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The Gold Museum

Originally uploaded by Anders L. Hansson.

Colombian indigenous peoples became well-known for their skills in producing marvellous artefacts of gold.

Spain became well-known for stealing the gold away.

Now you can admire parts of the old treasures in the Gold Museum (Museo del Oro), located in central Bogota.

According to the museum guide, you will find a considerable amount of Colombian gold items in the museums of Madrid. In spite of Colombia asking for the gold to be sent back over the Atlantic, Spain refuses. Wouldn’t this be a political issue for politicians of Catalunya?

Moreover, the situation reminds me of Scania’s treasures - stolen by Stockholm and put in museums 600 kilometers north of my home region.

Anders

Bogota and the mountains

Originally uploaded by Anders L. Hansson.

The Colombian capital is situated on 2.600 meters. But just a short trip - and you can find yourself on a mountain summit even higher, or in the tropical low land.

This picture gives a good idea of the typical panorama when you’re in Bogota down-town.

Anders

PA010045

Originally uploaded by Anders L. Hansson.

The trip to Melgar last weekend was quite an experience.

As the bus was going thru the poorer southern parts of Bogota, we were offered all kinds of food. On this photo a lady is selling shortcake.

Apart from food, we could listen to latin music, streaming out from the tv monitor in the front at a sometimes dangerously high sound level.

Anders

Bogotá: Coconut street vendor

Originally uploaded by Anders L. Hansson.

The amount of street vendors is impressive here in Bogota.

On this photo you find a coconut street vendor. When you’re out walking you pass stands with all kinds of tropical fruits, oftentimes in the shape of fruit salad.

A Colombian fruit salad is a number of fruits cut in pieces, topped with cream mixed with some sugar and a thick layer of Mozzarella “pizza version” cheese. Nothing less than delicious! However, for the cause of my sensitive European stomach, I prefer to eat the fruit salad in a decent restaurant or at a private home.

Anders

Bogotá: slum area in the north

Originally uploaded by Anders L. Hansson.

It is quite easy to get used to life in the northern part of Bogotá.

Life here isn’t that different from Europe, really. A couple of days ago we went food shopping at an Exito hypermarket. The place has a little over 50 cash registers, and is for sure not the only or even the biggest one in the metropolis of Bogotá.

Lately, French Carrefour has taken up the competition, but Colombian Exito has a reputation of being somewhat cheaper. Exito’s selection of food and other merchandise is comparable to what you find in Europe or the U.S. Actually, I think it beats most or all super and hypermarkets you find in Sweden.

Interestingly, one of few slum areas in the northern part of Bogotá happens to be located just outside the Exito hypermarket. It’s just a few buildings, and it’s likely to be gone within short. A number of apartment buildings are under construction, and the character of the area is rapidly changing.

Anders

Bogotá: northern part

Originally uploaded by Anders L. Hansson.

Most time here in Bogotá I’ve spent in the northern, more wealthy part of the city.

It is a bit more chaotic or disorganized than many parts of Europe - the street lanes oftentimes haven’t been marked with paint, the buses are old and run on dirty diesel and street vendors walk between the cars as they stop at the street lights.

But the northern part of Bogotá is home to most of the people with money as well as the middle class. Middle class doesn’t necessarily mean anything spectacular, but it does mean that you can live what I would consider a “decent life”.

On the photo here you find a typical apartment building a few blocks away from where I’m staying.

Anders

Bogota, Calle 85: Private medical clinic

Originally uploaded by Anders L. Hansson.

Monday and Tuesday were busy days. When traveling, a common question is what one could be favorably shopping at the destination. In Colombia, the health sector seems to offer good value for money.

Colombia is, for good and bad, well-connected with the United States. One effect of this is that Bogotá holds a number of excellent medical doctors and dentists. Having scheduled my exams only a couple of days ago, the time for judgment had come.

Let me remark that the professionals I chose to consult were not picked out out of the phone book, but warmly recommended by friends of mine.

Monday, the medical doctor for allergy was first thing in the morning. I was charged 70.000 Colombian pesos, some 26 euros for an examination without any special tests, i.e. about the same I would have paid in Sweden, oftentimes after several months of waiting. Of course - what I pay for a specialist physician in Sweden is only a minor part of the real price - the remainder is paid for thru tax subsidies.

A few hours later I went to the dentist. The price was 60.000 pesos, some 22 euros, and included a thorough exam, cleaning and profylactic treatment. A difference compared to Sweden was that the dentist did not have an X-ray machine of his own, and that the standard four X-rays they do in Sweden isn’t considered necessary here. But in my case there was a suspicious spot on a tooth. So I had to visit a special clinic to get one X-ray picture. Having paid 5.000 pesos, some 2 euros, for that, I went back to the dentist. He checked the pic, and concluded it’s all ok.

Tuesday afternoon I had scheduled an appointment with another doctor - specialty in eye problems. For many years I have had some dust-like feeling in my eyes. An exam with all kinds of advanced instruments was charged with 50.000 pesos, some 19 euros. The result was a prescription for glasses, to wear occasionally when working long hours in front of the computer. In the same building I went shopping for glasses with anti-reflective poly-carbonate lenses and filter. That cost me 380.000 pesos, 141 euros. Compared to Spain that is said to be a bargain - I saved around 100 euros in Colombia.

Another interesting example from the health industry is the laser correction surgery of miopia, that my friend went thru Monday afternoon. She can now throw her lenses and glasses away. 1.900.000 pesos, some 704 euros was the price. Initial check, special exams and three after-controls included. In Spain this same surgery would have been charged with 4.000 euros! What is wrong in Europe, I wonder?

