Tag Archives for #Culture

Oh lovely Santa Fe!

Santa Fe de Antioquia is lovely. Really lovely. It’s so lovely that you’d want to introduce it to your parents; pretty, good clean fun, rich background and not everyone has been there.

So let me introduce you two.

Santa Fe de Antioquia is a very beautiful, colonial town about an hour outside Medellin. I really, really recommend it. Yes, I’ve been to Salento, Villa De Leyva, Cartagena and Santa Marta, and they all have their individual merits for the “best colonial” award. But for me, Santa Fe is the whole package: sun, architecture, bars, restaurants, history, safety and, oh, very few tourists apart from Medellin-folk escaping the city for the weekend.

Yes, well, there’s no beach I have you that.

But, if you’re after the above sans beach, then check out lovely Santa Fe.

Oh, did I mention it’s lovely?

Lovely architecture

A traditional courtyard inside the house.

Lovely, arty, cafe in the town centre.

Paisa hats!

A packed sweet stall.

A little bus for kids.

Tuks tuks take you around.

Beautiful countryside outside the town.

Going down the old lady river

One of my trip highlights was going down the old lady river on my back.

No, I’ not going mad, that is what I did.

So what am I talking about? The Rio de Vieja (a.k.a. Old Lady river) is a river about 20 minutes from Montenegro in the Eje Cafetera. For $50 mil pesos (approx. £20), you can take a boat day trip which includes guides for the day (who row the boats), transport in a Jeep Willy, lunch (which was the best meal I had in my whole trip), snacks and tinto.

The Willy picked me up at 9.30am. It was driven by Angel and packed with other passengers. It was a great party atmosphere as we tolerated the heat in the best way possible…by riding in an open Jeep along the bumpy country roads followed by a cool down in a river.

Angel Rios (yes, his surname really is ‘river’) is a lovely chap and the whole experience felt very safe. Especially once the group were all strapped into life vests. The rest of the group were a mix of Colombians…Some from other parts of Colombia and others were Colombians living abroad. Incredibly, there were no foreigners on this trip which made me immediately want to let you into this secret.

On the way to the river in a Willy ( a typical mode of transportation in the Eje Cafetera)

The streets of Montenegro

Beautiful countryside outside Montenegro

After choosing between a bamboo boat or rubber dingy, the group was rowed down the river by the guides. I opted for the dingy as was told it would be more fun but was soon gripping the edges for dear life as I questioned what I was doing on my first solo trip in the middle of nowhere.

OK, I’m going to let you into a little secret…I am slightly afraid of the sea and rivers. Yes, I know, it’s stupid, but as I can’t see what’s going on inside the sea or river,my imagination runs wild about what I may brush into…jelly fish, snakes, fishes, crocodiles. But I bite the bullet, made sure my life vest was strapped tightly and literally laid back and went with the flow letting the river’s current lead the way.

It was awesome.

The scenery in this part of the Eje Cafetera was one of the most spectacular I have seen in my life. Anywhere in the world. And lying on my back and watching the peaceful landscape pass me by was one of the most relaxing ways to pass the day and get to know the countryside.

After a while, we stopped to see a waterfall and eat lunch by the riverside. Lunch was a typical lunch for workers in the region and was wrapped up like a little parcel of delight in banana skin. A genius solution to environmental waste…

I thought it couldn’t get better. I was making friends, had a great lunch and the sun was shining. But I was wrong. I saw monkeys. Three howling monkeys were chilling in a tree watching us with mild curiosity. It was amazing.

So, that was how I spent my Wednesday some while ago in a land far far away. And all for the price of a T Shirt. I hope if you’re in the area, you’ll give Angel a call. He really is an angel and I’m sure you will have your own experience just as great as mine.*

Beautiful scenery along the river

A boat made from bamboo

Smile! You’re in a river!

Smile! You’re under a waterfall!

Delicious lunch…one of the best I had. Rice, three types of meat, yucca, plantain and potatoes wrapped in an environmentally friendly banana skin.

Leaving the river with my new friends

* Angel Rios can be reached on:
+57 (311) 744 2828
+57 (318) 794 4430
+57 (036) 753 5058
balsajelosrios@hotmail.com

I’m back

Did you miss me? I missed you.

My trip was epic. It was great! I went to Montenegro, Salento, Santa Rosa, Manizales (the coffee country), Sante Fe, Medellin (Antioquia) and Santa Marta.

Phew.

During my trip, I was rode in planes, taxis, buses, cable cars, metro, boats, (Jeep) Willy’s, horses, tuk tuks, VW Camper vans. I slept in hotels, coffee haciendas, fincas, houses, apartments and hammocks. I swam in rivers, swimming pools and oceans. I had an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite and suffered a boat of tonsillitis. I ate. And ate. And ate. The worst being the expat food in Salento, the best being the local cuisine which was cheap as chips.

I hung out with local kids, hippies, back packers, Colombian families, Americans, elderly Bogotanos, expats and pretty much anyone who was willing to engage me in polite conversation.

I had a blast and have lots of stories to tell you. Too many in fact.

So instead of telling you everything in one go, I will give you the best bits. If you want to know anything else, just ask me!

And, sorry if I haven’t replied to your message yet…I have lots to get through and will reply shortly. Promise!

Independence Day

Friday was (another) bank holiday weekend in Colombia. Yes, there are a lot of bank holidays…17 in fact. There are Bank Holidays to celebrate Saint Joseph’s Day, Labour Day, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the Assumption of Mary…etc. etc. The UK had 10 in 2012… This bodes well for when I start working.

Friday, it was Independence Day. This one I’m on board with. The man above is called Simon Bolivar and he liberated Colombia from the Spaniards… According to Wikipedia, he “was a Venezuelan military and political leader. Together with José de San Martín, he played a key role in Hispanic-Spanish America’s successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire, and is today considered one of the most influential politicians in American history.” and “Bolívar remains regarded in Hispanic-America as a hero, visionary, revolutionary, and liberator. During his lifetime, he led Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia to independence, and helped lay the foundations for democratic ideology in much of Latin America.”

So a pretty awesome guy.

He is hailed in South America…There’s money named after him, ships, his statue is in most cities and towns in Colombia and Venezuela. In fact…every city or town has a main square known as Plaza Bolívar.

So, how did I celebrate the Independence Day? By going to a finca in Carmen de Apicala in ‘terra caliente’. AKA ‘hot country’. Yes, it’s cold in Bogota, but to get some heat, all you have to do is descend the mountain to get a warmer climate.

Beats taking a Ryan Air flight.

I was invited to a finca with a pool and 15 other new friends. Hard to resist. It is a custom that many other Colombians enjoy up and down the estratos.

Here are the photos.

Let me know what you got up to.

x

Girl with parrot pet

On the way back to Bogota, we stopped off for lunch at an arepa house

I had arepa with cheese and chorizo with picante sauce. It was DELICIOUS and only 4,000 COP

How they made the arepas with cheese…They reminded me of Mexican quesadillas and were just as tasty

A friend had arepa with pork crackling (front) and black sausage (back)

The other friend had Bandeja Paisa…A kind of Colombian version of the British breakfast fry-up

The Boy

I live in the Boy. No, not with the Boy, in the Boy.

Or in other words, I live in El Chico. ‘Chico’ means boy. Well, there are no boys in my life, so my love affair so far has only been with this chico. I love where I live. I thought I’d show you my neighbourhood.

My family have lived here for years. And blimey, has the boy changed. He is now all grown up and sophisticated. Like a child’s pop-up book; new offices, apartments, bars and restaurants appear before your eyes like magic.

Chico is separated into Chico Norte (North) and Chico Reservado. I live in the ‘Reservado’ part. But there’s little reservation going on as the Brits know it. Where old houses stood one day, are knocked down for swanky apartments the next. Everything is new here. And there are some very amazing, very exclusive apartments that would make a Londoner’s eye bleed at the price and Blair Waldolf kick off her Louboutins in comfort.

I don’t live in one of these buildings. My family’s building is 40 years old. By Bogota’s standard, that’s ancient. It’s the opposite of the UK. We love old buildings and prefer them to new builds. But where we’re rich with architectural heritage, Bogota is having a boom and making their own history now.

I love the new style of buildings. The red bricks blend into the mountains as the sun sets. It’s magical.

I take a LOT of walks as I while away the days without a job. So I took some photos. I thought I’d bring you along on one of wonders around the block.

Here you go:

Is it a museum? A spaceship? No, it’s a swanky apartment.

New York style loft apartments.

Aquatic entrance.

Another water entrance.

I see a lot of these plants (front right). Not sure what they are other than popular.

A driveway that could be mistaken for a hotel.

A penthouse sits on top. It looks big.

Yesterday, a house was here. Today, it’s a building site.

Pretty, tree lined streets.

The red brick is beautiful against the mountainous background.

Houses

Yes! There are houses too…Very unique ones…

A 70′s house.

A mock-Tudor British house.

A French Chateau…

60′s house (right) with American style mansion in background (think it’s an Ambassador’s house).

And modern ‘houses’! Not sure if these are houses or apartments, but they look awesome (from afar, across a busy street).

Lazy Sunday

There’s nothing I enjoy more than Usaquen on a Sunday. Especially a sunny Sunday. Today was such a day.

Every Sunday, the old colonial ‘village’ in the North of the city, opens up with the flea market. Think a Colombian version of Spitalfields market, where you can find lots of vendors selling arts and crafts…some traditional, some quite bizarre.

To make the most of the quiet city, me and my companion walked along the ciclovia on the septima (a main road, usually jammed with traffic and honking horns). This is quite possibly the best time to enjoy a usually bustling city. It’s similar to The City of London or Canary Wharf at the weekend i.e. emptied of the usual office workers and the stress they bring. Until 2pm, all classes of Bogotanos make the most of the liberty by cycling, running, skating or walking along the massive stretch of road.

After a delicious lunch in Amarti, we strolled the markets and finished with a cup of the best Colombian coffee in Juan Valdez. I definitely recommend spending the day here as it suits all budgets. A previous time, I simply ate empanadas sold in someone’s house for $2mil pesos each, and ate them in the sunshine whilst watching the people go by.

For me, a Sunday in Usaquen is simply perfection; food, sun, shopping, culture and beauty.

Colombia, te quiero.

Ciclovia along the septima. A hub of activity for the Bogotanos.

Beautiful Usaquen square with the standard statue of Simon Bolivar.

The beautiful colonial buildings of Usaquen can be seen in background. Now are trendy (and delicious) restaurants.

Enjoying lunch at Amarti. Part of the restaurant is in a old colonial house, with a surprisingly large and airy end, with open air and a green wall. Kind of like eating in a museum. A place to see and be seen.

Enjoying coffee in Juan Valdez, Santa Barbara.

Locals open up their houses on a Sunday and sell homemade empanadas and arepas. The cheaper and equally delicious way to enjoy lunch. Arepa con huevo (arepa with egg) is seen here.

Vendors selling arts and crafts line the streets of Usaquen.

Farm Fresh

The other night, I was sitting on the third floor of WOK in the Zona Rosa, watching a film in their cinema room and meeting the part-owner of the company.

Yes…Food, film, wine, and inspiring company.

If you are follower of my Instagram photos, you will have realised that I LOVE WOK. It’s one of my favourite places to eat as I think the quality, range and price of the food are all outstanding and incomparable to anywhere in the UK….(Although, if push came to shove, I’d compare it to Wagamama…Well, for a start, they both sell Asian cuisine and use red stars in their logos). So meeting the owner was a dream come true.

They’ve just opened the third floor and expanded the restaurant to serve Japanese style cuisine on the top floor (with the lower two floors selling their usual wide menu). Whilst drinking Saki, my friend and I watched a documentary about the future of food. Yes, I was surrounded by foodies and glimpsed a peek into their restaurateur world, which I admire but could never do myself.

These folk are the pioneers of the Colombian restaurateur industry. They’re deeply involved in and proactively protect the quality, freshness and sustainable farming around Colombia, going to great lengths in their communications to tell you where the ingredients have come from in the country. For example, some of the fish they use come from the Pacific coast and is in the restaurant and on your plate in 24 hours.

After watching an unsettling documentary on GM farming, I am slightly concerned about what I eat now.

Hmmmmm…if you had known me a few years ago, you would never have thought I’d care about the environment. I was more concerned about having the perfect hair, newest handbag and latest fashion from Reiss. Now, I’m no hippie, but I’m learning to think twice about the environment and value of life.

This got me thinking. Colombia has loads of food at its fingertips. When I wrote my story on the farm in Fusa, a reader wrote in and advised me to go to the local market in the town. Turns out this is where my cousin buys his food for the household. So, one boiling hot Sunday, we piled into the car (all three generations) and disembarked in the crowded, bustling market town of Fusa.

My experiences with markets are this. I’ve been to Borough, I’ve worked near Portobello Market, I’ve seen local fruit vendors in Brixton, Wood Green and Chapel Market, Islington. But forget selling apple and pears, here you can find apples, pears, mango, papaya, fresh garlic, unrecognisable potatoes, and basically so many fruit and vegetables that I can only show you rather than reveal their names. To be honest, I was slightly bewildered and lost with the names of the food… I can recognise a lot but am no expert, so think it’s best if I just show you what I saw, so you can see for yourself:

There were fruit, vegetables, meat, herbs, plants and even pets if you wanted all your shopping needs under one, very large, aircraft type carrier roof.

The old with the new…Swanky new CCTV camera can just been seen above man’s head.

A rainbow of colour and varieties.

A root vegetable (insert name here).

Red potatoes.

A type of bean (in background). Spinach in foreground (I think).

I know this one! Yucca in the background, with corn in the foreground.

Very delicious and strong garlic.

For all your household needs…

Different shades of mango.

Herbs.

Apparently Fusa is a main market town whose economy was historically based on agricultural marketing. In the market, you can buy produce by the handful i.e. a handful of beans etc. or $2 mil pesos of bananas.

This makes the pounds to kilogram conversion easy then.

The bustling town of Fusa.

A typical Colombian tienda in Fusa selling meat and eggs.

Man making sugar cane drink. The juice of a sugar cane, mixed with honey and lemon.

The juice is strained three times before it can be drunk.

There is something quite satisfying about buying food straight from people who grow or sell directly from the farmers. It puts large supermarkets in the long forgotten memory. My chief friend said to me at the end of the documentary that every organic / non GM food purchase in a supermarket is a vote.

The following day, I bought my first organic pasta and tomato sauce.

Colombia has so many natural resources, I want to show you and enjoy them all.

Forget mirror, signal, maneuver

I want to get a car, so need to get my driver’s license. I passed first time in the UK, so this should be a doddle right?

To be honest, I’m petrified of driving in Colombia, but I bite the bullet, climbed into the driving seat and have been driving poco a poco (little by little). It started by driving the last part of the journey to / from the farm (Cajica to Tabio), then one night, my friend took me out in Bogota and made me do all sorts of complicated manoeuvres on the mountainous roads. I am still scared, and pretty much feel all the good driving etiquette I’ve been taught by my fab instructor fly out the window onto the potholed streets (sorry Ray).

So, here’s a few ‘do’s and don’ts’ I’ve learnt when driving. Fasten your seat belts as I take you on a hair-raising ride (although seat belts are not mandatory in Colombia).

Do avoid the potholes (at whatever cost). This means you preferably swerve into the next lane, but at the very least, you drive very, very slowly / carefully so not to damage your suspension. Yes, the streets are filled with crater-like holes….the sort where in the UK would be swiftly filled in overnight and forgotten about the next day. Not here. Here, they live and grow and breed until there’s a family of potholes living together in pothole heaven, each with their own permanent residence. It’s almost like the road has been bent and snapped by the earth’s movements, and is there as a friendly reminder that the mountains are part of the country. This also applies to walking too. It’s potentially life-threatening to walk in the streets without looking where you’re going. The pavement can literally fall away from underneath you as there are ‘surprise’ holes, gaps, steps and walls making sure you’re looking where you’re going.

A relatively small pothole (image thanks to ‘Good Morning Colombia’)

Do overtake and / or undertake on blind bends, in congested traffic and when other cars are approaching. After all, you don’t have the patience to drive behind the lorry / bus / horse and cart in front until it’s safe to overtake.

Don’t pay attention to traffic signs, as they are just pretty pictures that melt into the background. This includes the aforementioned no overtaking sign and most of all the speed limits. In fact, do drive as fast as you want, and there are none of those speed cameras we loath in the UK. This is great fun until you need to actually use some signs to find out where to go. These don’t exist like they do in the UK either. In Bogota, it’s generally easier as the city lies on a grid system. For the countryside, the best you can do is ask locals if you don’t know where you’re going (…and no, A-Z’s don’t exist here).

Do expect to be sitting in traffic. A lot of traffic. Traffic is so bad here that Bogota has ‘pico y placa’. Pico y placa is where (depending on your license plate), you can’t drive in the city for two days a week between 6am and 8pm. Yes, that’s right. You can’t drive your car for two whole days a week ANYWHERE in the city. This is fine. It just means you buy another car with an alternating license plate.

The traffic jams remain.

Bogota traffic (thanks to http://thecityfix.com)

Don’t stop at red traffic lights at night, it would be dull if you did. I mean, what’s the point? There’s no oncoming traffic at night.

Don’t stop for any gunmen who may be standing in the middle of the road at night. If you see anyone in the road, armed or not, do not stop and keep on driving (at speed).

Don’t pay attention to lanes. They are just for show and don’t mean slow, medium and fast traffic, but just a witty way to split the road up. It’s fine to drive in whichever lane you fancy, even oncoming traffic lanes as your one has suddenly disappeared. It doesn’t matter if it’s a mountain road with blind bends. Yes, temporary traffic lights are a distant memory.

The road falling away is just part of the fun (image thanks to http://blog.travelpod.com)

Do forget the highway code and beep your horn as much as want. You wouldn’t be taken seriously if you didn’t. Remember, you have no patience when driving, and do not bother to let other people out or give into ‘right of way’. This also applies for pedestrians. Do not bother letting a pedestrian cross the road (even if the light is green for them) as they will only delay your journey.

Do not use indicators. They are those pretty flashing light thingies which kind of look like Christmas tree lights. They’re decorative and don’t actually aid you when driving as you can turn whenever you want at short notice.

So basically, forget the highway code, and drive like you’re in a video game; driving at speed and winning points by avoiding gunmen, potholes or stray dogs.

You’re probably wondering why the hell I’d want a car after all of this? Well, I’ve always been pretty good at car racing games and can’t wait to select my car, terrain and get going.

Again, sorry Ray.

You never know what you need to be avoiding on the road (image thanks to WorldNormads.com)

My two month anniversary with Bogota

The other day, I passed my two month anniversary. Yes, I have been in Colombia now for two months. So I thought instead of introducing you to restaurants or people, I’d write from the heart and tell you about myself.

So how have I been doing? Overall very well. It is definitely the best move and I haven’t looked back once. But I’m also in a state of transition as I adjust to my new environment. Yes, I have been here loads before, and have lots of family here, but I have never lived in a place as an adult in quite the same capacity. I am also starting to look forward to getting my life sorted and getting a job so I can get some independence and really feel like I’m living like a local.

Until then, I am loving life and taking each day as it comes. I have been learning lots of Spanish but there are still times when I’m in large groups and my mind starts to lose concentration and wonder. This is when I feel detached from the family group like an observer watching a programme with the volume turned off. So I just go make a cup of tea and switch on an episode of The Big Bang Theory to make me feel at home. I still haven’t got my iPhone set up yet with a Colombian network, so am left with a rather antiquated mobile with bad reception and repetitive strain injury from the effort it takes to text someone. This will also explain my ‘on/off’ bogging. It’s a bit hard to write, tweet, Facebook without wifi, so apologies for my absence. I hope you’ve missed me? I’ve missed you.

