Sci-Fi Urban Tree Park
Here's another one of MedellÃn's excellent public art parks:
It's just a bunch of white stone pillars, but the effect is really sci-fi and neat.
This picture reminds me of those old Soviet propaganda posters:
We are the Soviet couple of the future, bringing the civilizing force of Communism to the wider solar system.
2007-12-31 14:20:16 UTC
Ciudad de Botero
MedellÃn's most famous artist is Fernando Botero. Even if you haven't heard the name, you're probably familiar with his work. He's the guy who makes everything in his paintings and sculptures really, really fat. He's made the Mona Lisa into a plumper, he's fattened up Colombian presidents, he's even painted Jesus Christ as a lard ass. Supposedly, all the layers of fat reveal some deeper social commentary, but I'm not so sure about that. That's the kind of thing people say without explaining themselves. Maybe I'm being obtuse, but I don't get how painting everyone to be super fat is particularly subversive criticism. When people like art, they want to believe that it's because it's sophisticated and too profound for others to understand. Whatever. It doesn't need to be.
Look at that fat poodle! How exactly is this highbrow art? I like Botero's fat asses because I think they're funny and strange and sometimes creepy. I find his depiction of children as fat, tiny adults to be especially disturbing.
While we were in Colombia we saw tons of Botero's work. His sculptures are all over MedellÃn. Most of them are concentrated in a small sculpture park outside MedellÃn's excellent art museum:
Noah and I posed with some of the sculptures.
I was really hoping that we'd encounter some caricature artist who could paint me in the Botero style. I'd love to see myself Botero-rized.
2007-12-31 14:15:06 UTC
Medellìn: A Dystopian Introduction
We arrived in MedellÃn after dark in the pouring rain. The train whooshed over our heads from its viaduct above the city streets. Vendors had their wares laid out on the edge of the sidewalk, leaving a narrow path for the hordes of foot traffic. Throngs of people were rushing to unknown destinations, shouting at each other in an unknown language. It felt like LA in Blade Runner. It was dark and wet, gritty and urban, crowded and foreign. It was not the best introduction to MedellÃn, but I wasn't about to make any snap judgments. Foreign doesn't equal dystopian for me like it did for Ridley Scott. It can just be a little intimidating.
We eventually found MedellÃn to be a very photogenic city:
The city is very committed to public art. Major new buildings are required by law to include some kind of public art. There are fascinating little pockets of sculpture throughout the city, including several works by the city's own Fernando Botero (more later). Despite all of this though, the streets of MedellÃn aren't particularly pleasant to walk and we never encountered any really great neighborhoods. They could very well exist, but we didn't find them. The downtown area seemed to mainly be filled with casinos and fast food restaurants. There weren't any nice cafes or comfortable bars. Of course, I spent a good portion of our stay in MedellÃn stuck in the hotel, watching TV and writhing in abdominal pain, so maybe MedellÃn deserves another chance.
2007-12-29 18:57:37 UTC
American Experience in Colombia
Noah and I decided to spend one day in Northern Bogotá. We walked the 80 blocks from the center of the city in search of a comic book shop we'd read about in a fantastic guidebook (in Spanish) we picked up called Bogotá Bizarra. Comics are nearly impossible to find in Ecuador and we really wanted to find some locally produced comics. It took us about three hours before we finally reached our destination in Bogotá's Zona Rosa, the rich side of town.
The shop was about the size of a phone booth. We had to wait for the two customers already there to leave before we could fit inside. Once inside, we saw that it was really more of a collectibles shop. The shelves were filled with action figures, but disappointingly few comics. The clerk looked like a Colombian version of Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons (I should have taken a picture). We asked him if he had any Colombian comics. He regretfully informed us that the only comics he had were from the US and that they were in English since collectors like their comics to be in the original language. He also wished us luck finding Colombian comics. Apparently, they're hard to come by.
Completely exhausted and feeling defeated, we wandered around the neighborhood in search of something to do before taking the TransMilenio back to the center. Expensive restaurants and upscale shops selling designer labels lined the wide pedestrian malls. Several streets in this area are for pedestrians only. (Think State Street in Madison but way fancier.) The biggest and fanciest malls in Bogotá are also in this neighborhood. Colombians love their malls, so we decided to check one out.
It was only a week before xmas, so the mall was packed with people and it was all decked out for the holidays. The theme was Winter Wonderland. There was a roaring animatronic white tiger, a penguin band, and an enormous white woolly mammoth. Children played in a fake snow play area and threw giant fake snowballs at each other. They went down a two-level slide and landed in a pile of fake snow. Their parents snapped photos.
We eventually walked by the cinema. Sore from the day's walk, we decided relaxing in a movie theater with some popcorn and soda would be perfect. We bought tickets to Beowulf, which in our defense, we knew nothing about. With a little time before the movie, we decided to get a quick bite at McDonald's, just to complete our total American experience in Colombia. The mall, McDonald's, and a movie. What could be more American? Or more Colombian for that matter?
I totally get why people in Colombia and Ecuador like McDonald's. Their burgers are way better than the burgers you get at local restaurants. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. The burgers they make locally are weird and mushy, kinda like grilled baby food patties. They must add something to them to stretch the meat. It's like burger paste on a bun. They're pretty nasty. McDonald's may very well offer the best burgers in town.
It was time for the movie. The theater was super comfy and had stadium seating. Plus, we got to choose our seats ahead of time. Too bad the movie sucked so bad. How could such an awful movie happen to so many good actors? What were they thinking? Why was the whole thing animated? How could the filmmakers not have noticed how clunky the animation was? Did they really think this was groundbreaking or something? The questions go on and on.
So that was our American experience in Colombia, which is ironically something we never do in the US. Colombians love their malls, movies, and McDonald's.
2007-12-29 18:53:12 UTC
Bogotà 's Bars
As I mentioned before, one of the things we enjoyed most about Bogotá was its fondness for intimate, cozy, candlelit bars. Here's a good example:
This one had murals on the walls, including one of a GuayasamÃn painting:
Oswaldo GuayasamÃn is Ecuador's most famous painter. You can find reproductions of his paintings of indigenous life all over Ecuador. His style is very distinctive. The people always look skeletal and have huge hands.
Noah and I spent a couple hours here sipping canelazos (hot spiced fruit cider spiked with aguardiente) and playing Cuarenta, a popular Ecuadorian card game.
Here's another bar we tried out:
Every square inch of this place was covered in graffiti. This is where I tried chicha for the first (and last) time. Chicha is a fermented corn beverage drunk throughout Latin America. The only other thing that it kinda tastes like is, um, vomit. It's sweet and bitter and smells like bile. It's also a tad chunky. Here's the weird part: it's not really all that bad. And it was only $.50. That's not a bad deal for a big glass of alcoholic corn-puke.
2007-12-29 18:41:18 UTC