Bolivar, Cathedrals and hotels

[dennislevy]

 
I was in Armenia for two days and now Pereria. On of my routines of life on  the LAM (Iv e been travleing in Colombia now a bit past 6 and a half months) is always to go to the muncipal square in a cty, almost always its called Plaza Bolivar. I sit in the cathedral (the largest Catholic church in that city) and just,,,,be still... for a few ninutes.  I am not a Catholic, but I watch the people.....I appreciate the archtecture and enjoy doing this.....I call it......taking out insurance.. jejeje3e
 
Another constant in the municipal square is a statue of Simon Bolivar...
 
In Arnenia the statue of Bolivar is  conventional....standing, dressed in uniform, hands resting onthe hilt of a sword.
 
But the catedral is very modern....white......a series of 4 very high triangles with thin bands of stained glass edging the triangles. It has a bit of a feel of the famous Sydney Opera House which has a motif of sails, instead of triangles....The exterior doors of the cathedral are (I think) aluminum...and are decorated with panels of tin bas relief images of figures and scenes from the Old Testament. There isnt much of the traditional Catholic art in the Armenia cathedral, a slightly larger then ife sized wooden imagie of Jesus on the cross. a  statue of Mary and child and two small banks of candles...the central triangle at the apex of the cahedral is at least 80 feet high.
 
So a traditional Bolivar statue and a very modern cathedral.
 
The order is reversed in Pereria s  Plaza Bolivar. The cathedral is traditional,  dark, big, lots of statues  lots of candles. The top above the brick front  which are cupolas reminds me of the Mormon temple in Logan, Utah! 
 
On the other hand the statue of Bolivar is MUCH different, it s impressionistic.....Bolivar on a horse that flows through the air.....the face is clearly recognizable but the torso and the legs suggest nakedness and he melds with the horse......its almost as if Bolivar is a centaur.....half man, half horse....and he is holding an impressionistic rendition of a  flag.....This morning there were jsut FLOCKS of pigeons perched on this unusual rendiiton of the ONLY MAN IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD TO BE THE PRESIDENT OF THREE SOVEREIGN NATIONS!!!
 
Don t EVER underestimate the importance of Bolivar in Colombia, Venezuela and Peru. His lieUtenants and admirers, San Martin, Sucre, and O Higgins  are the national heros of Argentina, Equador and Chile. Today 181 years after his death...Bolivar is STILL the most important person in the history of this continent.
 
A good rule of thumb  for gauging the price of a hotel in the downtown of any city or lage town in Colombiai is to ask,,,how far is it from Plaza Bolivar? if you can see the statue of Bolivar and the cathedral out of your window, you re going to pay a premium.
 
In Arnmenia, I stayed at the Toledo Plaza.....a block or so from Plaza Bolivar but there are no views of the sqaure.....good hotel.....clean...decent sized double bed.....no breakfast hot water...35,000 pesos. about 20 dollars.
 
In Pereira i am staying in a terrific small hotel on Carerra  8A, about 10 blocks walking form Plaza Bolivar...also 35,000 pesos.....without breakfast...but there is good bakery a block away and this morning I had scrambled eggs, a large tinto and a cheese croissant for 3,000 pesos......I checked a hotel facing Bolivar Plaza........asked to see a room, I looked out of the window and there was Bolivar the centaur 5 floors below me...and that view cost 163,000 pesos...$91.00 USD with breakfast.
 
More to come.....     
 

[fathertime]

 .but there is good bakery a block away and this morning I had scrambled eggs, a large tinto and a cheese croissant for 3,000 pesos....

Thanks for the report dennislevy!  I'm amazed at how inexpensive your breakfast and wine was....


Fathertime!

[dennislevy]

FT
A tinto is ALSO black coffee! jejeje
 
Dennis

[michaelb]

That's what I was thinking. Why drink wine for breakfast? Whiskey or beer, sure. but wine?

[AndyLee]

dang, you showed up in Pereira the week after I left there. If you have extra time come on out to the north valley and hang out for a while, would be delightful to visit with you

[dennislevy]

Im finishing up in Pereira.....leaving in about 30 minutes and heading to Cali.

Pereira is very liveable.....I liked the feeling of the city, on the lamposts of downtown Pereira are hung the flags of the nations participating int her 2011 FIFA U 20 World Cup...the weather has been perfect....found a great hole inthe wall for empeñadas......

This was my second trip to Pereria and its an incredibly reasonable  place to meet and date women....I have a great hotel to refer...brand new and clean, I was there during the fsit week of operation its called Sueños de Cafe at Carerra 8, numero 23-14. Friendly owner, smallish but very nce rooms...hot water.......35,000 for a very smalj but immaculate single room, 50,000 for a room with nice matrimonial bed, even if you have a guest in the room, its 50,000.

