Nativo in La Candelaria

Katalina and William sell a bottle of chicha, made of fermented corn, and Bogotá's most traditional drink. 

With its bars, theatres and artsy shops, La Candelaria has to be Bogotá's grooviest and most Bohemian neighborhood. 

And that's thanks to places like Nativo, a handicrafts shop opened last month by Katalina and William, a young Colombia couple.

Nativo sells handicrafts, many made by indigenous Colombians - the house in which the shop is located has long been used as a temporary residence by indigenous people from the Santa Marta Mountains while visiting Bogotá. The shop also sells lots of paraphenalia, useful certainly for lots of legal substances, but also a certain illegal leaf. If the personal dosis drug law returns, as appears likely, this shop will get a boost.

Nativo is located on Carrera 3, just a few doors south of La Plaza del Chorro. Look for its colorfully-painted front wall.

People walk past Nativo's colorfully-painted front. 

The view from the window, where bottles of chicha are for sale. 

Haile Selassie may have been a real tyrant, but he's become an icon for the reggae crowd. 

Locionabis.

William and Katalina with their son Mathias. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours