Again John worked at his company's office all day while the boys and I explored more of Bogotá. Today we visited the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum) - on the top of all of the tourism lists for Bogotá - and learned a little bit about emeralds.
The Museo de Oro was impressive. Gold was everywhere. There were thousands of gold objects from pre-Colombian times. I was surprised. In my experience, the museums in Peru and Mexico (homes of the former Inca and Aztec Empires) are very impressive but they don't have that many gold or silver items from before the arrival of the Europeans. The Spaniards took almost all of the gold and silver artwork (everything that they could get their hands on), melted the pieces down and fashioned the metals into European-style items. I have seen some pre-Colombian gold jewelry and other items from other places in Latin America, but relatively few. The sheer number of pre-Colombian pieces at this museum was astounding. I'm sure these pieces would not exist today if the Spaniards had discovered in Colombia an empire as large, wealthy, and sophisticated as in Peru or Mexico. How sad!
The Museo de Oro was impressive. Gold was everywhere. There were thousands of gold objects from pre-Colombian times. I was surprised. In my experience, the museums in Peru and Mexico (homes of the former Inca and Aztec Empires) are very impressive but they don't have that many gold or silver items from before the arrival of the Europeans. The Spaniards took almost all of the gold and silver artwork (everything that they could get their hands on), melted the pieces down and fashioned the metals into European-style items. I have seen some pre-Colombian gold jewelry and other items from other places in Latin America, but relatively few. The sheer number of pre-Colombian pieces at this museum was astounding. I'm sure these pieces would not exist today if the Spaniards had discovered in Colombia an empire as large, wealthy, and sophisticated as in Peru or Mexico. How sad!
We ran into several groups of Colombian school children who were also visiting the museum. Many of the kids found F & B as interesting (or even more interesting) than the contents of the museum. The group guides had to keep drawing the kids' attention back to the museum pieces. At one point, one of the teachers asked us to speak with the kids a little because they wanted to practice their English with the boys. Unfortunately, F & B were so shy they wouldn't speak with the other kids in either English or Spanish, and I had to speak to the kids.
The museum not only had a ton of gold, it also had ceramic items and much more.
After the Gold Museum, we met with a Colombian gentleman who I met through a fellow historian. The gentleman is Colombian but as a young boy, his family and he moved to Florida. He studied at (and graduated from) the Colorado School of Mines and is a mining engineer who has traveled the world with his work. He also speaks English like someone from the United States. My historian colleague put me in touch with the Colombian because I was interested in learning more about Colombian emeralds (and possibly purchasing one). The gentleman fit with the stereotypes that I'd heard about Colombians - that they are very friendly. I had expected him simply to recommend a reputable store where I could see and learn about emeralds. Instead, he wrote in an email message that any friend of my historian colleague was a friend of his and that he would try to meet with me in Bogotá. Sure enough, he gave me tourism advice (he recommended the Salt Cathedral - excellent advice), he met with me and the boys, and he even gave me and my colleague an emerald each. What kindness and generosity!
If he hadn't given me an emerald, I don't think I would have bought one. They are expensive and it would be difficult for me to determine the value and to know if I was paying a fair price. Also, looking at emeralds soon becomes overwhelming. There are tons and tons of them, everywhere. The scene is a bit of the wild west, and poverty and exploitation (of the workers) seem to lurk in the background. It definitely is not a "comfortable" shopping experience like at a jewelry store in the United States.
If he hadn't given me an emerald, I don't think I would have bought one. They are expensive and it would be difficult for me to determine the value and to know if I was paying a fair price. Also, looking at emeralds soon becomes overwhelming. There are tons and tons of them, everywhere. The scene is a bit of the wild west, and poverty and exploitation (of the workers) seem to lurk in the background. It definitely is not a "comfortable" shopping experience like at a jewelry store in the United States.
A woman does the final touches to our stones. We conversed a bit while she worked. She said that she is engaged. I asked if she would continue to work if she has children. She said yes. One of the good things was that she could bring her kids to work. It was good to hear that she could continue to work and could bring her kids with her, but I felt bad thinking about kids in such a cramped space. I imagine that they would be playing videogames or watching videos all of the time in order to keep them quiet and out of the way.
We also visited the Emerald Museum. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any photos of the emeralds but we could pose for photos in the lobby (where we had great views of the city) and in a pretend emerald mine.
We returned to the apartment in the late afternoon in order to meet John, get our belongings, and then brave the horrible Bogotá traffic on our way to the airport to catch our early evening flight to the Caribbean Coast.