Back to 2001

Especially you, my parents and friends….and food. That’s what I miss most about the UK. I speak to my mum daily and try to speak to one friend a week. This is by far easier when I’m not working as the six hour time difference means that I’m tucking into my frijoles for lunch, whilst my friends are cooking their dinners after a long day at work. I expect I will look back on these small things when I’m working and think how blooming lucky I was! I have started to make friends here in Colombia, and I am definitely making the effort. Thankfully, the Colombian spirit of introducing you to people and their immediate warmth makes making friends easier than in the UK. I once wrote that these types of friendships usually happen in the pub back home… after far too many glasses of wine and a drunken story that bounds you together through sheer embarrassment.

So I have been learning Spanish during the day, writing my blog, reading, and travelling around. My self-imposed ‘mini-retirement’ is coming to an end and I have loved it. Before you ask, yes I do have plans to travel further afield that family fincas. I have an idea to go on a little trip before I start working. It will be a couple of nights in Medellin (where I have family), a week in the Zona Cafetera (where the coffee is grown) followed by a couple of nights chilling in my aunt’s apartment in Santa Marta. I plan to go alone, as I honestly have never travelled alone before. The whole backpacking the world experience completely bypassed me. I also plan to buy a car. Yes, that’s right, I will be driving in Colombia. For those of you from Colombia, or have been to Colombia, you will know that driving here is completely mental. I mean insane. So much so, that I will tell you about it in more detail as a blog post. Yes, it deserves that much attention.

I also have a plan to buy a bread maker. Hmmmm, I mentioned that I miss the food from home (mind wonders off…). Good bread seems to have bypassed the Colombian market. Yes, there are specialist, posh shops around that will happily sell you bread for the price of a restaurant’s main course, but in the local supermarkets, the standard bread is pretty dismal. So, I had a brainwave. Buy a bread maker. Yes, I think this will be a decent solution to having a simple ham and salad sandwich we take for granted. God, I miss Hovis. And biscuits. And pretty much anything from Waitrose. But, my tea consumption has gone up tenfold. I have feeling I will also lose this when I start working too. Electric kettles don’t really exist here….After boiling my water in a pan for the first few days on arrival, I was handled a kettle for the cooker. This was a leap in evolution.

Hello monkey

Me and tea are inseparable

So, if you know anywhere which sells British food in Bogota, please let me know. My fab friends from home are sending me some goodies, but I have not seen a Colombian postal service. I haven’t seen a post office either. I have no idea how to send or receive letters, or where to buy stamps. The porteria handed me a letter once (from the Registraduria), but I have no idea how it go there; bike, van, horse?

For all its advancements and progression in the world economy, there are still lots of things that make Colombia stuck in its way. Like for example, a horse and cart pulling rubbish outside an apartment building so swanky, Blair Waldolf would have felt at home. Yes, it’s going to be interesting when I start working. I can’t wait to share with you my experiences.

Thank you for joining me along on the ride.

Meet Jose Ignacio Cadena Trujillo

Jose Ignacio Cadena Trujillo

Here’s another person I’d love you to meet. His name is Jose Ignacio Cadena Trujillo and he’s an artist. He lives in a small cottage with his lovely wife in the remote countryside, nestled in the mountains in La Calera, which is about 30 minutes from North Bogota. Nacho’s story is a pretty amazing one, as he has very limited eyesight. When he was just 11 years old, they found a tumour in his brain. After they removed the tumour with brain surgery, he was left with a visual field reduction in the right eye and a lesion in the left eye’s optic nerve. His memory and language skills were also destroyed, meaning he had to learn both again from scratch.

Now Nacho can see objects, colours, light and shadow, but in one eye, his visual field has been reduced by 70% and in the other, the notion of depth has been flattened. He says that he lives in a ‘2D Universe’.

Overall, pretty remarkable when you see his artwork.

So how did I meet him? He is a friend of a friend of mine. In true Colombian spirit, my friend wanted to introduce me to him, so grabbing a couple of his other mates, we climbed into the car and we were off, laden with a couple of grocery bags containing our lunch ingredients.

So what happens when you have an artist, a chief, two entrepreneur business minds and a writer stroke artist stroke unemployed advertiser? You make food, open some beers, drink tinto and you talk. Now this is the life.

Chef chops food

Delicious salad

Crowding around the food

From the outside, Nacho’s home looks quite small and quite uneventful. But as soon as the car pulled up, we were greeted like long-lost friends and hushered into his home in the famous Paisa spirit. Once inside, you are gobsmacked by the art. It’s everywhere; on floors, on walls, on canvas, on sketchpads, on paper, on print, on wooden boxes, on bottles and even the cat scratcher is an artistic sculptor. Nacho is only too happy to pull out canvases or present his vast painting on paper collections, explaining in detail each piece and what they meant. At least, that’s what I gather as my Spanish only goes so far, or it might have been that I was in a desert heaven so my mind was wondering…

Amazing view from the studio

Seduced by the desert...homemade uchuva ice cream with mint, almonds and biscuits

For those of you without a desert in hand and advance Spanish, here is that translation about Nacho’s story behind is artwork “At first, when I was a child, painting was an exercise and way of escape. Next I looked to empty all logical intention inside of me in an abstract, deep emptiness that afterwards became a noisy, dark hole with a loaded brushstroke of yellow against an orange background. That character gave me a vision for another; which in that moment needed to take an anthropomorphic direction that today helps me reference the human being (the species and I suppose my alto ego) and through this I always depict change and movement.

Afterwards, in the internal intersection and / or collision between the figurative and abstract, I returned to the parallel path I mentioned earlier in that there isn’t a clear representation….It’s more an intimate portrayal of a brain microscope and electricity that I relate to from my history with neurology, and what’s more with the heads of others. So in this story, the art materials are transformed into a beast of something so profound, complex and utterly absurd…like the homo-sapiens of our century”.

Pretty intellectual and in-depth stuff…especially for my Spanish. But, art doesn’t need a language and what I took from the paintings spellbound me. His passion and talent goes beyond the four walls of his cottage and wraps you up in a warmth of creativity. I don’t think he has a humble home at all, in fact, I think he is the luckiest man ever. Who else could have a home literally built from artwork and call it humble?

When recovering, Nacho explored his new spatial perception through his art

Nacho’s work is both figurative and abstract, but he leaves the message open for the viewer to interpret. He describes his work as a mirror which reflects the viewer’s thoughts

Nacho’s artwork costs from $ 180,000 COP to $ 7,000,000 COP

With the artist

I wanted to show his work to you because it is amazing and undiscovered. So I wanted to introduce you to him. Perhaps you would like to buy his art? Or maybe you know of a gallery that would like to?

If you would like to get in touch with Nacho, you can contact him at:

• www.wix.com/joseignaciocadena/paginadelartista
• facebook: Jose Ignacio Trujillo Chain
• Twitter: @ignaciocadena
• e-mail: ignaciocadena@gmail.com
• Phone (+57) 3125735510 or 3012556598

And yes, although his house is very remote, he does have wifi.

Scroll below for more info about Nacho:

ESTUDIOS

1994-1997. Artes Plásticas, Escuela Popular de Arte. Medellín
1997-2003. Artes Plásticas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Sede Medellín
2004. Taller Teórico de Creación Artística; dirigido por Álvaro Medina. Bogotá

TÍTULO

Maestro en Artes Plásticas de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia

EXPOSICIONES COLECTIVAS

1995. V Encuentro de Artes Plásticas Ciudad de Medellín. Salón Central. Secretaría de Educación y Cultura de Medellín. Sede alterna del Museo de Antioquia.
1996. I Muestra Estudiantes Artes Plásticas Escuela Popular de Arte. Tesorería Municipal. Medellín.
1998. VIII Encuentro de Artes Plásticas Ciudad de Medellín. Salón Central. Museo de Antioquia.
1998. Artistas Ganadores, Encuentro de Artes Plásticas Ciudad de Medellín. Salón Central 1993-1997. Hall Alcaldía de Medellín.
1999. IX Encuentro de Artes Plásticas Ciudad de Medellín. Salón Central. Palacio de la Cultura.
1999. Retroprospectivas. Versiones del Devenir. Grupo Acefalia. Ateneo Porfirio Barba Jacob. Medellín.
2000. “Acefalia”. Grupo Acefalia. Cámara de Comercio de Medellín. Edificio de la Cultura.
2000. IX Salón Regional de Artistas 2000. Bienal, Zona Antioquia. Medellín.
2000. Salón Nacional de Dibujo Universidad de Antioquia. Acefalia, grupo invitado. Museo Universitario. Medellín.
2000. XI Salón Nacional de Artistas Universidad de Antioquia. Medellín.
2001. XII Salón Nacional de Artistas Universidad de Antioquia. Medellín.
2001. Salón Arturo y Rebeca Rabinovich. Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín.
2002. Pintura por Cuatro. Alianza Francesa. Medellín
2002. XII Encuentro de Artes Plásticas Ciudad de Medellín. Salón Central. Palacio de la Cultura.
2002. Región Andina. Librería IDEA. Barcelona (España).
2005. Encuentros. Atena Estudio de Arte. Bogotá.
2005. 5. La Pared Galería. Bogotá.
2007. A mi no me invitaron. Librería asociativa Traficantes de Sueños. Madrid (España).
2007. Caleidoscopio. Centro Hispano Colombiano. Embajada de Colombia en España. Madrid (España).
2008. Contemporáneos. Galería Fenalco. Bogotá.
2010. Opening Area 23. Galeria Area 23. Miami (USA).

EXPOSICIONES INDIVIDUALES

1997. Exposición de Pintura para el lanzamiento del libro Dodecaedro de Palabras o los Círculos de Fuego. Comfama, Sede San Ignacio, Centro de Convenciones. Medellín.
1999. Dibujos y Tangos. Bar Calle Luna. Medellín.
2003. Extravío, Trauma y Llegada. Biblioteca Pública Piloto. Medellín.
2007. Pedazos de Carne. Galería Restaurante El Artista. Bogotá.
2008. Trece Tripas. Galería Restaurante Fuego y Mar. Bogotá.

DISTINCIONES

1995. Segundo puesto. V Encuentro de Artes Plásticas Ciudad de Medellín.
1999. Tercer puesto. IX Encuentro de Artes Plásticas Ciudad de Medellín.
2002. Tercer puesto. XII Encuentro de Artes Plásticas Ciudad de Medellín.

PUBLICACIONES

1995. Dodecaedro de palabras, o los círculos del fuego. Memorias del Primer Festival de Literatura Joven de Medellín y el Área Metropolitana. Comisión Asesora para la Cultura, Consejo de Medellín. Ilustración de la cubierta.
1998. Artículo El humo de Luis Tejada. Revista Universidad de Antioquia. Número 252. Abril – Junio 1998. Ilustraciones. P. 31.
1998. Artículo Querella del tratado y la tragedia de Julián Serna Arango. Revista Universidad de Antioquia. Número 252. Abril – Junio 1998. Ilustraciones. P. 59-65.
1998. Artículo Tres cuentos de Marbel Moreno de Marbel Moreno. Revista Universidad de Antioquia. Número 253. Julio – Septiembre 1998. Ilustraciones. P. 57-59.
2000. Apuntes Supieños, Bitácora de Búsquedas II de Luis Fernando González Escobar. Ediciones Caítos. Ilustraciones.
2005. Kazue Shinkawa, Poemas Selectos. Colección de poesía Prometeo. Serie Hipnos No. 14. Ilustraciones.