Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Ciudad Bolivar

These are a few pictures from Ciudad Bolivar, in the south of Bogotá. Bogotá, like Colombia as whole, is marked by extreme inequality. In the north, the city is as modern and wealthy as anywhere in Europe of North America, but the farther south one goes, the poorer it gets. Ciudad Bolivar is about as far south as one can go, and made up largely of groups of displaced people who have arrived to the city seeking refuge from the armed conflict in other parts of the country. Most people in Northern Bogotá never have occasion to venture to the South and the vast majority of the southerners lack the resources to make it to the North, which is quite beautiful and well organized. In Ciudad Bolivar, I am always struck by the juxtaposition of desperate poverty and spectacular, panoramic views.... it's like nothing I've ever seen, and you really have to go there get a sense for it, but I've done my best to capture some of it in photographs... more to come...