Buenos Tiempos, como quien dice, en la Biblioteca

We had our class canceled due to the indisposition of our teacher. (As it was rather idiomatically put—and if you have an adequate translation I’d like to see it: Comio y despues que se puso a morir. It is very hard to render the sense of “puso” there. She ate and then she started to die, is the closest I can manage. Maybe, She ate and then began undertaking death . . . maybe not. By the way, the teacher did not die. It just means she was right sick.) So we went to the great Virgilio Barco Library.

When I was leaving Colombia, back in the day, they were holding elections to replace Belisario Betancur. Belisarius is a nice Latin name, eh? (Greek actually, but latinized) His successor had a nice Latin name too: Virgil. The library was named after the 52nd president of Colombia. (By the way, the 50th chap was called Julius Caesar—Julio Cesar Turbay, Julius Caesar being a pretty common name, actually. And there is one chap I’ve heard of in the context of letters called Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza: nice classic touch.)

You can search the public library online here. (Try selecting Autor and typing Yeats.) So I found out from the chap it only costs 5000 pesos—unless I heard him wrong, which seems possible—and I’m going to get a card. They’re building a big branch in the north near where we are, but there is a builded branch not too far. You can only borrow two things at a time, it seems, and for 15 days, but you can renew once online and it looks like you can reserve things online.

I think the big drawback is that you have to go to the library where the book is: they won’t ship it to the branch near you.

When you get a card you have to fill out an application and put on there at least two personal references. Then you wait five days while, presumably, they call the references and process the application and make out a card. Then they tell you when it is ready and you go pick it up.

Note to self: in looking for an apartment, make sure you are near one of the four major branches of the library and not just one of the smaller branches.