The  best restaurant I ate at was Mediterranoe Cafe and Bar....at Circumnavigar 4-47......a huge portions......and terrific outdoor rormantic atmosphere. One nght i had seafood crepes and a  cream of shrimp soup for 33,000 pesos, last night fliet mignon...Colombian style with a sherry based sauce and mushrooms, boiled potatoes and a crisp COLD sde salad for 29,000 pesios..

Excellent service and terrific chow!

In four days and three nights in Pereira, I dated  two new women in Pereria and visited a third at ther  home (a woman I had known and dated before)..... they were 38, 39 and 41......All had one one to three kids.

The woman at her home, who I consider a good amiga  was pretty matter of fact.....it had been A while for her and I was happy to oblige.......and we had a gorgeous afternoon.......the other two were women I had chatted with on cupido before I came to Pereria this time. We went out.......at the first date......they had the usual should I or shouldnt I? debate with themselves in front of me.......I was patient, and I hope charming and  romantic......and helpful, but not pushy in their decision making!

The hotel owner was disceet...and everyone was happy....

Nothing in Colombia surprises me anymore.   I like to think Im very personable, speak very good Spanish and understand the culture.................but of  course, there is a regional bias joke about women in Pereira.......

I can t say I agree or diagree, but iwas one of the busiest three days stretches I v e had in Colombia!

On to Cali!
 

[benjio]

I absolutely adore Pereira and plan on being there for at least three days in November. The city is everything  you've described and so much more. If I live anywhere in Colombia in the future Pereira is at the top of my list. Perfect combination of big city amenities with pueblo charm. And the women there are amazing!!!

[whitey]

Which of the three major cities in the region (Pereira, Manizales, Armenia) is better for a 40+ gringo?  OK, I know this is very subjective. 

But which would be better for spending a lot of time in (even retirement)?  Weather, things to do, city services (i.e. transportation), people, affordability, etc?

[benjio]

Manizales is surprisingly cold. A lot of people don't realize that before going. It can easily get down into the 50's F or lower during the latter months of the year. If you're a single man over 40 and you're looking to date, again, I would not recommend Manizales. The city is filled with female college students. It's kind of like a single 40 year old man trying to date in Austin, TX. Sure you have potential matches there, but most of what you're going to run into is young UT College girls. Most of the single women I ran across there were studying and had no interest in building or even being in a relationship unless it was with another college student. I will say this in support of the city...Mani has great museums and lots of very old churches. The Feria of Manizales is also there so in terms of things to do, it probably wins in that category.
 
Armenia is a very "old fashioned" city. It's kind of folky and old school but you can find all modern anemities there. It has a small town feel to it even though I'm sure there are several hundreds of thousands of people that live there. Armenia is where a gringo can go and get completely lost. No one would ever find you if you didn't tell them exactly where you were. I was there for 2 days and have probably never been more bored while in Colombia. If you're not shopping for Colombian handcrafted arts, there's really nothing else to do but get drunk. Living there is definitely the cheapest option out of the three cities though.
 
Pereira offers a great mix of the best things about Colombia. Beautiful single women of every age range, great coffee, a good variety of food, numerous shopping malls, the best public transportation system in Colombia, a fun night life, gorgeous weather (although it rains a very early almost every morning), etc. The city is also in the middle of everything in that area of Colombia. You have Cartago 30 minutes away, Salento 2 hours away, Manizales an hour and a half away, Armenia two hours away, Cali five hours away (more or less...depends on the weather and the driver), and Medellin about 6 hours away. I used Pereira as a headquarters to visit every single one of these cities except Medellin. I just can't say enough good things about the city. Pereira is my pick for the Gringo of any age!
 
Dennis' turn...
 
 
 
 

[AndyLee]

I second everything Benjio just said. With the possible exception of his comments on Manizales women being all college students, that's a pretty broad generalization. I've had some terrific short term romances with several women from Manizales and wouldn't hesitate to cast my net there again except I'm in a committed relationship now.
Pereira is my top pick of all Colombian cities. Compared to other cities where I have lived (Bogota, Bucaramanga, Barranquilla, Medellin)(and visited.....Cartagena, Santa Marta, San Gil, Le Ceja, Armenia, Manizales and scads and scads of others) Pereira offers the best of city life in a small bundle and the weather is terrific, not too cold and not too hot. The afternoon rain storm is something you get used to and you plan your outside activiites around it. Its because of the rain that the area is so verdant and fecund.
I've lived in a pueblo about 1.5 hours away from Pereira for nearly a year. I go to Pereira once or twice each month for my city fix.

[whitey]

Thanks Benjio, AndyLee ... that's just the kind of great info I was hoping to get.  Pereira it is then!

