Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro, René Montero, Daniel Sheehy
Fieldwork base: Villa de Leyva; day trips to various towns in Boyacá

• Pick up research director Germán Ferro at his home up the hill outside Bogotá in La Calera in René’s Jaguarundi Tours van. Pick up some almojábanas (Andean-style buns) for the road.
• Visit with basketmaker and vendor Laura María Castiblanco in a junco (cattail-like reed) stand on the road in the Lago de Fúquene area.
• Visit to a junco cooperative and other junco stalls

Field notes:
We met Laura María in a shop by the highway in Fúquene (near the lake) selling a variety of junco baskets. She showed us how to use a wooden base to shape the basket. She uses a leather glove on her right hand and a blanket over her legs to protect them. The store had several benches decorated with baskets; the larger baskets were on the benches and the smaller ones hung from the ceiling or from a pole. Some baskets were filled with loose junco reeds. Inside the shop, other pieces were stored and it looked like in the back, there was an entrance to the house.

Laura explained that junco will keep for six months after its cut, and the finished pieces last about twenty years. Sometimes the reeds or the whole baskets are dyed blue. They also weave floor mats, which would be interesting to use in the design of Festival spaces in the Andean Highlands area.

—Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Curatorial Assistant

Photo caption:
Lago de Fúquene. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro, René Montero, Daniel Sheehy
Fieldwork base: Villa de Leyva; day trips to various towns in Boyacá

• Visit to various stores that sold tagua crafts
• Visit to Juan César Bonilla’s workshop
• Visit to a junco cooperative and other junco stalls

Field notes:
Juan César demonstrates how he turns tagua seeds on a lathe, which he has adapted to hold the seed. His young son Samuel Andrés was at his side watching his every move. His assistant was sanding a piece by machine, but Juan César explained that they can also be sanded by hand. His wife Julia Patricia Vergara, who is an artist, inked a tagua palm on the small vase that Juan César made for us.

He’s a fine craftsman; and while he does very traditional pieces he also combines tagua, ceramics, wood, or silver in one piece. He is very articulate and great for demonstrating the process from collecting to carving the seeds. He has great observations and experiences with commercialization and craft contests, and he is very interested in recycling materials. He has a good story about his Japanese client who wanted each piece identical to the other.

If selected as participant, he needs to bring his own tools as well as the raw materials. He should bring a selection of young and older tagua seeds to demonstrate how the color changes with age. He probably is very capable of handling a workshop alone, but we should ask him if he needs an assistant.

—Olivia Cadaval, Curator

Photo caption:
Juan César Bonilla demonstrates how he turns the tagua seeds on a lathe that he has adapted to hold the seed. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro, René Montero, Daniel Sheehy
Fieldwork base: Villa de Leyva; day trips to various towns in Boyacá

• Breakfast at the market
• Visit with Florinda Coy at her home/workshop

Field notes:
Florinda’s house is like a museum showcasing different fique (sisal) and esparto (needle grass) crafts as well as arpilleras (appliqué embroideries telling a story) and crochet items made by her and by other artisans in her craft association (AsociaciÓn de Artesanas).

Over a cup of coffee, we talked about traditional dishes such as longaniza (sausage) and cocido boyacense (Boyacá-style soup). She explained how the cocido brings together the different regional products – grains, tubers, and beef. To describe her seasoned knowledge of boyacense traditions, she used a foodways saying, “Bringing me to a boil once is no longer enough for cooking me.” We also talked about the type of arepas distinctive to the area. Florinda explained how she likes to cook them on a clay griddle.

—Olivia Cadaval, Curator

Photo caption:
A display of crafts made by the AsociaciÓn de Artesanas provides a model for arranging crafts at the Festival. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro, René Montero, Daniel Sheehy
Fieldwork base: Villa de Leyva; day trips to various towns in Boyacá

• Visit to the different pottery stores in Ráquira, which is known as the pottery capital of Colombia
• Buy an ensalada (traditional fruit cocktail) in the plaza
• Visit with Rosa Jeréz in her home

Field notes:
We visited Rosa Jeréz in her home in the countryside of Ráquira. There are clay virgins and other clay figures artfully scattered around her garden and back porch. She has two ovens, a larger one and a medium-sized one. Most of the time, she is making figures, all by hand, on a table, but she can still shape a pot on a plate placed on the ground, the way her mother used to make them. The finished pot is then polished with a stone.

