Colombia is known for its coffee, but it plays a much bigger role in the world emerald market, where it produces more than half of the stones - and some of the best ones.

To me, one of Bogotá's prettiest and most touching traditions is the annual Noche de las Velitas, or Night of the Little Candles, which symbolically inaugurates the Christmas season. Bogotanos, particularly in La Candelaria, put lighted candles in doorways, windowsills and sidewalks.

On the 30th anniversary of Gabriel García Marquéz's Nobel Prize for literature, it seems worthwhile to look at a little-know chapter in his life: his time in Bogotá's La Candelaria neighborhood.

While most of Bogotá's art galleries are located in the Zona Rosa and Macarena neighborhoods, the last few years more galleries have opened in La Candelaria, the city's historical center.