26 September 1810
Santafé de Bogotá

I have seen many pictures and statues of him, so I would know how he looked like.  But most (all?) of those pictures were made after his death and alike many people from this time, the version I knew was the version of one artist that eventually became popular uptime.  Well, there was me trying to keep a low profile while trying to recognize the streets and the buildings of downtown Bogotá in this city they still called just Santafé.

Well, a low profile was nothing easy for me.  A 1,80 tall Pardo wearing a ruana that did not completely covered a late 20th century jacket, some jeans and my shoes was something people keep looking at.  It was weird.  This was my city but I felt even more alien than anytime I had been in Europe or Asia.  But I kept going.

The streets were kind of familiar.  All those big churches were in the right places and the observatory was easy to pick from all those estrange buildings.

I had been walking all that morning and I was tired and hungry.  That was not the first time I had walked that distance and that even seemed closer than I though.  Perhaps because there were no smog, I guess. Or maybe because the lack of familiar landmarks to show my progress, but when I arrive to Santafé it seemed to me to be closer than expected.

When I arrived downtime, I was kind in the middle of nowhere.  Fortunately I could recognize the skyline of the mountains.  That gave me a little notion where I was: the same place I felt asleep last night but quite some years early, before Bogota had grown up to absorb half the plateau she is on.  The first people I met were either Indians or Mestizos, I did not care as they for me were just peasants.

By that time I had realized I should be circa 1810.  Among the weird things I found there was a laptop that was working and was amazingly connected to Usenet, and all conversations I look, while seemed to be completely off-line, and handled about weird things like Cascadia or something, where dated as 1810.

Those peasants, after their shock for my unusual wear, confirmed me that.  They also told me that in Santafé there was an uprising against the totalitarian regimen from Spain and that the government was in hand of Criollos that had imprisoned the viceroy.  The situation was a little chaotic and they advice me not to go to Santafé.

These couple of days since my arrival I spent the time in a little farm near Usaquén.  This is a small town some 15 to 20 kilometers North from Santafé.  An integral part of Bogotá uptime, but just a small town still.  I exchanged my watch, a solar rechargeable wrist watch, and my cell phone for shelter, food and clothes.  I actually did not have to exchange anything but I gave those things as a gesture of goodwill.

But I finally decided to come to Bogotá, I mean, to Santafé.  (I should keep remembering that this time Bogotá is a little town at the other side of the Bogotá River, known uptime as Funza... well, the river and the plateau have already this name.)  And I was here at the gate of the Astronomical Observatory.  I had this picture on Francisco José de Caldas who should be the director of the Observatory and I wondered if I could introduce myself to him.

Now I begun to panic.  I am a shy person and this  situation is kind of weird.  How should I address him?   Señor Caldas?  Doctor Caldas?  Don Francisco? (Fo!  This is the name of a Chilean TV host!) Señor Sabio?  What should I said I was there for?

After a little while he showed up.  He was not to different from the pictures so I guessed right who he was.

"Señor Caldas"  I said, "May I have some words with you".

He looked up and down to me, as did his companion.  I was petrified but trying not to show that, trying to look humble.

"My name is Carlos." I continued, "I have just arrived to Bogotá... to Santafé, and they have told me you are the one who could help me up"

I felt the situation was a little tense, but then Caldas companion looked at my ring and my shoes with some kind of release in his face.  He probably realized I was not a beggar.  They look to each other with an approval gesture, and back to me.

"Come in" said the other guy, while Caldas was opening the gate.

I told that I was a Neo-Granadian, that I was interest in science, biology and the sky, that I have been away from my country since I was a child and I had just arrived back.  I explained that I was looking for a job where I could explore my interests, that I have good mathematical skills, etc.

They interrogate me trying to explore what I actually knew, and I keep realizing how I, with all my uptime knowledge, knew too little for downtime.  Yes, I knew that the stars were gas bodies fueled by atomic combustion but I hesitated to tell that, on the other hand I barely knew the name of some stars and constellations.

I learned that Caldas companion was a layer called Joaquín Camacho and that they both were involved in the insurrection.

Finally Caldas told me that if I need a job he could use me to keep some of his work in the Observatory. He could not pay me much but would be enough, and I could sleep in the Observatory for a while.

They brought me something to eat, and Caldas begun to show me some of my new duties.  A little of hard work, a little of thinking, and that way I spend the whole afternoon.

This evening some other Criollos had come to the Observatory.  I can hear them speaking, on the plans for the revolution, on this Pardo guy that is now working in the building, on what to do with the viceroy, on the rumors of a royal party coming from Cartagena.

I am now ordering things in this other room, and writing a diary on my laptop.  I hope to get more involved with this guys and their political games.  I will keep listening for a while before falling asleep.

Good bye.