{"id":61193,"date":"2015-01-20T05:42:02","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T12:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wend.ca\/?p=61193"},"modified":"2020-07-03T15:26:08","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T19:26:08","slug":"military-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wend.ca\/?p=61193","title":{"rendered":"A Military Parade in Bogota"},"content":{"rendered":"

A young soldier looked rather sheepish as he searched my bag before I entered the barricaded area beside the Capitolio Nacional<\/a> and Palacio de Nari\u00f1o<\/a> along Carrera 7 in Bogot\u00e1. Maybe it was because I was the only tourist in the area when I stumbled upon some sort of demonstration at the Presidential Palace. I assume I was the only tourist because I saw no others. <\/p>\n

But, there was certainly a lot of noise, pomp, and circumstance surrounding this event and it attracted me and my camera.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure why there was a demonstration and\/or parade… perhaps this happens every Sunday in the city. People of importance in uniforms watched from high up. They were guarded by young men with large automatic rifles.<\/p>\n

Still, even with the intensity and amount of security in one city block, children ran around freely in band uniforms and families lined the fence in hopes of getting a glimpse of the display in the Palace courtyard. Once inside the barricaded area, it felt more like a giant public picnic than a secured area.<\/p>\n

I wandered a bit and took some photos. And, when it was time for the parade of people to march along Carrera 7 I took a video<\/a>. When the parade was done, the people and barriers all quickly disappeared and everything went back to being a typical Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n