A Sunday in old Bogota

Today my colleague Alvaro (born and raised in Bogota) took me under his wings and we visited the older part of the city. A couple of photos to show you a bit of what I got to see. We took a taxi from where I live (Calle 68) to another flee market (Calle 20):

Certainly a different atmosphere than the Sunday market in Usaquen (of which I showed photos in a blog entry last week).This one is a real "flee market" (which is what "mercado de pulgas" means in Spanish). An amazing amount of what I call "old junk" but what others will find fascinating stuff. Here is a funny example:

An old type writer and an "old" fax machine. Old is relative here. When I started working in Maputo, Mozambique in 1988, we had to use a "telex" machine (for the younger readers just ask your parents) and when we got our first fax machine in 1989 it was a god-send. Only about 5-6 years later the internet became public domain and e-mails wiped out the short life-cycle of the fax. But at this flee market everything keeps a "value". Have a look at this photographer still offering "old style" photos:

And fresh fruit juices everywhere. You would almost get vitamine overdosis here...
We walked further down the Carerra 7 which at Sundays is closed off for traffic. Because it rained a bit today, Alvaro noticed it was less busy than other Sundays:

We passed another arts & crafts market, butI told Alvaro I will visit that when Mary & Hilary come for a visit. I can only handle so much market on one day....

We continued - after having a wonderful traditional Bogota lunch (I can never remember the names of the dishes) - to the main square of the old city with four main buildings on each side. Below first the old church, then the parliamant building, the Bogota municipal building and on the fourth side the supreme court of Colombia:

My first visit to Colombia and Bogota was in 1983 - 30 years ago. I also visited this square and soon afterwards an army tank invaded the surpreme court building (there was a disagreement about some interpretations of decisions taken by the court). Alvaro remembered that event. They did some renovations after the incident and of course times have changed since then.

Below my last photo of today. It shows the road towards "La Candaleria", the oldest part of Bogota. We decided to keep a visit there for another day. On the left side of the photo you can see a famous historic building (white with green balcony): it was were the independence of Colombia was negotiated. Do not ask me the year; it is the part of history I could never find interest for. The fact that it happened in that building is a fascinating thing to know though....

Hasta la proxima vez... till the next time. Thanks for reading.