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.

If you've passed the intersection of Carrera Septima and Jimenez Ave., you probably noticed the crowd of men standing on the sidewalk bunched into little groups.

They've been called ghosts, memorials to the dead, even visiting extraterrestrials. They are the green men (and a few women) standing on rooftops and balconies in La Candelaria. They include a model, a shoeshiner, an acrobat, a musician (without his guitar) and others of unclear profession.

Visit La Plaza del Chorro in La Candelaria many afternoons and evenings when the universities are in session (and it's not raining) and you'll see a group of mostly young people gathered on the steps of the chapel, probably laughing. They're not watching television or playing with their Ipods, but enjoying one of the oldest forms of human entertainment - storytelling. It's a tradition here, which not only entertains, but also helps pay storytellers' way through college. See Diego, one of the best-known storytellers, tell a crazy tale here.

Here are a few scenes from the celebration of Colombia's independence day, the 20 de Julio, on La Plaza del Chorro, in the historical La Candelaria neighborhood.

My first impressions of Bogota, and Colombia, were shattered when Laura opened the door to her apartment.