A rare 'horse before the cart' moment in Bogotá

Change very often takes time. That’s especially the case here in Latin America. A good few months have passed since we wrote about Bogotá ‘dulling down’ (see http://bit.ly/XdUg5U) in terms of, for one, the introduction of a new integrated, more organised, less colourful mode of transport for the city.

Unpopular: Bogotanos remain frosty towards the SITP.

Take up, though, of the SITP* and its cashless, card-operated system has been a slow burner to say the least. When you can hop on and hop off the old-school buses anywhere you want throughout the city i.e. there are no designated stops, and at times for not even the full fare, it’s hard to swap such a service for one, let’s say, ‘less flexible’. 

Plus, with no visible reduction in the number of the private buseta/colectivo operators, commuters in the Colombian capital aren’t exactly being forced to change their ways.

There has, however, been more proactive action on one of the areas that we mentioned in ‘Dulling down’ Bogotá. In the past few days authorities have begun taking some of the old and not-so-old workhorses off the streets — no we’re not referring to people here (not yet anyway) but actual horses and the carts they’ve been pulling around the city’s highways and byways for years. 

It’s all part of Mayor Gustavo Petro’s plan to eradicate the maltreatment of animals in the metropolis, something these equines often suffer from. Indeed, it’s not just the horses that are forced into heavy labour; we’ve witnessed the odd dog being used as a substitute from time to time. However, the canines’ day for salvation will have to wait it seems.

Since it was first announced a few years back to take our hoofed friends off the tarmac, the move had been put on hold for some time which led a number of the city’s residents to believe that it would never happen. 

However, it’s now in full swing, with already more than 50 horses taken into safekeeping, away from the madness of the concrete jungle where they once had to compete with wildly driven, carbon-spouting buses to name just one of the many hazards. 

It’s expected that most, if not all, of the over 2,800 of these animals will be in greener pastures and more tranquil surroundings on the outskirts of the city and beyond by September of this year.

Brighter future ahead for Bogotá's horses?

Now, for some the removal of the horse-and-cart from Bogotá’s streets takes a little bit of colour away from the place — a throwback to more innocent times, perhaps, is being lost. Yes, there may be something in that, but considering the loads many of them were being forced to carry and the aforementioned craziness of the drivers of motorised vehicles in the city, for the horses own well-being this move has to be welcomed.

As for their owners, who are now without a valuable ‘work colleague’ you might say (or slave as others would point out), they haven’t been completely forgotten. They are due to receive 36-times the minimum salary for each horse they own, with the money to be used to invest in a mechanically operated cart, a business plan, or for pensioners and people with a disability they have the option to put the money into improving their place of residence.

Indeed with this financial compensation, the owners of these horses, after understandably being opposed to the measure when it was first mooted, seem largely cooperative now. A rare win for everybody it seems — the city and its residents, the horse owners and, most importantly for many observers, the once hapless horses themselves.

Down and out, without much help.

What next? Could the authorities in Bogotá now turn their attention to taking the thousands of homeless and deprived human beings in this city off the streets? Let’s not get too carried away now. While this equine move has been a rare 'horse before the cart' moment for these parts — a positive measure — some of the actual cart owners and many others continue to be forgotten about.

If you’re of a certain standing in this city, you’ve a better chance of being recognised and helped if you’re on four legs rather than two. Alas, many barely have any leg to stand on.

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*SITP: 'Sistema de Transporte Público de Bogotá' or Bogotá's Public Transport System if you will.

For more horse-related stories, see 'Horse it into ya' http://bit.ly/WhbuAE

'Horse it into ya'

For Westerners travelling in what you might call developing countries, one of the many pieces of advice they’ll get from home is to be careful about what they eat. ‘You can never be too sure that what’s on your plate is what the locals might say it is’ is a common refrain – particularly so when it comes to meat. 

Well, in a ‘shocking’ reversal of fortunes, it seems a large portion of developed Europe has been, not quite ‘taken for a ride’ on a horse, but actually eating one – or more than one, it would seem.

Holy horses.

For instead of the meat content of some packaged products consisting of only beef as they were meant to, it turns out a little bit of horse meat was thrown in, too, to give it a bit of a ‘kick’, we can only guess. 

Now, for some people, depending perhaps on their country of origin, this isn’t that big of a deal. But for others, especially those in Ireland and Britain, not only is the thought of eating a horse a little unsettling, it’s actually illegal. 

Back in the old country, we do just about everything else with horses except eat them. In one sense this might be seen as a little unfair: Why single out the horse for special treatment? But that’s just the way it is.

Whatever your own thoughts on eating horse meat – we’re not fussy in this regard as any meat is a rare ‘treat’ these days – the bigger issue here, of course, is the breakdown in trust between the consumer and the supplier. 

When people buy packaged meat, they expect it to be what it says on the packet – regardless if the actual true meat content is minuscule. 

There is also the problem of quality assurance and standards. As most horses are not raised for human consumption, they and their meat are not treated as a foodstuff in the same way that cattle, pigs and sheep are (or at least should be) and therefore generally not subject to the same standards. This is especially so in terms of what injections and medication they receive throughout their life.

The fact, however, that this ‘scandal’ has been limited, so far at least, to relatively cheap packaged meals – ready-made lasagne, meat pies and suchlike – has seen the debate also centre on the people who buy them and why. 

Regardless of whatever kind of meat is in these meal-in-a-minute style products, many of them firmly fall into the junk-food category, despite what the manufacturers might say; high in fat, salt, carbohydrates, sugar even and loaded with other ‘enhancers’ while the protein levels are pretty low.

Healthy, home-made grub.

People who buy them – and from what we’ve witnessed in the past it’s not just those from the poorest backgrounds – point to the fact that they are cheap and extremely convenient. No labouring in the kitchen required. 

Both aspects are true, but you can get many different types of fresh fruit and vegetables (both root and over-ground) for similar, if not cheaper prices. 

As for the convenience, it doesn’t take that long to put together a tasty vegetable stir-fry where you control what kind of flavours are added. Heck, chop up a few spuds and put them on the boil and they’re ready in less than 30 minutes. OK, it’s not as quick as five minutes in the microwave but when your health and well-being are at stake, what’s half an hour? We tend to find, too, that if you wash the pots and pans you used in cooking before you sit down to eat, it makes the meal all the tastier.

‘Ah, but what about the meat?’, you ask. Well, for one, as pointed out earlier, there’s not much of that in the majority of those all-in-one meals – at best the scratchings from a butcher. Plus, do we really need to eat meat every day of the week or even at least twice a day as it is for some? No, is the simple answer, we don’t.

Many of us have become so accustomed to having some sort of meat with most of our snacks that anything we eat without it just doesn’t seem right. It’s a safe bet, though, that if we all had to personally kill our own animals there’d be plenty more vegetarians about – and no one would be any the worse off. 

Indeed, there might be a reduction in obesity because of it, considering the quality of meat, or lack thereof as the case is, that many consume these days.

There’s a lot of satisfying, healthy fun you can have with cooking an array of different vegetables that can be ready to eat in minutes. Yet, even in times when in many parts of the world the abundance of a variety of ‘green’ foods has never been greater, our willingness to experiment with them is quite low in general.

HorseRADISH (pic from theherbcottage.com).

Our native land often comes in for criticism on this front. Climatically and historically, though, we Irish have an excuse – the land naturally isn’t brimming full of different types of fruit and veg all year round. 

This is far less the case, however, here in our adopted country of Colombia. Most of the locals, though, seem unwilling to embrace a varied vegetable diet, even though plenty of them are available and at very cheap prices. 

In fact, the standard plate here generally comes with three starchy carbohydrates – rice, potatoes and pasta – mushy beans or peas, a token piece of meat or fish and a bit of a salad that a snail would devour in seconds. You’d find more colour and variety at a Ku Klux Klan meeting compared to the offerings on a standard Colombian dish.

That’s not to say we don’t like what they eat here, but they could be a little more ‘adventurous’ in the kitchen at times*. 

For example, a little more horseradish and less, erm, horse. Are you listening, Europe?

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*For our like of the 'famed' arepas in particular, check out 'Six of the best in 2012 (well kind of)' http://bit.ly/VQGxxo

+In case you're wondering, the 'inspiration' for the title of this post came from this particular 'gem' of a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhILr70yKQU