AFECTO is a relentless NGO fighting against child abuse and organizing annual conferences in Colombia to improve professional and public awareness for decadesI arrived in Bogota last night close to midnight. Jairos a dear friend, one of the staff at AFECTO, the child abuse prevention organization in Bogota, with whom I can communicate only in Spanish is waiting for me. But he has situated himself so close to the exit, had he not unsurely call my name, I could have easily missed him! He must have planned to make sure he would be able to see me the moment I stepped out of the exit door, what a kind heart and such hospitality... He is already on the phone with Isabel, my hostess, the director of AFECTO and a renowned psychiatrist in Colombia, letting her know I have arrived. I am so happy to see him, I am already giving him a big hug, Turkish style... My Spanish is a bit rusty not having used it for almost a year, so very little intelligible conversation in the car. I don’t understand most of what he says, I am unable to form my sentences…
Jairo, a purely gentle man and gentleman among AFECTO staff
Very frustrating, but it will get better, I know, and it does. On the way back to the airport in 4-5 days, Jairo, Fernando, another AFECTO staff and I will have a phenomenal conversation with some great laughs, of course with some use of my little Spanish travel book. After going to bed in the wee hours of the morning, I wake up around 9:00 this morning. Good thing, the breakfast at the hotel is until 10:30 on Sundays. I bump into my now dear friend Walter Lambert, a child abuse pediatrician like I, who is a Cuban American by descent, born in the US. He and I had taken a long walk at one of the major urban parks in Bogota a few years back and had had unforgettable conversations. He delivers me the plan for our Sunday: Fernando from AFECTO will drive us and perhaps other speakers from the conference to Miguel Barrios’ house in La Calera which is a suburb of Bogota up on the mountains to the north.
Fernando in pink and Miguel our host carrying pizza ingredients to the patio
Miguel and his lovely wife Catalina have also become my
close friends in Bogota in the last several years. Miguel is also a
pediatrician, who is an attending at Meseri Cordia Hospital in Bogota affiliated
with the National University. On the side, he not only runs the child abuse program
at the same hospital, but also moonlights for a neonatal intensive care unit at
another hospital. He writes books, publishes papers, and engages international
partners like I on his research projects. There is no getting away from many
projects Miguel always has going, which I am honored to be a part of. Catalina manages her big family of four boys including Miguel as I joke lovingly as well as a day care center that is on their property that they rent out. She might be a personal secretary to Miguel’s academic projects, too!
Both are as loving and caring as one may get in Colombia or on earth. On the way to their house, I am thoroughly enjoying the mountain roads meandering to the higher elevations. What is interesting is that, there are hundreds of bikers and some runners on the road, going uphill along with a heavy traffic of cars. I know, from my previous visits that Sundays are outdoors time for Bogota residents. The city even closes off some of the across-town highways to dedicate to bikers, runners and joggers on Sundays.
However, I
didn’t know that most of its population also went out of town in all directions
over the weekends, biking, hiking, or running with their families. Fernando
tells us that at this north exit for Bogota, they climb all the way up to what
is called El Patio that is The Patio since this is the crest of the first range
of mountains to the north of Bogota. Thus, El Patio becomes a meeting spot for
families just like certain towns during our Iowa RagBrai gets flooded with
bikers at the end of each day of biking.
The area is full of shops, cafes, restaurants, and street
vendors, who are all equipped with all the needs of their fellow residents, who
climbed up to El Patio to have their lunch in groups of friends or with their
families. It is akin to a festival that we often have throughout the summer in
Iowa City. Except that this happens in Bogota every single Sunday! On the way
back, late afternoon, we will see that they had had their picnics and gone back
home, most likely refreshed and happy!
When we finally get to La Calera, we just cannot figure out how to
find his house. Eventually, Miguel comes down in his car and leads us to his
place, which is a resort place throughout the year. It is at least on an acre,
a brick home very elegantly decorated, I will be pleasantly surprised that they
had brought four kilim pillows and a very fine lamp from their recent trip to
Istanbul, Turkey. They have a day care center built in front of their house on
the lower terrace, which is being rented out to a team that runs it. They do
have a patio on the west side of the property with an outdoors brick oven!
Catalina is working on starting a big fire in the oven, when they announce that
our lunch menu is going to be brick oven pizza. I am all for it since I know
what exceptional chefs both Miguel and Catalina are.
Miguel has already made the dough from scratch, prepared all
the toppings in bowls. The oven needs to get very hot first and Catalina is
already attending to it. In the meantime, Walter and I are curious if we could
climb up the hill behind their home. Miguel is in, Catalina chooses to stay in
to tend to the oven. I am comforted only after I learn that Catalina doesn’t
care much about outdoors activities anyway. I have a blast moving away from the
neighborhood as we gradually climb up the paved road then leaving the road
altogether and climbing up the hill. With every dozen feet of elevation, the
valley opens up before our eyes like a book. Such privilege to be living
surrounded with such beauty day in day out…
Spider plants growing on tree bark on our expedition to the hillside
After about an hour of energizing hiking, we decide to go
back feeling, we will now deserve our delicious-to-become pizza. Miguel and I
roll out our pizza, first by using a rolling pin, then and mostly with our
finger tips. They need to be baked in the oven for a bit before putting on the
toppings, maybe that is what I have been doing wrong all along. My pizza crust
never turns out the way Miguel’s will. Live and learn! Walter, being a vegan,
needs a pizza with no cheese on it, I need one with only olive oil as the base.
All three boys have individual orders, too. Good thing, we have enough dough
and toppings to make everybody happy. In the end, here is the verdict: This is
the best pizza of all times for me. Miguel my friend, if you move to the USA,
your pizza shop will make a lot of money!
In the mean time, I am gathering information on how to get to the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira. Isabel of course insists that I take a tour that the hotel may arrange for me. She is one that is all about safety and wouldn’t’ even hear about any shade of adventure. Before going to bed, I gather some information from the night receptionist that there is indeed a way to get to Zipaquira by public transportation, but the details are not very clear. Yet, even this bit of information gives me hope that I can get off the beaten path and get on a bus with mainstream people, get to know some of them hopefully, and learn Colombia and its people a bit better from within… I am content as I go to bed and dissolve in the arms of a delicious sleep.
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| Miguel and I making the pizza crusts to feed a team of 7 in La Calera |
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Miguel and Catalina's family except for Solomon, who is still sleeping with Walter Lambert |
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