es peligroso

[asakiyume]

A couple of times when we were in Bogotá, we ventured into places we shouldn't go. Both times locals swooped down like guardian angels to redirect us.

Once was when we started up a path into the hills, thinking vaguely that it might get us up Cerro de Monserrate, a mountain that's a pilgrimage site and from which you can see all of Bogotá. I wasn't super keen on being along on a trail in the hills, but Wakanomori pointed out that there was a grandfatherly-aged man up ahead of us, with a child, and that so long as there were other people around, we'd be fine.

We hadn't taken more than two steps on the path when the grandfather turned around and came up to us. "No vengas por aquí,"** he said. "Es peligroso." Don't come here; it's dangerous.

I don't know whether he meant the path itself was dangerous--like there were steep drops or something--or that there might be other sorts of trouble, but we didn't argue. We just said thank you and that we'd turn around. We took the cable car up Monserrate instead. It was magnificent.

cable car going up


view from the top


The other time was when we went to see the church that's right at the edge of the Egipto neighborhood, which has a fair amount of gang violence. (Basically, as you go south from Bogotá and up the sides of the hills, things become more precarious.) We walked up the steep streets (not yet in Egipto)...



... and came to the church (there are many, many beautiful churches in Bogotá). It was begun in 1556 and finished in 1657, but the present look is due in large part to modifications at the start of the 20th century.



You can see that there are paintings on the wall beside the stairs to the right of the church. Up just a little way past there were some interesting wall murals, and we decided we'd juuust walk that far and take some pictures. We started walking, but two women, coming up in the direction we'd just come, called to us and came hurrying our way.

I didn't understand what they were saying at first--and they recognized that I couldn't, but they persisted anyway; they didn't give up. I finally understood that they were asking if we were sightseeing, and I said yes. Like the man on the path, they said it was too dangerous. Safe as far as the church, but no further. Wakanomori recalls, though I don't (maybe because I was struggling to understand and respond to the words), that the woman drew her hand across her throat, miming death. Point taken! We thanked them and went back the way we came.

I was really grateful that people looked out for us in that way.


**What I remember is "No ven por aquí," but when I check online, that seems to be grammatically wrong so ... I'm putting in what the internet says is right.

Comments

[sovay]

A couple of times when we were in Bogotá, we ventured into places we shouldn't go. Both times locals swooped down like guardian angels to redirect us.

I am glad that you met people who were kind.

[asakiyume]

Me too. The fact that--wow, I still want, superstitiously, to say "touch wood," even though the trip is over; maybe because I'm afraid of jinxing potential future trips--nothing at all bad happened to us on our trip, in spite of the fact that we were warned about all kinds of potential horrors, made me feel extremely grateful and humble.

It's taken a long time to post this entry. I nearly didn't last night, either. I've been (like most people I know) oppressed by the news, had my mind in a vice that won't let me think about much else. There's a not insignificant amount of self-loathing that goes along with all that, as all the people saying "If you ever wondered what you'd do in Nazi Germany... now you know" have made me pretty aware that what I would have done is only slightly north of F-all. My stories from my trip feel stale in my head, are a product of privilege, and seem irrelevant and escapist.

But mental incapacity and self loathing, not to mention obsession, are pretty useless states, and some part of me believes it's not pointless to talk about people going out of their way to be thoughtful, even if (especially if? I don't know) it's people in a rough neighborhood being kind to clueless tourists.

... This is both an apology and an apologia for this post. I know you didn't ask for either; I just am latching onto your comment as an excuse to explain. Maybe this comment is what I should have posted, but then I wouldn't have had an excuse to put in photos.

[amaebi]

Beloved, one of the low-key horrors of Now is that people talk as of only All or Nothing were viable. But once you notice that, you know it's foolishness, a sterile idolizing of Purity, and simply impractical.

You are continuing the high-cost justice work you do by teaching at the jail, and you are going to protests, and I bet you are doing more. I value, esteem, and love you, and wish I were doing so much.

(And, separately, I have guilt problems, too, but I am finite.)

[asakiyume]

The crazy thing is even recognizing the truth of what you say--and maybe this is true for you when our positions are reversed (or when someone else is in the position of offering reassurance or encouragement to you)--I still end up feeling all the negative feelings. I'm trying to just not give those feelings much notice, though.