She told us the story of how she became interested in making religious figures. As a child, she would see the saints in the church with tears in their eyes, and she thought they were so perfect that they must have been humans that were transformed into statues. She asked her mother and came to understand that they were carved figures. She explained, “I wanted to reach that perfection.” That’s how she became fascinated and began thinking that these figures could also be made with clay. When she started to make clay pieces, it was difficult working with the clay her mother used; it was too hard and would crack when she kneaded it.

She started by making nativity scenes. Now she makes Virgins with Boyacá faces, Christs with Andean ruanas, and other figures representing life in the community. She also has an incredible life story about life as an artisan and growing up in the Andean countryside, taking care of the cattle and making esparto (needle grass) baskets.

—Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Curatorial Assistant

Photo caption:
Clay figures can be found all over Rosa Jeréz’s patio. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro, René Montero, Daniel Sheehy
Fieldwork base: Villa de Leyva; day trips to various towns in Boyacá

• Day trip to Gachantivá
• Visit with Alba Herminda Beltrán in her home
• Return to Villa de Leyva to meet with a carranguera musician at the house where were staying
• Attend local jam session at the local general store. René and Cristina first heard them when they went out looking for a piece of meat to add to the soup they were cooking for dinner.
• We plan to go to Tenza where they weave baskets with chin or caña de castilla, but it got too late

Field notes:
Early in the morning we drove to Alba Beltrán's house in the country. We tried driving up to the house, but it was too muddy. We visited with Alba, her husband, and sons. She demonstrated making the clineja, or palmiche braid, for making the tapia pisada hat. The palmiche has to be braided under to work correctly. She then sews the braids to shape the hat using fique (sisal) which she boils to whiten it. She also grows moras (blackberries) and tomate de árbol (tree tomato) for sale. Buyers will come to her house to purchase her products.

It started raining very hard and we became worried about the van getting stuck. Everyone but Alba and I went out to push the van. Alba made the dough for arepas de trigo (wheat arepas), distinctive in this area. To shape them, she presses them between leaves that grow in her yard called hoja de raíz or platanillo. After a good cup of coffee with agua panela (brown sugar water) and delicious arepas, we were on our way. Fortunately, a neighbor helped us pull the van out of the mud with his truck.

—Olivia Cadaval, Curator

Photo caption:
Alba Herminda Beltrán. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro, René Montero, Daniel Sheehy
Fieldwork base: Villa de Leyva; day trips to various towns in Boyacá

• Travel to Tunja
• Meet with Álvaro Suesca, director of the charanga music group "El Pueblo canta."

Field notes:
álvaro lives in Tuta but happened to be in Tunja for the day. We met on the street where he talked about his group and mûsica carranguera. He gave us a brief history of the music and described its repertoire. He then recited some couplets and décima verses that he had composed.

His group, “El Pueblo Canta,” is formed by himself and his sons. They play tiple, requinto, guitar, and guachareque (also known as charrasca. They play rumbas, merengues, and torbellinos. He composes songs on everyday life in Boyacá. These songs are usually humorous or about nature. He gave us a CD but it doesn’t reflect his broad repertoire. He also presents what he calls “conciertos dialogados,” that is where the music is interlaced with narration. He has a farm in Tuta – he cultivates faba beans and corn and lives off cattle.  In addition to music, he could be integrated into other areas of the Festival where he could talk about this other side of his life.

—Olivia Cadaval, Curator

Photo caption:
álvaro Suesca, director of the charanga music group El Pueblo Canta. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Sandra Durán, Germán Ferro, Daniel Sheehy
Fieldwork base: Hostal El Edén, Calarcá; day trips to various towns in the municipality of Calarcá, department of the Quindío

• Day trip to Gachantivá
• Fly from Bogotá to Armenia
• Meet with Carlos Beltrán, who accompanies us in the van as our guide
• Drive to the Hostal El Edén
• Visit to RECUCA (Recorrido Cultural Cafetero), the coffee cultural center
• Meet with jeep driver and yipao specialist Jhon Jairo “Guama” Amórtegui
• Meet with guadua builder José Carlos Jiménez, who rebuilt the Hostal El Edén after the 1990 earthquake

