The first thing we did upon arriving to Bogotá was take the popular graffiti tour. Graffiti is not illegal in Bogotá which makes for a lot of beautiful street art. There are still a lot of simple tags (which have their place in the graffiti-world) but because artists can work by day and take their time without fear of getting in trouble, the city is full of mural-esque street art.
Because there is great respect amongst street artists, they do not paint over others’ art, and businesses will often commission an artist to paint an entire façade to avoid having potentially lesser-art adorning their business.
Escher-esque
Many have a social message. Our guide mentioned there is a delicate line, and if a message is too blunt, the city will paint over it.
“Esposas”in Spanish means spouses and is also the word for handcuffs.
A mural transcends buildings
A mural realized by an artist collective in Bogotá
We had been told it rains a lot in Bogotá, and since the weather seemed to be holding, we hopped right onto a bike tour that afternoon.
Bogotá’s largest market, Paloquemao mercado
Jaime Garzón, journalist, lawyer, and political satirist
Tejo, a game that is basically jazzed up bean bag toss. Rather than tossing bean bags, one throws weighted metal, and rather than trying to get it through a hole, you try to hit a target filled with firecrackers making for a very loud and startling game.
One of the players generously offered shots to our whole group of about 12
Brindis! Cheers! Santé !
This Framerican Life 
J’ai adoré entre autres le tag du lion. Ce sont de vrais artistes ! On en avait vu à Lisbonne, mais là, chapeau !
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J’ai pensé à toi en voyant les graffitis d’animaux. C’est un régal de se promener dans les rues de la Candelaría, on y trouve plein de styles artistiques différents.
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You must have had a difficult time choosing pictures of the graffiti for this blog. I especially liked the man in the middle of the bird The colors are so vivid! Another one that I enjoyed was the woman weaving with the little girl with her had on her mother’s shoulder (it brought me back memories of when you used to put your hand on my shoulder)… the hummingbird… the dragon… The one that tells so much about the political conflict of the peoples and the people in power. all over the world was the one of Jaime Garzon…. that took me to a you tube of him. He was assassinated in 1999 only 38 years old so sad and such a loss for Colombia. Missi…. la Calle de Candelaria so colorful!!. Thank you so much for sharing all of Bogota with all the produce and fruit.
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It wasn’t easy…we had a lot of really graphic and colorful photos with a lot of backstories. And the best part is we can return in a few years and it’ll be a whole new experience!
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Great colors and work !
Interesting the Manning/Snowden one with the traitor/hero question, considering Columbia was one of the most spied on countries
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