Last week, Kathy Falk and I took a driving tour in Bogota with Jorge Rico, who had been Andrea and Arin’s guide when they were waiting in Bogota to finalize their adoption of Nicol and Jess. Below are videos of our drive through La Candelaria, which is the historic center of Bogota, and the art-lined streets of what Jorge referred to as a “Level 2” neighborhood. As Jorge describes it, Bogota society has 6 levels – Level 1 is the poorest and Level 6 is the wealthiest. Jorge explained that the street art in the Level 2 neighborhood was cultivated by Bogota’s former mayor, Gustavo Petro, who encouraged gang members who were tagging buildings to create something of better quality that the city would pay for. That initiative helped dramatically reduce drug dealing by gangs in the city because they had another source of income and pride. I’ll let Jorge do the talking because his enthusiasm for the creativity and resourcefulness of the Colombian people is infectious.
