Bogota Brilliance presents the most comprehensive website about beautiful Bogota, Colombia. This website has become the most important and first multilingual source of information about this extraordinary capital city.
Find information about Bogota culture, business, restaurants, travel, tourism, hotels, fashion, and much more.
For a listing of exciting events in Bogota, be sure to visit the Events tab and May Happenings
Move over New York, Paris and London, Bogota has arrived and is now the World Culture Capital of the New Millennium!
Bogota – The Illuminating City Revealed
Over the centuries Bogota has been known by many names, commencing with Bacata, capital of the Muisca nation, where legends of gilded deities enticed foreigners to a faraway land they called El Dorado, an enchanted country of gold, destined to become the cornerstone and catalyst for the European Renaissance. The luster of Bacata, along with its highly advanced culture, metamorphosed into Bogota, a European-style city, which so zealously embraced the principles of the Enlightenment and Democracy that it soon became known as the Athens of the Americas.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Artistic Encounters in La Macarena
What began as a cold and rainy Bogota day, blossomed into an afternoon of sunshine and artistic encounters on Saturday, April 18 when Bogota Brilliance in association with Galeria MU hosted the AWC. Our intimate group rendezvoused at NC-arte, an amazing gallery that shows only installation art, where we greeted warmly by owner Claudia Hakim and manager Carmen.
_________________________________________________________________________________
THEATRE FESTIVAL REVIEW:
Mapole! Maria Barilla Breathes New Life into the Festival
María Barilla, written by Leonardo Gomez, directed by Pedro Salazar, with original music by Maestro Leonardo Gomez, marks a milestone for the FITB. This is the first time that a Colombian production has opened the festival, much to the audiences and performer’s delight. Based loosely on the life of a famous dance from Colombia's Cordoba department in the Caribbean.
The story itself is rather slight, but highlights some universal themes such as women’s suffrage, conservatism versus liberalism, land ownership and self-sacrifice. But the real focus of this production is the music and dances from the Caribbean. While the entire ensemble is uniformly impressive, the star is the incredibly versatile and powerful Natalia Bedoya.
SEE MORE on the Theatre page
Featured Restaurant
La Herencia (Entrepues) – Home Away From Home
When we first happened upon La Herencia (Entrepues), we were lured by the golden glow of the warm light emanating from within. From the moment we entered the historic house, we were greeted with a smile to match the light from the manager, whose obvious passion for the restaurant was palpable.
Created by Chef/Owner Valentina Builes, La Herencia evokes a refined and modern vision of what one’s Colombian grandmother’s country finca might look and feel like. The energy is at once familial and formal, inviting visitors to settle in for an experience that will wake up their sensations to just how good Colombian cuisine can be. And Builes circulated through the dining rooms, greeting guests, explaining the menu, the décor, and ensuring that everyone is taken care of like a treasured guest.
Partly inspired by her mother’s restaurant that is 100% Antioquan, and her desire to present a new perspective on Colombian food, that is all-too-often looked at as utilitarian as opposed to being a cuisine, Builes has been germinating the idea for La Herencia over several years. “We are lacking a lot of food investigation,” she lamented. “We have to have people understand how to eat beef, eggs, etc.” Specifically the chef was referring to Colombian’s penchant to order beef very well done, and eggs cooked hard. Tastes have been changing over the last decade or so, especially as more Colombians travel abroad, or return from having lived in other countries.
Read the entire article and see images here
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
COLOMBIA – Leader of the CIVETS
The once highly touted BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) which have by now disillusioned many investors given their troubling inflation rates and a myriad of legal complexities impacting investors, have given way to a new group of the emerging nations, the CIVETS, comprised of Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt Turkey and South Africa, have now been dubbed as the world’s new rising stars.
But in the minds of many, Colombia is by far the best positioned CIVETS nation for investment consideration, as financial leaders such as Carlos Slim and real estate savant Sam Zell and others are now naming Colombia the best nation in which to invest.
Read More in our Business Section
The Festival of a Thousand Faces
March 23 - April 8
Clowns, actors, musicians and puppets – Oh My!
The Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogota (FITB) is here again! Every two years, the world’s largest international theatre festival brings the best theatrical troupes from around the globe to perform in Bogota’s theatres, streets and non-traditional venues. Expecting over 5,000,000 participants and spectators, the capital of Colombia transforms into theatre city for this two-week extravaganza.
