The Bendita Chicha Festival

A few photos from the Bendita bebida festival held yesterday and today on the Plaza del Chorro de Queveda. Chicha and masato are traditional drinks inherited from the Muisca indigenous people, made from fermented corn and rice, respectively.

They're available around the plaza all the time (except during dry law), particularly in the Callejon del Embudo.

Bottles of chicha for sale.

Traditional foods.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Colombian Christmas: Made in China

A traditional toys fair in Bogotá suggest, well, traditional toys, probably made right here in Colombia.

But the 'Traditional Toys Fair' going on these days on Calle 26 instead features games which look suspiciously like they're made in China.

What did someone say about what happens to a culture which forgets its past, its culture?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Night of the Little Candles

The Night of the Little Candles, or the Noche de las Velitas, is a pretty and poetic tradition in which people all over Colombia set out candles to honor the immaculate Virgin Mary. Mary was declared to be without sin by Pope Pius IX in 1854.

The Noche de las Velitas also marks the formal beginning of the Chrismas season, altho one could understandably be confused about that, since decorations went up here a month ago.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

'A Novel, Healthy and Curious Diversion'

The athletes are lined up. 

And he's off. 

After months of absence, the guinea pig races, with all of their drama and excitement, are back along La Septima. I'd wondered whether misguided animal rights folks had gotten them run off (the guinea pigs seem healthy and well-treated), but Juan, the pigs' trainer told me that he and his dad had been racing their animals in Barranquilla.

In fact, Juan said that he and his father are the only ones in Bogotá, and perhaps the world, who do public guinea pig races. Juan said his father invented the sport about 20 years ago. Juan himself has been doing racing the animals for six years.

Which bowl will he choose?

Juan carries on a constant, repetitive refrain, pointing out that this is a "novel, healthy and curious diversion" which won't break your bank. He also informs the public that guinea pigs, known as cuy, are eaten in the Colombian Department of Nariño. (They are also food in Peru and Ecuador.)

The races, of course, aren't really races. Bystanders put coins, usually of 200 pesos, on the overturned colored bowls, each of which has an entranceway cut into its side. Juan urges one of the animals to advance. The animal is supposed to race into one of the bowls, presumably attracted by the darkness. Sometimes, however, the pigs stop halfway, or apparently can't decide which bowl to enter. So, Juan urges another animal forward. When a pig enters a bowl, whoever placed a coin on that bowl wins five times the amount bet.

Nobody's sure how guinea pigs, which are rodents, got their name. Perhaps Europeans once thot they came from Africa, instead of the Andes. Or, Guinea may be a corruption of Guyana.

An undecisive guinea pig. 

There he goes. We have a winner!

Time to line back up little guy. 

 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Easter on Bogotá's Streets

The Virgin makes her way up Calle 11.

The Congregation of the Iglesia de Egipto, perhaps the most active and observant among the churches of central Bogotá, held their annual Easter parade today thru the streets of La Candelaria.

It's a colorful, impressive affair. Nevertheless, a friend who participated in the parade two decades ago told me that back then 'it was ten times bigger.' Or, perhaps memory exaggerates.

The priest of La Iglesia de Egipto, in red and white, reads the bible while leading the procession. 

A family rests with their candles. 

A young, tired-looking gladiator. 

The banner of the 'cargueros' de Egipto. 

A packed street, but not like it used to be. 

Military drummers wait for the procession to start up again. 

A family of gladiators. 

A group of devout Catholics carry a virgin statue into the La Tercera Church on Ave. Septima. 

On the 28th and Good Friday, thousands of Bogotanos fulfilled the annual tradition of visiting 'Los Siete Monumentos', or seven churches. 

Crowds and a Jesus statue by the San Francisco Church. 

Faithful crowd the steps of Bogotá's Cathedral.

It's a capitalist society. Street vendors take advantage of the crowd on Ave. Septima.

Who would terrorize an Easter celebration? Evidently, the government believes that somebody might. Here, heavily-armored police on the lookout on Plaza Bolivar.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours