Sorry for the radio silence. I know better than to announce to social media that we are out of town. Not only were we not in town, we'd left the continent!
My very first time in South America, woohoo! We spent 10 days in Bogota, Colombia. It was delightful. Some of you are scratching your heads in wonderment, knowing that I am typically more of a tropical island-loving girl than a big city chick. While this is usually true, this trip came about in a fun way; Dada has a Colombian coworker whose family is all from Bogota. They live here in the States but needed to go back to renew official paperwork and spend time with family this summer while school is out, so Dada's friend asked if I'd like to go on a vacation since the menfolk would be doing training during the day and I'd have someone who knew the area and language to hang out with. What a splendid idea!
I think we hear a lot of fear-mongering in the news about being angry with/fearful/hateful of large swaths of people. I think it teaches us to expect the worst from others, especially those who are different from us. Granted, I was not alone alone (as in Single White Female) in sketchy sections of town at night, as I'm sure that's a different story (but I wouldn't go alone alone into, say, Detroit or Chicago or Miami either- that's called self preservation. Going alone alone would be called crazy.) However, every person I interacted with was friendly at the very least and absolutely the definition of warm and loving at best. I'm firmly in the camp of If-You-Go-Expecting-The-Best-Then-You'll-Find-It, which is a wonderful camp and I really recommend it, so I found the best! From the food to the service (and yes, I know those people get paid to serve, but they go above and beyond in small ways that make a big difference) to the experience as a whole, I would go back again in one hot minute. My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures, especially of the wonderful families that welcomed us into their homes. Long story short: when you interact with others, leave your assumptions at home and try to see them as people who are just trying to do their best to get through their days!
On to some pictures:
My first coffee in Colombia! They always offer coffee and ask if you'd like it with milk. I tried it straight and it was great and I tried it con leche and it was also great. Look at me all mixing it up, haha! I found it highly amusing that "scrambled eggs" is "huevos revueltos" in Spanish, which looks pretty close to "revolting" to me. Made me laugh every time I saw it on the menu, especially as that's the way I eat my eggs.
My first ever room service meal. It was delicious! Fish, chicken, beef, potatoes, veggies, rolls, cucumber slices, Coke, and papaya (which I don’t like yet) and the cake had dulce de leche icing. Heaven!
The mist cleared out so I got some photos of the mountains in the sunshine. I’m told they’re on the east side of Bogota.
I tried to stay ahead of the photos/blogging as I drafted two posts while they were fresh, but as always, technology reared its ugly head and I could only get so far. Please be patient. I'll do the best I can!