Founded in 1988 by plawright Ramirio Osorio and actress Fanny Mickey (an Argentine theatre artist who also founded Colombia's Fundacion Teatro Nacional) to celebrate Bogota's 450th anniversary, the first festival was presented under the slogan "An Act of Faith in Colombia" to bolster confidence and international trust during a violent period in the nation's history.
Stepping off with the (non)traditional inaugural parade on Saturday – March 24, spectators can expect the unexpected with companies from every continent and 33 countries putting on their best shows – drama, comedy, dramedy, tragedy, farce, dance, music, the surreal and the sublime all converge into a whirlwind of theatricality.
Read the entire article here
Video is Courtesy of
Mantaraya Travel - Travel Agency Colombia
http://www.mantarayatravel.com/
Colombia has long been known as the Land of Poets, and Bogota – capital of a nation where prose, poetry and lyricism are part of the people’s genetic code – has inspired many of the world’s great literary voices.
Bogota’s astonishing cultural patrimony has been the powerful key to the transformation of this ancient city into a formidable vortex of culture. The cacophony of past, present and future styles of international and Colombian music, art, theatre, dance, literature, fashion, craft, gastronomy, science and technology have fused, giving rise to the World Culture Capital of the New Millennium –Bogota.
In Colombia, one of the few countries on Earth considered by many to have the least prejudice-prone society, we are happy to report that on August 30, 2011, the Colombian congress passed a law which would punish anyone convicted of discriminatory acts of violence with jail terms from between one to two years of prison.
The Colombian constitution emancipated the slaves upon the founding of the republic in 1810, and Colombians have enjoyed the second oldest constitutional democracy in the world (after the USA). Colombia is a nation of great ethnic and racial diversity that includes a 10.5% afro-descent population, but it has long been known as a land where racial prejudice was never allowed to flourish.
In recent times, Colombian society has been unfortunately influenced by the prejudices from abroad, and the neo-Nazi groups that have take root may now be considered illegal here. The new law protects people living in Colombia from discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, political ideology or philosophy, sex or sexual orientation.
"Bogota is Poetry" - André Maurois
See Literature for more
Bogota Welcomes the Hilton Bogota
The Hilton Bogota was officially inaugurated by Hilton Hotels & Resorts on the night of February 7. 2012. Over 400 invited guests joined executives from Hilton Worldwide Corporation at a festive cocktail party to celebrate the return of Hilton to Bogota.
________________________________________________________
ChocoMaestro: Le Petit Chocolatier is Big on Taste
From the moment he arrived in Colombia from Mexico, chocolatier Serge Thiry decided to stay. Falling in love with the country and Colombia’s potential, Thiry loves the idea of being part of the development of the Colombian chocolate industry. As a Belgian, Thiry defaulted to using rich Belgian chocolates when making his delectable treats such as truffles, chocolate sculptures, hot chocolate and pastries at the two-year-old Le Petit Chocolatier, his boutique chocolate shop in Bogota. His long-term goal, however, is to use the uncelebrated cacao from Colombia.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE and see more delectable images...
____________________________________________________________
Galeria MÜ: A New Angle on Art in Bogota
Seeing a gap and filling it, husband and wife duo Carolina Montejo and Andrew Ütt opened Galeria MÜ a year ago in the burgeoning Macarena district of Bogota. Over the last year, the gallery which is the first and (to-date) only photography in Bogota, if not Colombia, dedicated solely to showing photography, has given exposure to national and international artists. Some are just starting their professional careers, while others have been practicing for many decades.
Not only has Galeria MÜ gained the respect and loyalty of artists, collectors and the general public, but they have become an integral part of Bogota’s ever-evolving art-scape. Montejo and Ütt took time from preparing for the gallery's first exhibit of 2012, Palimpsestos by internationally renowned photographer Francois Dolmetsch, to talk with Bogota Brilliance:
__________________________________________________________________________________
14 - 17 February: Bogota Fashion Week
Every year the fashion expo gets bigger and better. With a focus on Colombian designers, and a showcase for up-and-comers, Bogota Fashion Week is a great way to see what is happening in the world of Moda from a Colombian perspective. For more information, see:
http://www.facebook.com/events/274124475933633/
http://fashiontaster.blogspot.com/
__________________________________________________________________________________
Colombia Aims to Become Third Largest Economy in Latin America by 2015
Source: Merco Press
Colombia aims to be Latin America's third largest economy after Brazil and Mexico by 2015, said the country's trade minister this week during a business conference in Madrid.