Field notes:
Quindío is a lush forested Andean region where coffee, bananas, corn, and guadua grow. In the area, one can see guadua used for aqueducts, fences, terraces, bridges, kioskos, and furniture.  We stayed at the Hostal El Edén at the foot of the mountain – the place used to be the owner’s family finca, or small plantation. The main house, which has been amplified, is built with guadua, a native bamboo, and painted in the traditional bright yellow and blue colors of the area. A second structure was built by guadua builder José Carlos Jiménez, who we later interviewed.  He explained that the earthquake proved the guadua’s resilience. He described it as a giant fibrous grass. They cut when there is no moon and the tide is low. The joints are pyramidal and can resist thirty-two tons of weight. In the region, guadua can grow twenty to thirty meters high. The tools they use are simple – machete, saw, hand axe, and gouge. Guadua builders also make furniture and simple crafts. We took many pictures showing how the joints are made and how the guadua can also be use for paneling walls and ceilings. We enjoyed traditional meals at the hostel including recalentao and arepas for breakfast. Recalentao, or “warmed over,” is made from dinner leftovers.

We visited the RECUCA (Recorrido Cultural Cafetero) center located in Barcelona. We formed part of a tour that included strapping plastic baskets to our waist and picking ripe coffee beans.  The tour concluded with a demonstration on how to serve and enjoy a good cup of coffee. Jhon Alejandro Arcila was one of the guides who described the Center both as a working plantation and as a tourist destination. His father is a coffee farmer who tends the plants in RECUCA.  We also had a tour through the plantation where we could see the different coffee plantings and growing stages. This tour gave us many ideas for presenting coffee as a tradition at the Festival.

Part of the coffee story is the Willy’s jeep. At noon, we saw several jeeps, the area’s “taxi,” give students a ride home. We then went where yiperos (jeep drivers) park in the city of Armenia and met with Jhon Jairo, known as Guama. He is famous for his “pique” stunt in jeep festivals. He is passionate about festivals, but he explained that his main role in the community is to transport products, household furniture, and children at lunch time. He is also a jeep mechanic.

—Olivia Cadaval, Curator

Photo caption:
Calarcá landscape. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro, René Montero, Daniel Sheehy
Fieldwork base: Villa de Leyva; day trips to various towns in Boyacá

• Drive to Córdoba
• Visit the Centro Experimental de la Guadua y el Bambú
• Visit Freddie Molina’s guadua craft store and several guadua workshops

Field notes:
We visited the guadua center but it was closed – the director had recently died. The guard let us in anyway and we briefly saw the museum displays and the surrounding grounds with beautiful guadua groves. We then visited Freddie Molina’s shop and home where he sells all sorts of objects made from guadua from pens to furniture. He sent us to his brother’s shop to see how they work with it. The shop is equipped with all types of furniture-making machinery, which they have adapted for making tagua pieces.

Freddie explained that he and his family were originally furniture makers working with fine woods, but after the 1990 earthquake, guadua became popular as a sustainable material. They adapted their skills and knowledge of wood to guadua, however guadua did not lend itself to mass production. Even though they use electric tools, most of the work is done by hand. He smiles as he tells us how he “fell in love with guadua.”  He and his brother work primarily with three types of guadua: the cebolla (onion) is thick; the macana is thinner; and the cotuda is uneven. It would be difficult to create their workshop at the Festival because of the many electric tools they use.

—Olivia Cadaval, Curator

Photo caption:
Alba Herminda Beltrán. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Sandra Durán, Germán Ferro, Daniel Sheehy
Fieldwork base: Hostal El Edén, Calarcá

• Travel to Filandia to visit several craft shops where the coffee baskets are made
• Visit with Ofelia Marín and her family in their workshop in their house
• With Ofelia and her son as guides, visit with Ana de María Jesús Marín in her workshop
• Hike with Ofelia, her sister, and her son into the hills to look for bejuco vines
• With Ofelia and her son as guides, visit with Ana de María Jesús Marín in her workshop

Field notes:
We drove down the road and stopped at the home of Ofelia Marín. Like most basket makers in Filandia, she had a display of baskets and other crafts made with bejuco vines from the region. Basket makers here usually have their workshops in their home. We visited with Ofelia, her sister, and her son. We learned about the different types of bejuco: China is a wide, flat vine; atacorral is dark; cucharo is light and of a very high quality; chusco is smooth; and tripa de perro is dark. We talked about changes in the coffee industry and its effect on their market. More and more, the coffee plantations use plastic buckets for gathering coffee beans because they last longer than bejuco baskets, forcing artisans to look for a different clientele and create different products, but they are persistent in keeping the basket-making tradition alive. Filandia basket makers are very proud of their tradition – for the “Festival del Camino del Quindío,” they created a float with all sizes of baskets.

Ofelia and her son became our guides for the day. They took us to visit an elderly basket maker who described himself as a “maestro de los finos” (a master in the category of the finest). He was working in a small room with enough space for working a large basket and holding the fiber strips that he was using. It would be great to invite him to the Festival but the trip would be hard on him. We also hiked into the hills where they showed us how to find, cut, and strip bejuco vines. We were fortunate that the moon was waning which meant that it was the right time to cut the vine.

—Olivia Cadaval, Curator

Photo caption:
Ofelia Marín cuts bejuco vines while the moon is waning. That is the right time to cut the vine. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro, Daniel Sheehy
Fieldwork base: Casa Laureles Hotel, Medellín

• Take a taxi from Calarcá to Medellins
• Meet with local music specialist at the hotel to talk about the music scene in Medellín
• Go to the Cafetín de Tango in the evening
• Go to the Feria de las Flores and talk with some of the silleteros participating in the parade
• Go to book and film presentation on the San Pacho Festival, which concluded with a music and dance performance interpreting Afro-Colombian traditions and everyday struggles
• Visit to the Parque del Río where musicians gather in the afternoon
• Lunch with Ramiro Delgado at Gloria’s Restaurant, famous for its chicharrón
• Take the cable car up to the neighborhoods in the hills

Field notes:
We convinced a taxi driver to take us from Calarcá to Medellín. It was probably the first time that the taxi driver had been in Medellín.  In Medellín, we paid a second taxi driver to escort the driver back to the highway to Calarcá.

At the Feria de la Flores we were lucky to be able to walk back and forth where the silleteros we preparing for the parade, and talk to several of the senior participants called the “pioneers,” whose silletas can weigh as much as 30 kilos. We chatted with Emilia Grisales who said that she would carry the flowers in her silleta and sell from house to house. Her silleta had twenty three kinds of flowers. We then talked with Giovanni de Jesús Londoño who had a huge silleta with  197 different varieties. The last person we talked with was Alexander Nieto from Santa Elena who showed us show to carry a silleta. His silleta had an interesting theme that resonated well with our Festival program. It was divided into different categories of flowers: regional, endangered, aromatic, medicinal, magical, and new flowers. Permits, or “cedulas” for participating in the parade are inherited in a family.

—Olivia Cadaval, Curator

Photo caption:
One of the silleteros at the Feria de las Flores. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro
Fieldwork base: Hostal La Casa Amarilla, City of Mompox

• Take a plane from Medellín to Corozal; taxi to Magangué; a boat on the Ciénaga River to Bodegas; and taxi to Mompox
• Visit to general store, La Tienda de Lino
• Meet with Don Abundio in the hostel
• Lunch at Restaurante de Meri on the banks of the Magdalena River
• Visit with the director of the Escuela de Música Santa María de Mompox in his home, where he stores the life-size biblical sculptures that are carried during the Holy Week processions

Field notes:
Samuel Marmol, or Don Abundio as he is best known, stopped at our hostel to chat. He remembered Germán because Don Abundio’s group had played for his birthday on German’s last visit. Don Abundio was very distressed because the Magdalena River was flooding and he had to find a place to move his family.  In spite of his anxiety, he had time to talk to us about his group “Abundio y sus Traviesos.” He agreed to get some of his musicians together to play for us the next evening. With the floods and having just played for a street fiesta the day before, this was not an easy feat.  Don Abundio has performed traditional dances, such as Son del Negro, with his family and friends for the past forty years. He has taken the tradition from generation to generation. He has performed nationally and internationally: Festival de Tunja, Carnaval de Barranquilla (won 1st place eight times), festivals in Ecuador, as well as local events in the community. The group consists of voice, caña de milla (reed flute), tambor alegre, llamador, tambora (all drums), guache (rasp), and dancers. The group has up to forty members, but the minimum for a presentation is ten.  Three members of the group are the children of Abundio as well as a daughter-in-law, who is one of the dancers. Don Abundio sings and also dances farota and las pilanderas. He works as a carpenter. He also makes drums and plays the guitar. He began by singing rancheras and cumbias, His father was a farota dancer. There are four types of aires de Mompox: tambora, guacherna, chandé, and berroche. The group plays fandangos, cumbias, and other types of genres as well. Don Abundio is also a very good cook, known for his casave bread.” – Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Curatorial Assistant

We had lunch at Meri’s Restaurant on the banks of the river. She is famous for her river fish dishes, viuda de pescado and vagre topiao; turtles in season, and ayaco (a Mompsino version of ajiaco soup from Boyacá). She invited us to visit the kitchen in the morning when she prepares coconut water for the rice and puts the duck in bitter orange to marinate. She raises chickens and pigs and makes her own vinegars.

