Museum of Antioquia

This square of Plaza Mayor(same name as Madrid square) had a gorgeous back drop with the Palacia del Cultura ( unfortunately closed upon my arrival). There were the standard vendors selling souvenirs and food, and plenty of benches. 


Perhaps, it was the usual museum  setting with the park and the souvenirs, the hot dogs, and snow cones, but it had a special charm. Families walked with their children, tourists walking in and out of the museum, the sky bright, bright blue-it was spectacular.  

 There were a few museums in town to see, but this one was suppose to be the “must see.” 

It was interesting seeing the eras of Colombian art over time from romanticism to modern artwork. They had all different rooms on three floors with impeccable architecture. They had the Botero sculptures right in the entrance and featured in these paintings with the "large bodies," which is not common to see, but Fernando Botero pulls it off. 

From Wikipedia: 

Fernando Botero
While his work includes still-lifes and landscapes, Botero has concentrated on situational portraiture. His paintings and sculptures are united by their proportionally exaggerated, or "fat" figures, as he once referred to them.^[10]

Botero explains his use of these "large people", as they are often called by critics, in the following way:

"An artist is attracted to certain kinds of form without knowing why. You adopt a position intuitively; only later do you attempt to rationalize or even justify it."^{[citation needed]}

Botero is an abstract artist in the most fundamental sense, choosing colors, shapes, and proportions based on intuitive aesthetic thinking. Though he spends only one month a year in Colombia, he considers himself the "most Colombian artist living" due to his insulation from the international trends of the art world.^[10]

In 2004 Botero exhibited a series of 27 drawings and 23 paintings dealing with the violence in Colombia from the drug cartels. He donated the works to the National Museum of Colombia, where they were first exhibited

Various works

The Panama Canal

Saturday August, 16 

This was the perfect birthday weekend. It was just what I needed. After waking up around 9, my Argentinian Carlito made us some pancakes. In our hostel, they say it includes a "pancake breakfast," but they don't mention that you have to make it yourself. We were in the kitchen and I told him he looked like an expert and asked if he could make me one and our new friendship blossomed.

We sat down had breakfast together(delicious pancakes) and he introduced me to his friend Hugo and Mary. They were a fresh one month couple in love and there as the single Carlito. They all met a few months ago in Belize. They have been traveling ever since together with plans to move their stuff over to Brazil by boat. It all sounded quite complicated, but they were leaving in a few days. They stayed around enough time for me to meet them. They asked if I would like to see the Panama Canal with them and of course I said "Yes." 

        

Off we went taking one bus to another hopping on and making jokes. On the way to Panama Canal, there was the cutest boy making faces and Mary and I. We just kept playing jokes with him and he loved the attention.
When you enter the Panama Canal, you go through an average size line for tickets, which cost $18. While standing in line, we met some supercool beautiful girls from Dominican Republic. One of them worked for Pepsi events and the other was a massage therapy student.  

 

We decide to stick together since we get along so well. There is a museum, exhibits, a movie, and of course the ships coming in. They pretty much come every 15 minutes. Right when we came in, the staff told us a ship was coming. We ran upstairs and crowded behind everyone else with our eyes set on the red boat. It's pretty amazing to see the ship in front of you and to see the gates open up. It takes about 20 minutes to pass through-possibly a bit more.  When the ship passes by, I am doing my Miss. America waive.

Regardless, those on the ship are waiving at us. While I was thinking, I may not be interested in all this-totally false. Fascinating fun.

I ended up enjoying it with the museum being my favorite. It was full of history and interesting facts. There was also a live boat on some video program. You could steer the boat and act as a captain, which I did. With Carlito sitting next to me I was telling him how to turn and where we were headed. "It seems like these winds are strong so we should raise the harness." 'I was just making people laugh and it was successful.

With the group having me, we were bound to need more time in the museum and we ended up losing the Dominican girls. This was disappointing because I did not get there contact information. 

After a few hours there, we ended up leaving where we saw the little boy from the bus. I was chasing him around and he became aggressive and hit me. His mother made him apologize and he did, which was respectful and nice. I knew he was just playing, but his mom took control over the situation-good Mom. 

   
The best part of going to the Panama Canal was the face that it was the week of the 100th anniversary. It was just two days ago and they had a gigantic celebration. They had all the signs up and the blue and white balloons. It felt like it was a special anniversary and birthday time just for me. How did they know I was coming?
This was pretty exciting to come at that time. 

Museo Ruben Dario

An amazing poet who died at the age of 50 with the name of Ruben Dario.  It's a small museum with Ruben's old room, his study, old memorabilia, and his writing and poetry.  I assume that he is a poet, but I didn't get to the end yet. The kind boy Luis sits in the corner and reads. He is glancing at me and can tell I am curious about the history. I'm not the person who just stares at everything with no interaction with staff.  He closes his book and says,

"Can I help you?"
  I say, "Yes, who is Ruben Dario."

He begins to laugh and explains his history in English. His pronunciation is cute as he forgets some words. He says Ruben was a poet, an educator, a politician- he was always traveling to different countries especially Argentina and Spain. Being Priscilla, I ask about his family life, his time in Leon, his life problems, his education, and how many books he wrote. He wrote twenty eight books and had two
brothers and sisters. Being a writer, I am fixated on how many books people write and by what age.  My grandfather wrote over 50 books by the age of 81. 

As for Ruben, he was like the many poets who suffered from mental illness or addiction. He drowned his sorrows in alcohol leaving him with cerrosis and dying at age 49.  It's a whole other post about writing and addiction, but he this talented man was too young to die. He did so much for the city of Leon and he broke down boundaries and established important connections abroad. 

  Fatality by Ruben Dario 

My name is Kaspar. I the incense bear.The glamour of the Star has made me wise.I say that love is vaster than the skies.And God exits. And Life is pure and fair.

-My name is Melchior. And my myrrh scents all.There is God. He is the light of morn.The fairest blossoms from the dust are born,And joy is shadowed by a threatful pall.-My name is Balthasar. I bring a wreathOf Orient gold, my gift. I come to say That God exists. I know all by the rayOf starry light upon the crown of Death.

-Balthasar, Melchior, Kaspar, be ye still.Love triumphs and has bid you to his feast.Radiance has filled the void, the night has ceased:Wearing Life's crown, Christ comes to work His
Will.