''Today Colombia is the fourth largest economy in Latin America; it was the fifth four years ago. We are in the process of transforming the country so that we can say (...) we are the largest economy in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico'', said Trade, Industry and Tourism minister Sergio Diazgranados.
Currently Colombia is the fourth largest economy in Latin America after Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. However, “our goal is to become the third biggest Latin American economy and to join the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).''
In the meeting with journalists, Diazgranados mentioned that the Colombian economy grew 7.7% in the third quarter of 2011, plus having created 1.5 million formal jobs.
________________________________________________________________________________
Foreign Direct Investment Surges in Colombia
Source: Bloomberg
Colombia's peso rose to an almost four-month high after foreign-direct investment in the South American country surged and global demand for higher-yielding assets rebounded.
The peso climbed 0.5 percent to 1,837.40 per U.S. dollar from 1,846 yesterday. It touched 1,832.31 on Jan. 13, its strongest intraday level since Sept. 19. The peso has jumped 5.5 percent so far this year, the best performance among world currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
Foreign-direct investment jumped 56 percent to $14.8 billion in 2011 from a year earlier, with 82 percent going into oil and mining, according to preliminary trade balance data from the central bank released on Jan. 13. Gains in global stocks also helped boost the peso, said Julian Marquez, an analyst at Interbolsa SA, Colombia’s biggest brokerage. U.S. and European stocks rose as slowing Chinese growth added to speculation that monetary policy at the world’s second-largest economy will ease.
________________________________________________________________________________
Vice President Garzon Encourages Trade Ties with Turkey
Source: Today’s Zaman
Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzon delivered a sparkling verdict on Turkey's status as an international economic power in comments to the Zaman daily. Garzon included a visit to the headquarters of the Zaman Media Group and its sister agency, the Cihan news agency, as part of the itinerary of his first official trip to Turkey.
The visit of Garzon, who serves under President Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, marked an important step in the development of economic relations between the two countries.
Addressing representatives from Zaman and Cihan, Garzon, who attended a forum by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) last week, said he hoped 2012 would see the signing of a number of important agreements between the two countries, including the establishment of direct flights between the Colombian capital, Bogota, and İstanbul.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Zell Zeroes in on Colombia
Source: Bloomberg
Billionaire Sam Zell said he is entering the real estate market in Colombia in the next two weeks as he continues to favor international investments over U.S. property deals.
Zell, chairman of Chicago-based Equity International, will invest in real estate in Colombia and will eventually move on to residential projects, he said in an interview today on Bloomberg Television.
“Colombia is the next star of Latin America,” Zell said on “In the Loop” with Betty Liu.
Equity International’s first deal in Colombia is a $75 million investment in Bogota-based Terranum Development, a closely held real estate company, according to a statement today. Terranum is developing a 190,000-square-meter (2 million-square-foot) mixed-use complex near Bogota’s El Dorado International airport, the companies said.
Zell, through Equity International, which he co-founded with Gary Garrabrant in 1999, has invested in real estate-related companies around the world, including in Brazil, China and Mexico. His involvement in the U.S. property market is“minimal” amid low interest rates and inflation that he estimates to be as high as 6 percent, Zell said.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Bogota Named One of the World's 15 Best Cities for Business
Source: Proexport Colombia
Fortune magazine named Bogota as one of the 15 best cities for business in its annual Global 500 feature, highlighting several multinational companies that recently established outposts in the Colombian capital.
Fortune included Bogota on its short list of the top 15 new cities in the world to do business—up-and-coming cities in which investors can find skilled workforce, solid infrastructure, and potential customers.
Says writer Josh Dawsey in the “Global 500” article’s enhanced digital map of the 15 best new cities for business: “A World Bank study recently ranked Colombia No. 2 in Latin America for entrepreneurs (it takes just days to incorporate a company), but large multinationals like Bogota, too: Citibank and McDonald’s have set up there, and call centers serving the world are proliferating in the city. Why? Colombians speak clear, unaccented Spanish.”
To select cities for this feature, Fortune consulted corporate and economic development executives to determine where companies are opening new businesses, taking into account (among other factors) the age and prosperity of the locals.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Read More in our business Section
Read our article on Colombian rockers Aterciopelados
Read our article on the wonderful shop Talento Colombiano
Read our Article and Restaurant Review...abasto in Usaquen
Guest Blogger, Christopher Burke, talks about the amazing diversity of specialty districts in Bogota: