Bogota photos

Here are some about-town photos. I'm sorry I don't have better labels of what buildings are or which streets we were on or anything, but it'll give you a taste of how varied and colorful the sights were. I am a big fan of street art and graffiti, so you'll notice samples of both. I wish I'd gotten some of the multiple stories high mural headshots of women with their long necks, big earrings, hair, and backgrounds, but as we were often in a moving vehicle I didn't get the chance. Had we walked past any I'd have taken a million pictures!

Why wouldn't there be bagpipes in the middle of the street?

We were told that generally the higher the apartments got, the more expensive because you'd be paying for the view. It was interesting to see how the closer the buildings marched  to the mountains, the taller they got. Then behind them and even higher up would be all these colorful small homes. I loved the variety and the color everywhere. Bogota is impressive to me in that it has 3200 "pocket parks" spread throughout the city. They're trying to combat the pollution from 9 million people living together and at the same time offering green places to get away for a bit. Everywhere we saw people playing with their dogs, kicking soccer balls around, playing field hockey, walking, sitting, rejuvenating. It was delightful!   

Dada and his street vendors, haha. He can't resist an auction, estate sale, flea market... we didn't purchase any of the leather goods from this particular vendor, but on the left is our new friend Jorge who hails from Mexico and came to Bogota for the training Dada was giving. We had a great time getting to know him and were extra thankful for his fluent Spanish, haha. 

The plants edition

I just had to share some beautiful plants shots. I have a feeling these guys are some version of Birds of Paradise, but I don't know that. They were spread around our hotel in Bogota. I put the water bottle in for scale.

These are my favorite lilies at Lalaith Havens. Every so often we'll find hummingbirds visiting them. I need to fence them off so that The Idiot Bos doesn't race right through them... 

Anybody help a gal out and know what the plant on the left is? It belongs to Abuelita Ceci, my new Colombian grandma friend, and my Spanish isn't good enough to ask about it, haha! It looks like some variety of fern but it's curly and adorable and I want one!

Day Two in Bogota

Phooey, technology strikes again. These are all out of order. Bummer. 

I had the privilege of wandering through the Museo de Oro, the Gold Museum, on two separate days. The first time was with a friend and some of her family, including two children. The whole time I was thinking, "ohhh, the guys (Dada and his coworkers) and Pap Pap would love this!" The displays were spread out over three floors and discussed the various ways the gold was molded and formed and repaired and all kinds of aspects to which I'd never given a moment's thought. I was blown away by the detail and intricacy involved, especially when I factored in how good their eyesight and how primitive their tools would have been. If you're ever in Bogota, it is a must see. Absolutely fascinating. 

Remember, click on the pictures if you'd like to see them larger. Hopefully you can even read some of the captions.

Oops. That one was the same day, but obviously isn't in the museum. I heard its name but didn't write it down and therefore it is lost to me, but it had been the largest building in Bogota for awhile and it has a neat light changing display.

Back to the gold:

Above is the legend of El Dorado and the picture is of that golden raft (second photo from the top). It is quite famous. I wonder how long it took to craft and how many temper tantrums I'd have had if I was the one creating it...

This next picture doesn't do it justice at all, but the display was a circular room with a fishtank feel; that glass window went almost the whole way around. Different sections would be highlighted and lit at different times while chants and music were played simultaneously. The objects ranged from the larger medallion-ish things you can see to small earrings and other tiny items. There was also a cutout section of the floor with multiple layers of gold objects in glass, mirrored from the bottom. 

And once again, I'm eating. This was tea and toast and eggs one evening. I promise I did eat with other people throughout the trip (and how!) and not only in my room!

Day One in Bogota

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! 

I’m not dead

I promise I’m not dead, just working on a series of posts. Please be patient while it’s under construction. I’d like to have them done by the end of next week, so keep your fingers crossed! Enjoy your weekend, everyone!