What about the security situation there?  I heard that there are FARC in the mountains nearby?

[AndyLee]

No FARC in Risaralda Departamento......I've lived in these mountains and valleys around Pereira a while and have never heard mention of FARC being close to here except south of Cali and over around Neiva about 6-8 hours from Pereira. There are gangs in Pereira but similar to any other city of 1 million people there are some bad guys and some good guys and lots of people in the middle. However, FARC is on the move now that the Colombian Army is closing in, so they are liable to pop up anywhere.

[benjio]

People in Barranquilla were telling me the same thing before the first time I went to Pereira. "Don't go outside the city because there's gorillas in the mountains!!!"
 LMAO!!! Sometimes people there can be so damn ignorant. You should hear what they think about the United States. Your average poor, isolated Barranquillero gets his perspective of the world from what he sees on TV. That's his one and only access to any place South of Soledad, and north of Salgar.

[whitey]

LMAO!!! Sometimes people there can be so damn ignorant. You should hear what they think about the United States. Your average poor, isolated Barranquillero gets his prospective of the world from what he sees on TV. That's his one and only access to any place South of Soledad, and north of Salgar.

Well, there's a lot of truth to that, but the same can be said for many people from a lot of different countries.

During the last 3 years I've started becoming willfully ignorant of a lot of the "news" in the world.  I used to be very interested in current events, politics, etc. But I really think the advent of 24 hours news, sensationalism, and pervasive negativism is destroying our culture and making us less happy ... so I'm tuning out what I can ...

Off topic, but there you go ...

[Flyboy777]

Hey Dennis...


Interesting about your taking some time sitting/resting in the local cathedrals....  I actually enjoy doing that too for both a little respite from the hustle bustle, observations etc, BUT ALSO to hopefully listen to some cathedral organ music.   Did you get to hear some choir music or practice sessions while there?   I've always wanted to get my hands on a South American Cathedral organ!     


Off topic I know but I really enjoy the cathedral organ and have built myself an organ in my villa where I live.   Can rattle the walls.   


Here's a vid of me playing the one I built.....  :-)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uAZxTBDSh4&feature=related


FB777

[Researcher]

                       Hey Dennis, ever been to the salt cathedral in Zipaquira?

                       

                       

                       

                       

     Researcher

[dennislevy]

Researcher

Yes, Iv e been to the salt cathedral in Zipa...a couple of times with dates

Flyboy

thanks for the link to you tube.....you sound great!

No, I didnt hear any organ music and I may haver missed it but I ddnt notice an organ in the cathedral in Armenia.

Remember, that the biggest Catholic church in any sizeable pueblo or city in Colombia is called the cathedral...but its not a cathedral in the sense that Notre Dame or Chartres in France...or St. Patrick in New York is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church. I thnk Im correct in saying there isnt a cathedral in THAT sense anywhere in Colombia, not even in Bogota.

When Pope John Paul II came to Bogota  many years ago, he celebrated an outdoor mass in Parque Bolivar in Bogota.   

Getting back on topic.....Althiough I havent seen much of the three cities, I ve been in all of them and Andy invited me to chip in on the Manizales, Armenia and Pereria comparison. All of of it has been said

Manizales IS chilly.......The only two places in Colombia where Ive worn a leather car coat are Bogota...and Manizales.  Lots of steep streets...some with cobblestones. Some parts of Manizales have a feeling of San Francisco

Armenia...pretty women, fairly inexpensive...lots of crafts, Armenia has 2 large parks outside of the city, Parque Nacional de Cafe and an amusement park for kids and I forget the name. 

Back in May, 2008, I took a 21 day road trip with my then girlfriend.........who was from Ibague and we spent some time  in Manizles and Armenia....Funny aside, she didnt want to go to Pereria wth me....and she told me the standard joke about women from Pereria.

If you point to a chair and say..please sit down, a woman form Pereria will take their shoes off and lie down on the bed.

Anyway, I liked the Parque Nacional de Cafe quite a bit...beautiful, spectacular grounds, a little Disneyesque in a couple of the attractions.....there is a US army jeep from WWII on the grounds and I swear, everybody has had their picture taken in fornt of or on the roof of that jeep, I stll have photos of my ex novia on top of the jeep.  The Parque Cafe is well kept and very clean. if anyone goes to Armenia to date someone ... it is a very nice day trip..and a bus trip that is less then 2000 pesos a person.

I recall that a package deal for the two parks and two hotel nght was pricey
if you go to both parks, you can do way better...booking the hotel separately and just buying day tickets to enter the parks.

Pereria, the best of the three, a nice CITY...very inexpensive to date there....very nice weather, a minimum taxi ride is 3900 pesos, 4600 with a night or wekeend upcharge.

if i had to live in any of the three.......I would choose Pereria.