Stupid Lying Guide Books
Written by Kyle on Wednesday, November 05, 2008 in Colombia
Feelin' annoyed
While we try to minimize the use of guide books, they are pretty handy in making some plans about where to go and what we can possibly see, especially in Colombia where foreign tourism hasn't hit big yet. So, our Colombia guide book describes a little town called Ráquira like so:Feelin' annoyed
"Brightly painted facades, a jumble of craft shops and stacks of freshly fired clay pots make a welcoming sight along the main street of this one hourse town...Ráquira is well known for for its quality pottery...A number of small pottery workshops are in the village itself and on its outskirts, where you can watch the production process and buy some products if you want."
Sounds like it's a little town full of hearty people sitting in their homes making esquisite pottery. I'm not a pottery fan, but, what the hell, sounds interesting. Soon after arriving and seeing that the main statue in the central square was of a kid with a basball cap backwards peeing, we should have known better.
I mean, a kid peeing? This is what you want as the defining image in your town? Usually, it is some dead hero or the town founder, or barring those, just a plain old fountain that, you know, shoots water in the air. It's not usually a one-dollar-store lawn ornament put up on a podium. Maybe I'm just picky about my parque central fountains.
So, what is there to actually do in Ráquira? Well, you can buy tourist stuff or, ummm, well that's about it. The whole town is basically one street lined with stores that all sell, more or less, the exact same stuff. Yes, there was some actual pottery there, but it was surrounded by a lot of stuff that's on par with a t-shirt that says "I went to Colombia and all I got was this lousy T-shirt". (And yes, they did have those shirts for sale, too)
Stuff for sale
Just to give you an idea of some of the stuff that was there, one of the larger stores off of the main square sold a sculpture / lawn ornament that was a masturbating pig. Yes, you read that right. It was a pig in overalls lying down and looking very happy. I could see it's right hand (hoof?) but where's his left hand? Oh there it is, in his overalls, kinda where you think it might be. And it's not like this was in the corner of the store, or something. It was right there at the entrance, staring at you in a content-but-dirty pig sort of way.
Ok, ok. Maybe I'm being harsh. We did pass some time by having some super sweet strawberries and cream. And the buildings were colorful, even though they only seemed that way to amuse the tourists. And I did snap a good shot of a guy walking his donkey through town, which gives the town a bit of authenticity. Of course, maybe he was just stopping by to buy a ceramic masturbating pig.
Comments on "Stupid Lying Guide Books"
this statue of yours seems to have quite the life! According to Wikipedia:
"On many occasions, the statue is dressed in a costume. His wardrobe now consists of several hundred different costumes.... On occasion, the statue is hooked up to a keg of beer. Cups will be filled up with the beer flowing from the statue and given out to people passing by."
That's awesome!! Apparently we should have left the Raquira statue an outfit...
Amazing!
It appears that your one horse town is really only a one donkey town. Well, at least you can say that you've seen the highs and lows of Colombia!
No picture of the pig?? Are you making this up?? Glad to see you survived the kayaking and are on to much more civilized activities like pottery shopping. Keep up the travels! Love the blog!
Not-so-liking-sitting-in-front-of-her-computer-Liza
I have a pretty good imagination, but I don't think I could make that up. Somehow, I would have felt dirty taking that photo.
Doesn't your story end with that pig going blind? Where are all the craft shops? Maybe it's the wrong town! Time to pick up some of those Obama-faced lottery tickets at a bus station and change your luck! Perhaps it's time to move on to the numerous wonders and charms and history of Peru! ................. Warm regards....
the crafts were LOADS of trinkets from statues to hats to local jewelry. Kyle left out some obscene hand-crafted mugs and shot glasses that said things like squeeze me. Weird mix of old horse and buggy town and too many tourist trinkets.
The city of Belgium has lived with a pissing kid as their symbol for several hundred years. It is a disappointing statue too but super-popular with the tourists.
My blog contains a story about the image of this statue in a packet of cigarettes (search under Belgium).
Maybe Raquira is on to something. People like pissing kids...
Maybe the statue was inspired by the Manneken Pis in Brussels? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis -- our apartment there in May overlooked the square in front of the status, and it was packed by hordes of tourists from dawn to midnight. I wonder what Freud would say?? On the other hand, I guess a boy peeing in a fountain is a natural idea to pop into one's mind, eh? Anyway, keep up your fine reporting!
by Dan Susan at November 07, 2008 11:19 AM