Overlooking the main plaza in Barichara is the Cathedral, built in the 1800's.
This week, September 20-24, there is the first Festival de Cine Verde, in Barichara, Colombia. It is planned for it to be a chance to bring up, discuss and possibly provide solutions for issues like preservation of habitat, water use and conservation, land use and development along with offering vendors who have organic and environmentally friendly products.
This is a critical time in this nationally recognized historic site which is on the verge of being internationally acclaimed as a ‘special place,’ which almost always results in huge changes and damages which make it less-than-special for those who can afford to move on to another ‘special place.’
This pueblo has had the support of the ex-president Bellisario, who believes in the value of artistic expression and established with his second wife a school to teach the residents how to construct things in wood, stone, clay, cloth and how to play the guitar. But few of the locals take advantage of all the free instruction and no one seems to know how to do a survey to determine why this is the case. My Spanish is horrible, but I’d be willing to create one in English and find some local folks to go out and ask the questions beginning with “Why don’t you come to the school?”
An early morning view of the northern Andes from Barichara, Santander, Colombia. The mountains off in the distance are about 12,000 ft. in elevation.
Perhaps with the festival this week, that idea will occur to a few key people and someone else will take that action. If not, perhaps my mission is still ahead of me. But I will be at the festival looking for you.
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