Egipto's Three Kings Festival

The Three Reyes crowd, with the Iglesia de Egipto in the backgrond.

This weekend, the poor neighborhood called Egipto above La Candelaria is holding its annual party, the 'Three Kings Festival,' considered the symbolic end of the Christmas season. 

Lots of crowds, music, alchohol, cholesterol and calories. If you're into that, then take a walk uphill.

A view uphill into Egipto.

Partying in the street below the festival.

Pouring chicha, a traditional drink made from fermented corn.

Grilling up the meat!

Chicharrones. A moment in the mouth, a lifetime in the arteries.

Hiking thru La Candelaria up to Egipto.

Lots of police and security.

Meat everywhere.

A party on the street nearby.

Quite a crowd!

A safety officer on the watch.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

How to Kill a Neighborhood

When the city slashed a four-lane avenue through the hardscrabble Egipto neighborhood above La Candelaria last year, it may have eased the commutes of some wealthy Bogotanos, but it cut the heart out of this already-troubled neighborhood.

A mother and daughter walk past a spot where small
businesses were demolished to widen the avenue.

Construction not only razed small businesses and homes along the avenue route, it also divided the neighborhood in two and has residents risking life and limb to cross what had been a narrow street.

Few residents of the impoverished and high-crime Egipto neighborhood own cars, but they suffer the expanded avenue's dangers, pollution and ugliness.

Planners seem to have forgotten about pedestrians: Street lights are far apart. Here, two women climb over the dividing rail. 

Pedestrians then must wait for a chance to cross the avenue.

The avenue benefits wealthier outsiders. Few Egipto residents own cars. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Egipto's Three Kings Festival 2015

An old man named Reginald and a little girl dance for coins at Egipto's Three Kings Festival.

A few scenes from the Egipto neighborhood's annual Three Kings Festival, which kicked off today and continues thru Monday. Altho the event is nominally Catholic, it's basically gluttony, alcohol and loud music. Egipto is a rough neighborhood located above La Candelaria. The festival is being held on La Circunvular Avenue.

This year's was the festival's 100th anniversary, reports El Tiempo.

A couple dances in the street at the Three Kings Festival.

The chicha queen at the Three Kings Festival.

Dancing in the street!

The view down hill thru La Candelaria to the city center.

Cops frisk young men as they enter the festival.

Don't look for health food.

Pouring chicha, which is made from fermented corn.

The city skyline seen from the Circunvular in Egipto.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Egipto's Three Kings Festival

Young men dressed as the Bible's kings walk thru the festival's crowd. 

Have a beer. 

This was a big weekend for festivals in central Bogota. Yesterday, was La Perseverancia's annual Chicha Festival, and yesterday and today was the Egipto neighborhood's annual Three Kings Festival, honoring the biblical kings who brought gifts to the baby Jesus.

Plenty of chicha for sale. 

With more spirit of fun than religious reverence, the festival is the Egipto neighborhood's annual opportunity to show off. The rest of the year, this poor neighborhood with a reputation for crime and social troubles, attracts few visitors.

Masato, made from fermented rice.

A view of the crowd and Egipto's centuries-old church. 

Garbage collectors get into the fun. 

Selling guarapo, or sugar cane juice.

Views of Egipto's hillside neighborhoods. 

Not vegetarian territory. 

An old woman makes her way uphill. 

Revelers. 

A family takes a picture with the Three Kings. 

Trying out a hat on Tenth St. 

On homemade sleds, kids slide down one of the neighborhood's steep streets.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours