Before I write this post I would like to respond to a comment from one of my readers who wanted to know why I didn´t buy even one chocolate bar from the boy who tried to sell me one in the cafe the other day. First of all let me say thank you for the guilt trip! That said, there are many factors at work in this kind of situation. I was in a cafe where this kind of transaction is frowned upon. I do give money in some circumstances but I always try to be careful not to compromise my situation given that, as an outsider, I also am vulnerable. I also didn´t know anything about this boy´s situation. Is he being controlled by a gang? Were the chocolate bars stolen? Would they be safe to eat? Why isn´t he in school? The other reason was simply that I did not want to buy a chocolate bar and I will not patronize another person by making a purchase just because I feel sorry for them. On the other hand, if he was begging and we were outside of the cafe I likely would have given him some change, but this decision would also have to be tempered with a legitimate concern to not interact with minors unrelated to me in a foreign country. Whether I bought something from him or not I still would have felt compromised and either way the kid still wouldn´t have been helped. Let´s just say that it was not at all easy saying no. I am also coming from the position that even though I come from a rich country I am not, even by Third World standard´s well off even if I can afford this trip. I am travelling under an extremely tight budget and in order to save money I even forgo public transit most of the time and walk everywhere. And by the way I did give a handful of coins to an indigenous beggar woman I saw today begging on one of the pedestrian overpasses.
Now, on with the show. I did a long walk through one of Bogota´s many hardscrabble working class neighbourhoods, about four and a half miles en route to the botanical garden. It was kind of like walking through three miles of the Downtown Eastside to get to Queen Elizabeth Park, only there didn´t seem to be any homeless people or beggars or drug dealers, all families, all poor working folk. These neighbourhoods are peppered with small independent shops, holes in the wall selling almost everything you could imagine with at least two mom and pop shops on every block. Not one Seven-Eleven or other chain store anywhere to be seen.
While crossing one of the many rivers on a pedestrian bridge I noticed two black vultures standing on the concrete bank below as though waiting for something tasty to come floating by. It is rather difficult to come by any of the more beautiful birds that Colombia is famous for. Even in the botanical garden it was mostly a local species of dove, large dark grey thrushes and assorted little brown jobs. Even with all the flowers there was not one hummingbird to be seen, though I am told that they and other gorgeous species do appear there from time to time. I think it would be cool if they would put in some hummingbird feeders ands maybe even add some peacocks but I have no idea what kind of budget they are operating with. And all said this is a beautiful and very huge garden and I will be returning a few times. There is also a cafe onsite where I sat for a while with my sketchbook.
I had a bit of fun getting into the garden. After paying the admission (less than a buck and a half Canadian) a young man wanted to look inside my bag then told me I couldn´t bring food into the garden. I had a small plastic bag with trail mix, my portable lunch. I asked him why not and he replied that it was one of the rules. I mentioned that it is a crazy rule, then crammed two generous handfuls of trail mix into my mouth before giving the rest of it to the guy at the counter to hold for me. By this time there was a bit of an audience enjoying the free show. I said to them all in Spanish that they can´t prohibit what´s already in the stomach and people, including the young man, smiled and chuckled. I am finding that if I approach these situations with a bit of humour and playfulness that people seem to quite enjoy the fun.
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