked it so high it was almost impossible to eat it all. We went back to the apartment and had a nap, or at least I did.
In the late afternoon Lucy and I went shopping for a few small items that she needed for tonight. Some members of he family are coming over for Christmas supper. I took a photo of Carlos and Lucy on the street.
Carlos and Lucy X