German was very insistent that we visit La Tienda de Lino.  It is something between an antique shop and a general store. It is clustered with all types of tools and everyday implements used locally, such as bowls made from gourds that grow in the area, musengue fly swatters made from palm fibers, and more. This store can be used as the model for the “Tienda Momposina” in the Momposino Depression section of the Festival where visitors and participants can hang out and sit on rocking chairs that one finds in every Mompox home.

—Olivia Cadaval, Curator

Photo caption:
Don Lino’s store. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro
Fieldwork base: Hostal La Casa Amarilla, City of Mompox

• Visit to other filigree shops: Taller Artesanías de Colombia, Taller de Santa Cruz, and L y L
• Trip up the flooded Magdalena River and into the marshes to visit a home in the area
• Gathering with Don Abundio y sus Traviesos,  who demonstrate some of their dances on the rooftop of the hostel

Field notes:
We visited with Luis Herrera who comes from a family of jewelers. There are about 300 filigree workshops in Mompox. The famous gold filigree fishes of Mompox are featured in Gabriel García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.

In the afternoon we took a boat ride with a group of tourists along the river and into the marshes with Freddie, a boatman and fisherman. We went on the banks to visit a couple of homes, which gave us a glimpse of everyday life here. Families usually have hens, pigs, cats and some livestock. The flooding had forced the cattle onto the roads on higher land. They also grow fruit trees. Because of the unexpected flooding (it usually floods later in the year), families had to relocate, and you could see the barges on the river transporting their household goods and, occasionally, animals as well. We didn’t have the opportunity to interview Freddie and his life as a fisherman, but my impression is that he mainly works like a tour guide on his boat.

At night, Don Abundio and his group joined us on the rooftop of the hostel and performed for us. They played various aires, ritmos, and dances from their repertoire, which Don Abundio interspersed with explanations.  They are very community-oriented, and Abundio has enormous charisma. The dancers are also great teachers – this would work well with the Festival public.

—Olivia Cadaval, Curator

Photo caption:
The Magdalena River. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Travelers: Olivia Cadaval, Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Germán Ferro
Fieldwork base: Hostal La Casa Amarilla, City of Mompox

• Visit with Óscar Pupo in his cheese-making kitchen in the back of his home
• Return to Bogotá the following day
• Return to Villa de Leyva to meet with a carranguera musician at the house where were staying

Field notes:
We went to Óscar Pupo’s cheese-making shop, Quesos La Villa, in the back of his house. He showed us the whole process for making  queso de capa (a rolled up mozzarella-type cheese) from curdling the milk to kneading, cutting, and rolling the cheese into small balls that weigh exactly 100 grams, 300 grams, or 500 grams. His sister Elizabeth helped him, but mostly held the phone to his ear as orders were called in.  According to Óscar, about sixty or seventy years ago an Italian brought mozzarella cheese to Mompox and his employees learned from him and started making the queso de capa. He explained to us, “Everyday the cheese is different, it is never the same milk; milk is like the river.” The amount of salt he uses depends on how long you want to preserve the cheese – the saltier, the longer it keeps.

In the afternoon, we visited with sculptor Tobías Herrera. Tobías creates elaborate religious images using wood and plaster. He learned from his father. He started working with clay and when his father died, he inherited the workshop and the work that was left behind. To do a religious figure, he explained, you first look at the period in which the saint lived, study images of it, or imagine what kind of person it might have been, and add personal touches, for example, the position of the neck and how the legs are crossed. The first big piece he took on commission was La Virgen de la Candelaria, because it’s easier. The woods he uses are tolú (soft, red), barajuelo (yellow) and red cedar (the best). The stages for making a sculpture are the following: sketch the figure, cut the wood, cure it, carve it, polish it, stucco it (with a mixture of plaster of Paris and glue), and polish the finished piece. Finally color with two layers of polychrome oil-based paints, and “age” it if you want it to look old.

—Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Curatorial Assistant

Photo caption:
Óscar Pupo prepares queso de capa. Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution