Camera

I braved the less-than-pleasant backstreets of downtown Bogota this afternoon to buy my camera battery and charger.  I´m tired of always walking around, seeing things and wishing I had a camera.

Above: A sad-looking Bogota stray dog. One of thousands.  This one was in pretty good shape, though it looked a bit depressed. I guess I would be feeling pretty down as well if my home was a sad-looking doorstep.

Downtown Bogota is graffiti central. Most are political and some are pretty impressive. Nearly all are anti-Uribe. Agro Segura was a program that was supposed to help poor, rural farmers. Instead, most of the money went to wealthy land-owners and a former beauty queen. I still don´t exactly understand how or why the beauty queen ended up with the money, but it was a pretty big scandal a few months ago.

Above: Cuba Antigua Discoteca.  I´m not sure if it´s actually functioning as a bar or apartments or nothing at all, but anything having to do with Cuba intrigues me.  A good example of a formerly attractive but dying building.  You see a lot of those former glory-type buildings here. It´s part of what gives Bogota a melancholy, nostalgic feel, I think. A lot that could be done but more that goes to waste.

Above: A typical cheap lunch spot in the city center. At this kind of place you get beans, rice, beef, arepa and a drink for the equivalent of about US$2.50.

Above: Two shoe-shiners next to my apartment. I asked the man standing up if I could take his picture and he called his friend over to sit in the chair.  Then asked me for COL$10,000. Around La Octava, there are half a dozen shoe-shiners set-up against a decaying, graffitied wall. When all the seats are full of people getting their shoes shined, it´s an impressive sight; something out of a Charles Dickens novel.