Festival de la Bajada (Downhill)

Definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far. Accompanied the Venezuelan National Downhill Longboard team to the mountains near Bogota for a worldclass downhill Longboard Competition.  We missed the bus in the morning so we had to take public transit there including three buses. The taxis wouldn't even take us there because they felt the mountains were too dangerous.

That meant walking up the mountain once we got to the base.  Fortunately we hitchhiked a ride to the top.

Once we got there it was an adrenaline seekers dream.  Competitors from all over the world bombing down this mountain on the boards with speeds up to 100 km/h. I met many people that had flown in to Bogota from North America just to watch this event.

Lots of fearless girls in this event too.

We do not have trees like this in Canada.

The average time on the course was less than 2 minutes.  

This differs from typical longboarding because this one is called body luge.

Sunday was qualifying where you run four solo time trial heats.  Where Monday was the final where you start in groups of four and all race each other down the mountain together.

From the mountain you can see this beautiful lake below.  But the weather is so tempermental.  One second it is sunny the next it is cloudy.

At the top of the mountain at the start line it was a big party with dj's.  All the competitors from across the world know each other and there was great commraderie with people seeing each other for the first time in a while.

There was busses to take the competitors up the mountain but when that failed you could try this.

Here the sun broke through for just a little bit of the day.

Even the police are shuttling people up the mountain by the masses.

For people that were trying to commute through the area they had to wait in big lines as they had to shut down the road for an hour at a time during the runs.  But they had a nice view of all the people on the drive up.

So many giant crashes into hay-bales.  I wish i had caught more.  A lot of people I talked to felt it was the most dangerous course they had ever ridden.  A few people did have to get trucked off to the hospital in ambulances.  And a few people bailed so hard I was sure they broke something but they always got up, walked it off, and some got back on their boards and kept riding.  

Person at the front is a beginner and the person on the back has a go pro on to document their ride down this incredibly difficult course.

Mountain top, sun, Wildflowers.  Another beautiful day in South America.

If you want to see more information about the day and the event you can check it out here on the IDF WEbsite

http://www.internationaldownhillfederation.org/profiles/blogs/essert-takes-his-maiden-win-in-separte

Living it up in Bogota

Bogota is an amazing city.  A Metro Population of about 11 million it is about the same size of Buenos Aires.  But less European influence here and more of a true South American Country.

Here there is a woman selling delicious Guava (Guayaba) on the street.  Bogota is the king of fruit and fresh juice street vendors.

Emptied pockets from the airplane journey

Visited an art gallery in Bogota called Botero Museum.  Every Friday they do a free Englsih tour from 4-6pm.  The address is :

Calle 11 # 4-41, The gallery is the personal purchased artworks of Botero who is the most famous Colombian artists .  The museum also has works of Botero. The painting above is Realism and it is of a gypsy.  Realism is all about capturing a precise moment, and trying to show the characters and scenes the way they really are.

This is impressionist using water color.  Impressionists dont catch one instant, they try and show the picture in time.  The watercolors give an impression that its not one instant, but to an untrained eye it might just look smudgy.

Lots of Surrealism from the 1900s here.  This one was very psychedlic.  This one is called "explosion in a cathedral"

This one is a Picasso

Now we are into the art of Botero himself, the man the gallery is named after and the man who owns all the paintings.  This picture is the "Massacre de Major Esquina".  It is one of those events in Colombian History that really give it a dark image.  A Community party in a nice village was stormed by gunmen and there were 27 people killed.  Most of them innocent partigoers that were important figures in their community such as teachers.  This event marked a shift in Colombian Security and peoples feeling of safety in their own country.  The nineties were a dark time but now Bogota and Colombia is an amazing place to visit, and more safe; but you still need to have your wits to you.  But no massacres like this are going down anymore.

This one is of Manuel Marulanda.  He was an important figure because he was the face of the Farc Guerilla movement for many years.  He rose to ranks through the Communist Party of Colombia.  As leader of the guerilla group he was never captured.  He died of a heart attack in 2008.

Botero is most well known for his sculptures though.  I seemed to like his political or culture paintings the best.

Terremoto en Popoyan.  A huge earthquake that destroyed the beautiful Colonial city of Popoyan.  Also a Botero.

"The Thief.  A Common figure in Colombian culture.

Enough about art.  Check out the food.  Grocery stores are loaded with fresh fruit and veggies.  It is very cheap here too.  5 bucks gets you an enormous bag filled with all the vegetables and fruits one could need.

Fried Plantanes on the left and delicious broken omelette on the right.  Fried Plantanes is a staple in Colombian and Venezuelan culture.  Everyone has a different way to cook them down here and I have been getting everyone to show me the different ways.  The attitude down here is that bananas are shit (even though you can buy them easily in grocery stores) and plantanes are the best.  You can eat fried plantanes for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

On the streets drinking Poker Beer with my friend Leo from Venezuela.  Still not sure if I am going to Venezuela.  It is definitely the most dangerous place for a gringo I hear in South America.  All the people I meet from here are so amazing.  I really want to go visit some of them.  but apparently you have to be really careful there.  Not like in Bogota or BsAs.

Donkey tied to a pole in the Candeleria section of Colombia.  When I get back to Calgary I am going to be an advocate for donkey racks in the city.  This is one of the reasons why I think Bogota is the cultural capital of the world.

Clouds rolling in over the city of Bogota.  Fortunately we missed this storm.  But there were plenty during my stay.  I am here in October and it is kind of a rainy season.  

Candeleria, the part of Bogota I am in, is very Bohemian.  Tonnes of people selling things on the street like necklaces, jewelery and bracelets. Lots of hippies.  I really feel that Bogota as a city is kinda like Nelson, British Colombia (with a rich mountain climate of active people and hippies), mixed with the enormity and little bit of sketchiness of a city like Los Angeles.

Everything in the store is made from 100% GMO.  No just kidding they sell eyeglasses.

Walking down the streets of Colombia around 4pm on the busiest and most popular street downtown you can see lots of police presence wearing neon green.  In this shot I count five.

All in all Bogota is a very nice place.  The people here are pretty friendly.  The food here is very cheap and their are plent of nice neighborhoods for tourists to stay in.  Literally you could probably spend a month here and still not see all of them.  I have only been here one week and I have still not seen the other nice neighborhoods such as Zona Rosada/Zona T or the nicest neighborhood Zona G.  But Candleria has a lot to offer.

Day 1 Bogota

Here is a shot of the kitchen in my new hostel.  Its got nice supplies, is very clean and they serve free coffee and breakfast fo purchase. 

 My room.  Its  a private.  It costs me about 35000 pesos a night which is about $17.50 American.

 View from the balcony outside my room.  You can see the mountains.

Its also got chairs on the balcony but it has rained non stop since I got here and only more rain the forecast.  The Hostel is Bakana and its in the neighborhood of La Candeleria.  The address is 16 #2-86.  Its a nice neighborhood, very old fashioned with lots of historic sites, museums and old architecture, and chill pubs.  It even has nice cobblestone streets.  The nicest and most expensive region of Bogota is Zona G.  There you can stay in very fancy hotels for about $100 American.  Zona T or Zona Rosado is the neighborhood with all the clubs and discos.

 Downtown Candelera.  A historic building and lots of pidgeons in the plaza.

 This guy had a llama and you could pay him money to ride it and take a picture.  I took this picture for free though.

 Another famous building right in the main plaza in Candeleria.

 This guy is selling pain relief ointment on the street made with marijuana and coca.

 A shot of the streets and the famous Mount Monserrat in the background.  I plan on climbing it this weekend with some friends I have here that I met in BsAs,

 Downtown the main streets close to cars during the day and pedestrians can walk straight down.

 There were none of these in BsAs.  You are even hard pressed to find them in Canada because Tim Hortons has a monopoly.  Here its a real sign of high culture for a city to have these.  You can get one donut for about 1 dollar if you buy 3.

 Here is the most typical food of Colombia.  Arrepas!!!  Bread filled with cheese and lots of sauces to drench it with.  Two arrepas go for 2000 pesos or 1 dollar.

 Had the most delicious coffee of my life today.  It was a little small but tomorow I plan on bringing my own cup.  Coffee goes for 2800 pesos at this place.  You can get cheaper and smaller though.  They even used the espresso machine to whip the milk.

All in all lunch (arrepas, cheetos, coffee and churros for dessert) came to about 7200 colombian pesos or $3.50 american.

 They have free bicycle rentals here in Bogota too.

 They even let me rent a bicycle with this ID I found on the ground in Buenos Aires which is clearly not me.  Next time I do have to bring my passport though.

 Met these guys from Venezuela.  They are the Venezuelan National Downhill Longboard team here in Venezuela for the International Championships this weekend in the nearby hills and mountains.  They mainly only speak spanish except for one guy so I hung out with them all day learning Street Spanish.  I am improving so much with Street Spanish.  Leaps and Bounds compared to the classroom.  The classroom was key though to lay a foundation and help me focus on the important parts,

 Here is a shot of the Venezuelan longboarders (two traded their longboards for bikes).  I will be their official team photographer and videographer for the competition this weekend.  I cant wait to see how these guys bomb down hills.  Got a little taste of it in the streets today.

This group of Venezuela students confronted us in the street and wanted to interview me for a University project they were working on.  They wanted to know my opinion on people eating horse meat.  i answered them in good spanish but I did need a translator to help me understand their questions.