I am absent from church this Palm Sunday. I have already explained why in earlier posts and it doesn´t bear repeating. I did see a mass on the TV in my room this morning before breakfast. It was actually very simple and very moving with a young woman with a beautiful clear voice and guitar providing the music instead of a choir. Following breakfast I went walking in a neighbourhood nearby that I haven´t visited. Nothing interesting to report. There is a certain sameness about neighbourhoods in this city, but I´m still glad I went if for the simple reason that once I return home I should find myself regretting that I didn´t.
I did hole up for a couple of hours inside the snooty French cafe where I ate chocolate cake, drank two cups of coffee and bought another bag full of chocolate truffles soaked in rum to bring back to Vancouver with me. That and five or six books in Spanish and two lavishly illustrated books of birds of Colombia including some of the most beautifully stellar species on this planet and yes, I intend to draw and paint all of them. Staff in the French cafe and a neighbourhood cop who is apparently a friend of the establishment took interest in my artwork and we had a pleasant conversation in Spanish.
I was originally going to settle for just one bird book to bring home with me but when I saw this other one in the book store in Usaquen yesterday I was smitten. I did not have enough Colombian funds with me to pay for it, so over sparkling mineral water and a decadent chocolate mousse dessert called bomba de amor or love bomb in a local cafe I realized that I had plenty of American funds with me so on the advice of staff when I returned to the book store I went to a local cambio to exchange some of it for Colombian pesos and now I have not one but two more lavishly illustrated bird books to add to my personal library.
I have seen three people carrying palm branches today, likely obtained at church. They all looked kind of grumby, by the way.
There is a light rain falling and it is a bit chilly so I kind of regret not wearing a sweater but I have with me mi mejor amigo en Bogota or my best friend in Bogota, namely my umbrella.
Yesterday I attended my last English conversation group here in Bogota. I have really enjoyed participating in these sessions and it has been very rewarding meeting all these people here, getting to know them a bit and learning from them more about Colombia and their lives here. One friend and I had a very interesting conversation on our way over to the group and he agrees with me that many Colombians are hobbled by apathy that comes from despair because the corruption in this country is still so widespread and I think everyone is weary and burnt out from the conflict, even if it is past. But I also see many people here forging on ahead. I only hope that they extend their ambition beyond simply making their own lives more economically prosperous and can also spearhead some positive social change here. I hope to see also more of the same in Canada.
While in the cafe today I read part of a disturbing article about the local trade in captive wild animals. They are for sale in one of the public squares in the southern and poorer part of Bogota, wild birds, especially macaws, ocelots, turtles and other species, all sick, malnourished and mistreated. This is one of many examples of the kind of endemic corruption here.
What does it take to help a people acquire a moral compass.
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