Pixelpost

Discoteca

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:26 +0000

Interior of a little Jamaican nightclub in La Candelaria.

Más Arte Público 4

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:19 +0000

soldado con granadas, en la 7a.

Bogotá and its Clouds

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:01 +0000

Bogotá has the oddest weather I've ever experienced. In some ways, it's not terribly different from my Bay Area, a modest shuffle in temperature along a 20-degree range, with some days cloudier or sunnier than others. Thing is, its oscillation along that modest spectrum is constant. Walk out the door to a clear sky and by the time you reach your office's Transmilenio stop, there's a thick grey blanket of cloud overhead. In fact, Bogotanos think they have figured out the logic of their weather: If it's sunny in the morning, it's going to rain. And if the day starts off cloudy, it will be a beautiful sunny day. I'd say it's reliable at least half the time. Andean clouds are particularly temperamental. Occaisionally I walk through the city feeling like the man in the cartoon who is followed by a raincloud. A few drops on my head take me by surprise, when ahead of me all I see is clear blue sky. I look up, and see a puffy white cloud, and down, to double check that drops of water are indeed falling. I look up again, squint, and at last make out a light patch of gray tucked in the white pillow.

Hunt for Poetry

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:48 +0000

The Spanish "caza" sounds like "casa," but the first means hunt and the second, home. Thus Barranquilla's Caza de Poesia, a bohemian lounge in the city's dark, grimy center, is not the house of poetry, but the hunt for it. That's what DJ Indigo--also the vocalist of the interstellar Systema Solar--did Friday night in pursuit of a worldly groove. Watch him in action, preparing the--wait for it...--cassette desk! Assault of the night: 80s cumbia cover of Staying Alive.

Discos

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:14 +0000

Arcomercado

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:41 +0000

Tucked inside the entrance to Old Cartagena are a few vintage book and record vendors, artisans, and hat stands.

Eco-Turismo

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:41 +0000

In the Tunnel of Happiness (tunel de felicidad)--a natural tunnel of mangroves, my elder fisherman guide, Obfaldo, and I came across this colony of crabs. The mangroves are also a popular sight with birdwatchers. Because motored boats are prohibited in the area so as not to contaminate the fish, it's a tranquil and practically undisturbed natural oasis. Obfaldo used a long stick to push our canoe through other tunnels just wide enough to fit our hollowed-out boat: the Tunnel of Love--"donde entran dos y salen tres"--and Tunnel of Sayings, and past the Isla del Pescador, where a fisherman named Pacho lived alone all his life until his recent passing at 110 years old.

Modes of Transport

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:41 +0000

Pushing back to shore, after a journey through the mangroves of Boquilla, a fishing village just outside of Cartagena on Colombia's Caribbean coast. The buses from Cartagena drive right onto the beach, which may account for their slow pace through paved streets as well.

Sin Michael?

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:15 +0000

"What will the children be without Michael?" is the question posed by this stencil on the back of a Shakespearean theater in Cartagena.

7 de Agosto

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:15 +0000

Everyone's a winner on 7 de Agosto. On this day in 1819 Simón Bolívar led troops to Spain’s defeat in the Battle of Boyacá, sealing the independence of Nueva Granada. Plenty of neighborhoods throughout the country are named after the date, including this one outside of the colonial walls of Cartagena—a section of fruit-colored cinderblock homes, mango vendors on each corner, and a sound system every few steps blasting salsa, champeta, and cumbia that almost drown out the coming and going of planes on the neighboring runway of the city’s airport.