Bogotá

January 18 2023

It's been a few months since I've written an update about my time in Colombia. The end of the semester was busy, and I didn't do much traveling, but now that I'm back for the second half of the program, I figured it was time for some updates!

In the past month or so, I've gone to Bogotá a few times. It's the capital city of Colombia, a sprawling, noisy city of nearly 10 million people.

We also discussed strategies for teaching alongside other professors, which is the set-up for most Fulbrighters in the Colombia program. It can be hard to balance teaching and bringing your own lesson plans to a classroom along with expectations brought by the main teacher for the class, so it was helpful to discuss it as a group.

The best part of the conference was the opportunity to hear from people in different parts of the country about their experience. We've all had such varied experiences, depending on the city, the university, and even the students we work with. It was nice to hear that none of us are alone in having tough situations, and I was definitely inspired by everyone's travel stories.

During the conference, we also got to do an activity, organized by our senior ETA (a second-year Fulbrighter who serves as a mentor to a small group in the same city or region). Our group went to Montserrate, one of the most popular tourist sites in Bogotá. It's a church up in the mountains, and you can take a funicular (an incline if you're from Pittsburgh) or a teleférico (a cable car in the air). For this trip, we took the funicular!

The mid-program conference was an opportunity to reflect on my experiences so far in the program, and think about what I might want to do differently in the second half. I was able to talk with lots of people about fun activities they have included in their classrooms, and it's a definite goal of mine to travel more in the next five months.

After a much-needed visit home for Christmas, I went back to Bogotá for a few days around New Years. The city was remarkably quiet. Every other time I had been there, I was overwhelmed by the noise and the traffic, but for the new year, most of the 10 million people that live in the city were either staying in their homes or they had left the city for the holidays. There was almost no one out on the streets and very little traffic.

I was visiting Bogotá with one of the other ETAs in my city (Bianka) and her friend from the US! We visited Montserrate again (this time taking the teleférico) and stayed at a hostel (which had the cool mural in the photo below) in la Candelaría neighborhood.

In Bogotá, we also got to explore a few neighborhoods, including visiting different museums. In la Candelaría, there's the main square with most of the old government buildings and a beautiful church! We visited a bookstore just down the street from our hostel. Bianka and I also went to a photography exhibit in the Claustro de San Agustín about the paramilitary and guerrilla wars in Colombia. The exhibit contrasted photographs of people affected by the conflict all around the country with huge trees constructed from stacks of newspapers (see photo below).

The Botero Museum of Art is definitely a favorite of mine. Fernando Botero is an artist from Medellín, and his art is so distinctive that it is easily identified by its signature style, known as "Boterismo". The museum is a mix of his own works and pieces by other artists that he donated to the museum. All together, it is a truly beautiful collection. Below there's a few highlights from the museum and from an exhibit on graphic design at the library right next to the museum!

After Bogotá, I went to a few new Colombian cities and towns, but that will have to wait for the next post!