Guasca, Colombia and its beautiful church

The Colombian town of Guasca is a hidden gem. It's situated a little higher than the towns that surround it on the northern outskirts of Bogotá. It's not on the main road and you have to drive out of the way to get there, fortunately only about 2 kilometers. If you leave Bogotá by the mountain road that goes toward La Calera and continue on as if you were going to Guatavita, you can turn off where the sign indicates Guasca. When we went, we didn't stay long, just enough to take in the pretty views that were the result of this city being on a small hill above the others. Also noteworthy was the church that occupied a prominent place in the plaza, especially as the whole plaza was sloped uphill and the church sat at the top. I just loved the interior of this church, which looked very well maintained.

The Joys of the "Almuerzo Típico"

I am always blown away by the large portions of food that I get when I travel in Colombia. This is what you would call an "almuerzo típico" (literally translated "typical lunch"). Aside from the steak, beans, plantain chips, rice, potato, tomatoes, and blackberry juice ("jugo de mora") pictured here, the meal starts out with a soup of the day. The soup could be, for example, a pasta soup or a broth with some meat and potatoes mixed in. All this together sold for $2.25!

In Colombia itself, the almuerzo típico sometimes suffers from an image problem. Often - and I found this out very early in my travels there - some of the locals, judging by the crowds, seem to prefer eating at a hamburger place because of its suggestion of an American eating experience, and usually pay more for what I think is inferior food. It may be human nature to prefer those products that seem out of the ordinary even when they aren't better than one's own.

There is at least one exception to this rule, however. Colombians, and people from many other parts of the world as well, don't like to rush their meals unless they're absolutely forced to. I recall that when some of my in-laws came up from Colombia and visited New York with us, the biggest culture shock for them was something I never would have imagined. It happened when we were driving through Manhattan and we saw a man standing on the sidewalk eating a hamburger. They were absolutely astonished to see him finish it in five bites!

The Nativity novena in Colombia

On December 16, many families in Colombia, and Colombians living outside of Colombia, begin praying the Nativity novena ("Novena de Navidad"), a nine-day series of prayers designed to prepare for the arrival of the baby Jesus on the night of December 24. The novena is definitely one of my favorite Colombian traditions.

It's worthwhile to point out that in Latin America, Christmas is not considered to be celebrated on the day of December 25, but rather the night of December 24 or "noche buena" (literally, "good night"). It's a subtle difference but important nonetheless.

The novena contains a series of prayers recited every evening. They include daily prayers to the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and the Christ Child, a series of poems of praise called the "gozos" that can be either recited or sung, along with a separate prayer specific to each day of the novena called the "consideración" that highlights an aspect of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem and the events that surrounded the birth of Jesus.

There is what you could call a quaint Catholic spirituality around these prayers. Many of the thoughts around using Christ's humility as a model for our own lives are worthwhile to contemplate. Occasionally, though, the reflections border on an absurdity particular to old-style Catholicism, such as in the prayer on the eighth day recounting how Mary and Joseph could not find a place to stay in Bethlehem: "The sound of each door that closed on them was a sweet melody for their ears." ("El ruido de cada puerta que se cerraba ante ellos era una dulce melodía para sus oídos.") Also, the prayer to St. Joseph can cause some chuckles because he is referred to as the "padre putativo de Jesús" (adoptive father of Jesus), where "putativo" sounds too close to a Spanish curse word. Nowadays the offending word is often replaced by "adoptivo."

Following the novena, the family will often sing traditional Spanish Christmas carols or "villancicos," either playing the instruments themselves or singing along to a CD. In some cases the novena becomes a social event for inviting extended family members, with food and drink served after the prayers are recited.

The Garífuna community pays a visit to Philadelphia in August 2009

One of my favorite activities in Philadelphia in August is the annual Caribbean Festival which takes place in Penn's Landing, the recreation space which faces the Delaware River and is in the area where William Penn originally landed when he came to the colony later named Pennsylvania. This year I was pleasantly surprised that a group of Garífunas from the New York City area came to perform and sell items representative of their culture. One of the festival organizers told me that the audience really enjoyed their performances.

