Colombia: Bogotá neighborhood defies rain with annual outdoor art festival

In rainy, gray and cold Bogotá, entertainment is usually “indoor”. Except in San Felipe, a residential neighborhood in the Colombian capital that focuses on outdoor art.

“Without a doubt, there isn’t a place like this in Bogotá, with such a robust offer in terms of the arts,” said Johanna Morales, organizer of the Open San Felipe Festival, which takes place four weekends a year and streamlines the cultural offer in this central area of the city.

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The so-called “art district” of Bogotá has benefited from the protagonism conquered by the Open San Felipe since its first edition, four years ago. An event that began, experimentally, with 20 galleries and restaurants, now has around 80 participants.

In the last edition, held on December 3 and 4, the neighborhood — located at 2,600 meters above sea level — emerged from its usual lethargy and came to life at dusk.

As the hours pass, more and more visitors walk through the narrow and colorful streets that surround a park. And, at night, you can see a sea of people entering the houses that serve as avant-garde art galleries, or the bars and restaurants installed in small pavilions.

It is an exceptional scene in the heart of a city that Nobel Prize in Literature Gabriel García Márquez described as “dismal”, where “a sleepless drizzle has fallen since the beginning of the 16th century”.

In addition to shoppers, the neighborhood attracts a whole crowd of curious people, mainly tourists, and Bogotá’s cultural bourgeoisie.

In San Felipe, there is art, gastronomy and also fashion. A fashion school show captivates a small crowd, while electronic music sets the tone for the night.

Once the festival is over, the neighborhood is once again a cultural oasis in a metropolis of eight million inhabitants.

With information from UOL

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