### The best event

  The "Hobart Wooden Boat Festival" https://australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au/
  is really worth the trip down to Tasmania. Unfortunately you have already
  missed it for this year (it was on from the 7th to the 10th of February
  2025) and you will now have to wait until the 5th of February, 2027 to 
  enjoy it again. Unfortunately, I missed it again this year, being 
  approximately 
  "14,000" https://www.google.com/search?q=distance+colombia+to+tasmania
  kilometers away. Normally I wander around each day, thinking about the 
  boats that I am going to build, but don't. 

  There is another *making stuff* event that is almost as good as the Wooden
  Boat Festival, and that is the "Feria de Artesanias de Bogota"
  https://expoartesanias.com which is a showcase of all the stuff that is still
  made-by-hand in Colombia.  You have also missed it for this year, sorry
  (it was the 14th to the 17th of December, 2024). 
  
  One year I went to the *ExpoArtesanias* and hung
  around the weaving stand for the "Kogi" wp://kogi_people indigenous
  people, from the *Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta* who were demonstrating their
  weaving and making techniques.  Its a pretty fascinating culture and if 
  you are interested you can read more about it in the book
  "The River" https://daviswade.com/book-one-river by Wade Davis. 
  Wade Davis is a pretty extraordinary fellow in his own right and a great
  lover of Colombia. 
  
  You have a reasonable chance of seeing Mr Davis and maybe even listening to
  him talk if you go to the "Hay Festival"
  https://www.hayfestival.com/cartagena/inicio in *Cartagena de Indias* also in
  Colombia. The Hay Festival in Cartagena is a books and writers festival and
  is apparently also pretty wonderful, although I have never actually been.  
  You've also missed it for this year (it was 30th of January to
  2nd of February, 2025).

  Anyway, some of the Kogi people at ExpoArtesanias were kind enough to try to
  teach me some of their weaving techniques, very patiently I must say. They
  weave and make most of their everyday clothing items, such as ponchos, or
  "ruanas", a white fez-style hat which is so tightly woven that it can hold
  water and the famous (in Colombia at least) "mochilas" (which is a
  single-strap bag woven out of wool or some plant fibre) among other things.
  They also make some extremely sturdy sandals with thick soles made from car
  tyres. 

  Some of the weaving techniques are not too complicated; the stitch 
  for the body of the *mochila* bags is a fairly standard crochet stitch
  I believe. But the weaving for the strap for the mochila is a kind
  of cats-cradle puzzle which I was unable to master or remember 
  despite the patient teaching of the Kogis.

  At some point, I asked them 
  "Who invented this weaving, or how did you learn it?" 
  and they replied:
  "We only learn things by looking at how the animals and insects do things. They are the ones who teach us". 
  
  I liked that.