Now, it has to be said that the ordinary Colombian citizen usually can’t afford going to the doctor outside the social insurance system. Long waiting times and problems similar to those in Europe are well-known also here. But I cannot see anything wrong in using comparative cost advantages when I actually bring money into an economy that needs it. Medical tourism is growing: People from Sweden go to the dentist in Poland and get surgery in Thailand. U.S.-citizens travel to Colombia for advanced medical treatment.

So what’s my conclusion? I saved European tax money and got better doctors than I would have been able to get in Europe. And I had the exams now, and not maybe in three months. Finally, European doctors and dentists could learn something from Colombians on how to treat patients with respect. Did I ever see a doc in Sweden wear a tie? And wouldn’t it be time for European doctors to start smiling at work? Let me underline that this is a question of attitude - Colombian doctors smile even when they treat patients that are paid for by the government.

Anders

Melgar - down-town

Originally uploaded by Anders L. Hansson.

Colombia’s biggest military base happens to be located in Melgar. The area is huge and holds houses for officials and their families, apart from buildings for soldiers in training and combat.

The military activities that I could see included a helicopter cruising over the mountains - possibly to keep an eye on the oil drilling installations. And in down-town one could see groups of some six to eight soldiers walking by every 10-15 minutes. One soldier is caught on the photo here to the right. Those soldiers were all wearing the letters “MP” on the uniform, telling they are military police, i.e. employed by the Army but fulfilling police-like duties such as maintaining the order on the streets and in bars.

CAFAM is a big Bogotá non-profit organization that thru affiliation with companies is giving social security to their employees (and the families of those). In Bogotá CAFAM runs a hospital and supermarkets. In Melgar CAFAM runs Latin America’s biggest resort with two high standard hotel, one of them with five stars, and a number of bungalows. In total the capacity must be some 5-7.000 beds.

The resort offers anything the vacationer may need: a number of swimming pools, supermarket, luxurious places to eat at, as well as hamburgers, BBQ and the marvellous tropical fruit juices. On top of this there’s a zoo, a lake, bars and more. An inhouse bus service makes sure that you easily get around. Best of it all probably is that you can relax from the stressful city life - watching the tropical birds in the early morning hours withouth having to fear pickpockets and cars. Another plus is the high standard when it comes to food and hygiene.

Well, what more can I say apart from that we had a nice, relaxing stay in Melgar? Sunday afternoon around 5 PM we started the bus trip back to Bogotá. Having an aged bus climbing up to 2.600 meters in heavy traffic is a rough ride though. So just like many other travelers we made a short stop at a “paradero”. A number of buses stood parked in front of this long building with an open front. Loud salsa and merengue music was streaming from the old loud-speakers. Some people went for dancing, while others had arepas or soup. Personally, I chose to jump the fast food this time. One has to pick the risks with care.

My first weekend in Colombia was coming to an end.

Anders

CAFAM Resort - Melgar

Originally uploaded by Anders L. Hansson.

Melgar - a small town only a few hours west of Bogotá. This is where we arrived around 8 PM (20.00) on Friday night.

Whereas Bogotá is situated on 2.600 meters above sea level, Melgar is down on some 4-500 meters. Surrounded by mountains, Melgar has a protected, tropical and extremely pleasant climate for vacationers. The town has become a place where lots of people from Bogotá go to warm up when the capital’s chilly nights start to bother. But people now come even from the U.S.A. since oil has been struck in the area and U.S. engineers have to eat and sleep as well.

Melgar has a small down-town that offers the most necessary in foods, clothing etc. Apart from that there’s a number of hotels, bars and restaurants. Tourism is indeed important for the local economy, and night life is vivid - especially during vacation peak seasons. But it’s obvious that people are struggling to find a decent income.

Anders

This past Friday afternoon my friends and I took a cab to the modern and rather big central bus station of Bogotá.

Since there are hardly no trains in Colombia, bus is the way that people tend to travel - if they can’t afford a car or if aircraft isn’t an option. There’s harsh competition and you have the option of very comfortable buses, or you may go for the smaller, dirtier and cheaper ones. Leaving Bogotá we went for the cheap option - my friends didn’t want me to miss out on that part of Colombia…

And yes, that was quite a ride. It took about 1,5 hours just to get out of Bogotá. The bus was oftentimes slowing down, so that the guy selling the tickets could announce the destination to potential passengers waiting along the road. One woman entered as the bus was already full, but didn’t accept the floor seat she was offered, and so she left. All kinds of vendors were entering - selling cakes, sandwiches, chewing gums and what else travelers may need. Made me wonder if we were in business class…

The bus ride started in the northern, more pleasant parts of the city and was then going south. Gradually the panorama was getting quite miserable, and on the way out we were passing the infamous “Belt of misery”, formally “Ciudad Bolivar”. This is a huge slum area, much of it dangerously climbing up a steep hill. So-called displaced people, i.e. economic victims of the civil war, are moving into Bogotá en masse. Many of them end up in the “Belt of misery”, starting out with a primitive home built of carton. The Belt suffers from extreme social problems and the drug dealers are in charge.

The Belt supposedly has more than one million inhabitants. The settlers arrive and make some land theirs, subsequently starting the rough struggle to survive. The government does offer schools and more in the area, but the problems are immense. I would have liked to offer you deeper insights, but since The Belt is an absolutely mortal place to go to, I can’t. The only somewhat safe way to go there is if you have have friends inside. Elsewise you may get mugged and killed.

After passing an industrial zone we were finally out of Bogotá. It got dark around 6 PM (18.00). A couple of hours later we arrived in Melgar…

Anders