A REALLY IMPORTANT EVENT!

Improvised seating to see the game in La Candelaria.

This afternoon, much of male Bogotá stopped moving while two teams of men in Spain kicked a ball back and forth. The teams were named Barcelona and Real Madrid, and allegiance to them reaches almost religious levels here in Colombia - and, I suspect, much of the rest of Latin America.

Soccer god Messi races for the ball.

Sidewalks became impassible as people crowded around restaurant and bar windows to watch the televisions inside. Each time a goal was scored, the cheering carried for blocks.

Presidential elections? Natural disasters? Invasion from Mars? A match between Colombian football teams? None stops time here the way that 22 millionares kicking a ball back and forth across a field thousands of miles away in Colombia's one-time colonial master do. Could this be psychological recolonization?

In the end, analysts said it was a lousy game. But Barcelona won - Thank God!!! That's what makes life worth living!

Even this cop took his eye off of the bad guys.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours