Scenes from Bogotá’s La Candelaria Neighborhood

La Candelaria is full of interesting scenes and characters. Cobblestone streets, colorful old houses, loud street vendors, actors and happy schoolchildren. The streets are full of young people from the neighborhood’s many schools and universities, who mix with tourists and local residents. On Seventh Ave., you’ll find mimes doing their thing for children’s coins; on Plaza Bolivar photographers with tame llamas and wooden ponies, sellers of corn kernels for the innumerable pigeons and sellers of cell-phone ‘minutes’; and on the Plaza del Chorro, jugglers, story-tellers and handcrafts-sellers.

Take in a play, a bike or walking tour a concert or even a hamster race in one of La Candelaria’s numerous venues – many of them free. Walk up and down the cobblestone streets, admiring the centuries-old homes and churches. Meet the people who operate the neighborhood stores and markets. Or enjoy a crepe, arepa, sancocho an ajiaco or a café in one of La Candelaria’s many cozy cafes and restaurants.

: Making music with bottles in Egipto.

: Monthly campesinos market in Plaza Bolivar

: Ant art project on the Congress building.

: ‘Street of the Bad Thief’

: Juggling in the Plaza del Chorro

: Playing with fire in Plaza del Chorro

: Relatives of FARC hostages demand they be freed by negotiation

: Playing with fire during the Septimazo

: Vases in a window of the old monastery on 12th St.

: Jugglers in the Plaza del Chorro

: A view of the hills on 12th St.

: The afternoon sun lights up clouds in La Candelaria’s Plaza de los Periodistas

: The afternoon sun lights up Bogotá’s Cerros Orientales, seen along 15th St.

: Riding under the Christmas Stars in Independence Park

: Making way thru the crowded San Victorino Market

: Changing of the guard, behind the presidential palace (Casa de Nariño)

: Cartoon characters and ‘the butterfly’ sculpture, in San Victorino Plaza

: Dressed as a rainforest tree, a man talks about the value of forests.

: A family of musicians from Monteria, on the Caribbean coast. They play merengue, paseo, puya and other traditional rhythms.

: Snow in Bogotá? ‘Snow Street’ near La Candelaria – named after a Virgin (it doesn’t snow here).

: Bogotanos watch fireworks on the Noche de las Velitas.

: Colpatria Tower, seen from Independence Park

: Christmas Lights in Bogotá’s Independence Park.

: Take a chance! Lottery tickets for sale on Seventh Ave.

: Memorial on Seventh Ave. to Eliecer Gaitan, a politician whose 1948 assassination in this spot triggered huge riots and a ten-year civil war.

: CityTV, the Bogotá station, allows people to record brief statements, which are then transmitted on TV.

: Lighting candles on Noche de las Velitas

: Art and antiques for sale on Jimenez Ave.

: Old Town Street in La Candelaria’s Las Aguas neighborhood

: What happened here? ‘Mortal Sin Street’ in La Candelaria’s Las Aguas section

: A mural on the wall of the Mercado de la Concordia, also known as Mercado Milagros, in La Candelaria, Bogota, Colombia

: A mural on Mercado de la Concordia, also known as Mercado de los Milagros, in La Candelaria

: Playing futbolito in La Concordia Park.

: Free hugs on the Septimazo

: City Hall

: A girl with her pet duck on the Eje Ambiental

: Public chess matches every Thursday at the Gabriel Garcia Marquez center.

: Hamster racing on Jimenez Ave.

: Temporary Tattooing along La Ciclovia

: A member of a religious sect sells food on La Ciclovia.

: A colorful house on La Candelaria’s 9th St.

: Performance art on Seventh Ave., during La Ciclovia. ‘Men are prisoners of their machines.’

: A ‘ghost sign’ on 10th St. in La Canderia. A store here sold Habanera cigars.

: Doña Rosa, vegetable vendor in el Mercado de Egipto

: Doña Yolanda preparing corn arepas on Seventh Ave.

: View of La Candelaria from the Deco Hotel

: A sheetfull of emeralds for sale in the informal streetside emerald market.

: Sculpture under the eaves in the Callejon del Embudo.

: Iglesia de las Aguas (Church of the Waters) on Ave. Jimenez, with Monserrate in background.

: Emerald artworks for sale on Plaza Rosario

: Garden of the Rights of Man, by Bogotá’s Plaza Bolivar

: A colorful house on Carrera 2

: Plaza del Chorro, where Bogotá was founded in 1538.

: The south side of the Cathedral of Bogotá and Plaza Bolívar

: Gabriel Garcia Marquez Cultural Center, on 11th St.

: Interior of the Casa de Citas, a Peruvian restaurant on Carrera 3. A century ago, the building housed a brothel.

: Callejon del Embudo, or Funnel Alley, leading to the Plaza del Chorro.

: Cyclists meet local kids in Plaza del Chorro.

: Cyclists in Plaza Bolivar.

: Employees of Cafe-Bici on Carrera 3 take a break and enjoy the sun.

: Omar, one of many Candelaria artists, at work in his studio on Carrera 3.