[amaebi]

Yeah. Drips of justice to fill the reservoir to bursting. Each of us is tiny.

Argh.

[osprey_archer]

This comment really resonated with me: I know I've had the same reaction to the news, the feeling of self-loathing at not being able to do anything - which can paralyze even what little I can do. (I think I feel like what I ought to be able to do is fix it and that's obviously beyond my power - and anything smaller than that feels like nothing. It's the starfish problem.)

Maybe you could post this comment as its own entry, too? I think a lot of people must be feeling like this and just knowing that we're all feeling like that together might make it easier for us to do the things that we can do, however ineffectual they feel.

[asakiyume]

Thanks for suggesting this... I will do it.

[sartorias]

So glad that people watched out for you!

[asakiyume]

Me too. In both cases, it wasn't people from safer neighborhoods dissing the rough neighborhood; it was people from the rough neighborhood itself warning us away.

[amaebi]

In my experience, when you're where people live, there is kindness. It's the burnt-out areas that are riskier.

[asakiyume]

That's a good point, and we were definitely in a neighborhood that second time. (The first time we would have been away from people if we'd kept walking, but we were still on the edges of a neighborhood.)

[khiemtran]

I'm glad there were people looking out for you!

[asakiyume]

Me too. We tried in general not to take foolish risks, but it was nice to have guardrails like this.

[minoanmiss]

You are a blessing, and I'm glad you found guardian angels along the way.

[asakiyume]

It was a good reminder that we can all be angels in people's lives.

[zyzyly]

What a beautiful view from the top! My guess is that the danger was some other type of trouble, and probably for the best that you avoided it.

[asakiyume]

Yeah, I don't like being timid, but I'm not in favor of courting trouble, either.

[e_d_young]

I admit I was uneasy when I saw your post in mid-May announcing your upcoming adventure. I thought the potential for danger was too much, especially with the turmoil in Venezuela. So I am very, very glad to hear that people spoke up and helped. It's odd, but now that you've shared this aspect of your trip, I don't feel at all surprised by their kindness.

[asakiyume]

Bogotá is a lot, lot safer than it was 10 years ago--and of course any unfamiliar place can have risks--but yes, me too.

[mallorys_camera]

The Roe v Wade showdown was gonna come sooner or later.

To me, the more important issue is the "detention centers" being set up for refugees because they are such an obvious test balloon for the more overt atrocities associated with fascism.

I think anything we can say about positive experiences with those people who have been labeled The Other is a strong political gesture.

Plus, you write beautifully, so I always enjoy reading whatever you have to say.

[asakiyume]

Thank you so much for saying this... I feel like my blog writing is pretty pedestrian, so the fact that you can enjoy it for the writing style makes me happy!

And yeah... I do think we have to keep reminding ourselves of what's good. And you know, what I saw in Colombia was people who really, really want to have a good life, a safe life, really trying to do just that. This country has been wracked by all kinds of troubles, but people really do want it to be better.

[selidor]

What the other folks said. I also appreciate hearing stories like this of the straightforward humanity of people unfairly typified, in places reported as being to avoid.

[asakiyume]

Thank you ♥

[teenybuffalo]

The places you went look well worth going to, exactly as far as you did.

I can imagine the tone of people's voices as they warned you out of their neighborhoods. This one time in 2004 I was in Leeds (the one in England) on 5 November and I got lost and kept going round the same block, and the fourth time I passed one bar, the bouncer, who looked like Igor, told me kindly that I was an obvious tourist and shouldn't be in the neighborhood on foot. My 40 lb. knapsack and I got a cab.

[asakiyume]

I was in Leeds (the one in England)

I'm giggling just a bit at the thought of you walking around a block in Leeds, near Northampton, MA.

That was decent of the bouncer. The world actually has a good supply of decent people. Or at least people who act decently a fair amount of the time.

[mount_oregano]

"No ven por aquí" is not necessarily wrong. It might depend on just how polite the man was being -- in this case, very.

[asakiyume]

I was hoping a Spanish speaker would let me know. Thank you! Also, three cheers for my memory, not as faulty as it might be.