To summarize, the Garífuna are descendants of a mixture of Africans and Carib peoples, the majority of whom settled on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent until they were forced out by the British at the end of the 18th century. Those set adrift on a ship by the British from St. Vincent, on the eastern side of the Caribbean Sea, landed providentially on the island of Roatán on the western side. Today Roatán belongs to the Central American nation of Honduras. The Garífuna eventually migrated to the mainland and settled on the Caribbean shores of Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. Many descendants of those migrants later moved to New York, specifically Brooklyn, where they form a thriving community.

Garífuna music and dance, with its combination of African and Native American traits, does not sound exactly like other African forms of music in the Caribbean region. In particular the singing style and the drum patterns make it unmistakable. Some people may be familiar with the punta rhythm, which can be played traditionally or in the modern "punta rock" style. There are also Garífuna rhythms such as the "paranda" that use the guitar, which suggest influence from Spanish music. Garífuna culture is familiar enough for you to find explanations on the Internet or examples on YouTube.

"Julie and Julia" and a food festival in Bogotá

Today my wife and I saw the film "Julie and Julia" and of course our thoughts started to revolve around food. It reminded me of the food festival we attended called "Alimentarte," which took place in Bogotá in July. The place was absolutely mobbed and featured a dizzying array of food from many corners of the globe. We spent about an hour trying to decide what we wanted to eat, and eventually I decided on a dish called "patacón con carne desmechada," which consists of shredded meat served over a large piece of fried green plantain. We let our mouths water over this display of pastries, and I went with ice cream (a scoop of rum raisin with a scoop of cookies n' cream). There was also music from a top-notch police salsa band.

The Danger of False Cognates

You probably have heard that the Spanish word "embarazada" does not mean "embarrassed," but "pregnant." This is an example of what is known as a false cognate. A true cognate would be, for example, "el grupo" which means "group." While we're in the process of learning to speak or write another language, cognates are helpful for us when we get stuck and have to guess a word. We should still make those sorts of educated guesses, but be aware that there are a few words that sound like one thing in English and mean another.

We're not the only ones with that dilemma. Spanish speakers have the same difficulty when they try to use English. The hand soap in the picture is a perfect example. The Spanish word "sanidad" does not mean "sanity" but "health," but the company in question must have been confused, or assumed that the consumer wouldn't care, when they named this hand soap "Sanity Plus." I milked this for all it was worth and would ask if using this soap would help me keep my sanity. For the record, "sanity" would be loosely translated into Spanish as "salud mental," or mental health.

The View from the "Piedra Capira" in Colombia (2009)

Two weeks ago I took a trip to the town of Guaduas, about a 3-hour drive from Bogotá (4 hours on the slow-moving buses). One of the highlights of the region is the point called the Piedra Capira, which is a rock with a cross perched on it, that hangs over the edge of the hill, showing the full view of the Magdalena River. (The Magdalena is the Colombian equivalent of the Mississippi and runs nearly the full length of the country, flowing northward before it empties out into the Caribbean Sea.) To get to the Piedra Capira, one leaves Guaduas on the route toward the town of Honda, drives for about 15 minutes, and makes a left at the sign. The rest of the way is through a narrow gravel and dirt road, and at some point the car has to be parked and one has to go on foot until reaching the rock. I was especially surprised that this attraction did not appear in any guidebook, just in a pamphlet issued in the town of Guaduas.

On a clear morning the volcanoes Nevado del Tolima (left) and the Nevado del Ruiz (far right) are visible. There are two smaller peaks, barely visible in between these, called the Nevado del Quindío and the Nevado de Santa Isabel. I added new photos from this last trip to Colombia at the webpage for Cundinamarca, the name of the province that surrounds Bogotá.