The last two days have been very interesting. The reading sessions I could say were for the masses. On Tuesday we read to a small audience at a school run by the labor union. The people looked tired so we finished reading in one hour to allow them they go home. It was next to a bar, so we had Columbian coffee while we waited to read. The Columbian coffee is very weak. It reminds me of American coffee. Seems like they export all the good Colombian coffee. And if you ask for cafe con leche. You get leche con cafe.
We flew to Bucaramanga on Wednesday.We left at 6:10 a.m. because the area is notorious for its fogs. One could see how mountainous Colombia is. We flew over the Andes. The country seems to be made of chains and chains of mountains. We landed on a plateau on top of a high mountain. Bucaramanga is a department or province located near the Venezuelan border. Before we got there, we stopped in the city of Giron which is in the Santander Department/Province. It is an old Colonial town with white buildings and cobble stone streets. We had a traditional Giron breakfast which consist of potato soup with egg and bread in it. It is accompanied by tamale which is boiled maize, chickpeas, peppers and meat cooked in cups of banana leaves. I only had tamale and coffee. The soup did not look appetizing.
After that we drove to Bucaramanga where they famously eat dried, fried, seasoned "big ass" ants. That's there real name. I bought a pack to take back with me. We stayed in a tiny hotel located in a narrow building which one could easily pass and miss if you were not paying close attention. After a very short nap we went to do a radio interview and had lunch at a local club which belongs to the upper crust or the upper class of Bucaramanga society. You have got to have that family name to enter. We were special guests. The table was fancifully set. One would almost feel as if one was having lunch with the Queen. It was formally laid out for twelve people. After a lunch of fish and potatoes and wine and dessert, we went again for a short nap because we had been up since 4:30 a.m., then there was another interview with young poets.
In the evening we read in the street on a stage set up for a band that was going to follow our reading. We learned that time is very elastic in Bucaramanga. Our reading session which was to start at 7:00 p.m. didn't start until after 8:00p.m. The band spent an hour testing the sound system. The Colombian poet who read before us was a former mental patient. He is also an artist. Before we read, we went to visit his exhibition. We had to walk through a muddy alley to get to it. I was wearing nice shoes so I wasn't too pleased about that. At the reading he got up on stage and started making a lot of sounds. He was more like the town clown that anything else. The rest of us were really ·"pissed." Besides that the reading went well. I was ready to return to the hotel after that. The other two poets (An American and a Chilean) stayed out a little later than I.
Headed to the airport at 7:30 a.m. this (Thursday) morning and arrived only to be told that Medellin was covered with fog and no planes were flying in. It was 11:00 a.m. before the plane took off and couldn't land in the small airport in Medellin. It landed at another airport an hour and a half away. We got off the plane and later back on and finally arrived at our hotel at 2:15 p.m.
That was an interesting day and a half. I have to read at Casa de la Cultura in Municipio de Barbosa which is a one our drive from Medllin. Travelling by car this time and hope to get there by 7:00 p.m. I am reading withPedro Arturo Estrada (Colombia), Grace Nichols (Guyana) and Luis Carlos Patraquim.
Now going to rest my swollen feet.
No comments:
Post a Comment