Every year in Colombia, students get one week off around Columbus Day called Semana de Receso. This started just a couple years ago in order to encourage traveling in Colombia. While the students had off from October 7th to the 18th, faculty and staff still had curriculum days Monday through Wednesday, but I'll take a 5 day vacation anytime.
This Semana de Receso was extra special as two friends of ours from home came to visit. Jackie and Tessa are avid travelers and planned a trip to South America around the time we had off. They spent two weeks in Ecuador before coming to Cali on the 12th. They ventured to our apartment while we were still at school, but luckily Wednesday is the day our cleaning lady Rosa is there so I left her as well as our security guys a note to let them in. After work we eagerly jumped on the early 2:30 bus home to greet our guests. Not surprisingly, we walked in to find Jackie snuggled/balancing on 2 chairs in the living room napping, while Tessa was reading up at the pool. It was so great to see them. Our first order of business however, was to attempt to contact the Cali airport who managed to lose Jackie's bag. Stupid airport. Luckily she ended up having an email that they had found it, but she didn't get it until we were back at the airport Thursday to fly to Bogota.
Wednesday night we went with my friend Kristin and a friend she had in town to a bar/restaurant called Bourbon Street which had the "normal" food Tessa and Jackie were craving after 2 weeks of traditional Ecuadorian food. Afterward we went to Amanda, Jeff and Courtney's in San Antonio. They all have really cool studios/one bedrooms in the same little building. They recently got a homemade wooden table for the rooftop outside Amanda's place and invited us all over to celebrate the start of Semana Receso.
Thursday morning we made our way up to Loma de la Cruz, an artisan market in the north per the suggestion of Kristin and several other friends. It was a very cool little area with lots of shops that David and I will certainly be heading back to to do some Christmas shopping! Since it was a weekday, there were quite a few tiendas that were closed, so I would suggest going on a weekend to get the full experience. We also played with the CUTEST little puppy, whose 4 year old owner I'm sure was convinced we were going to try to steal him. David also got a Colombian soccer jersey he has been wanting since we got down here, so I think it was a success overall.
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| This little guy almost came home in one of our purses |
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| Shoe maker in Loma de la Cruz |
We made our way up to Granada for some coffee at Juan Valdez and lunch before heading back to Ciudad Jardin to pack and head to the airport. We wanted to leave in plenty of time as the airport is north of Cali, and at that point didn't know how easy or difficult it would be to get Jackie's bag. I had never really gone through a large airport in another country NOT going back to the US, so not having to take off my shoes and have our bags put through 5 times was a nice change Waiting for our flight we got some quality reading time in and ice cream, and then more reading when our flight was delayed. When we finally got on our plane we were in Bogota within 35-40 minutes. Shortest flight ever; I barely had time to recline my seat before we were descending. We got into a taxi and made our way to our hostel in La Candelaria. Before heading to Bogota we were told this was the most dangerous part of Bogota at night. And after getting back people were surprised we stayed there. And the woman who ran the hostel told us it was unsafe at night. And another couple staying there had been robbed the night before. Now, all these things considered, I still felt pretty safe. I would not be roaming around the streets of anywhere in Bogota at night anyway. During the day, the neighborhood was really cool, and close to a lot of the things we wanted to do and see. And well, we too like to live dangerously...
The name of our hostel was Anandamayi (I think) and I would recommend it to anyone, especially if you are looking for a quieter hostel, but not if you don't like sharing a room with up to 11 other people. But really it wasn't bad. There were only about 4-5 other people in our dorm in addition to David, Tessa, Jackie and I.
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| Botero is famous for his "proportionally exaggerated" (aka FAT) paintings and sculptures like Mona Lisa here |
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| Me in a fat hand |
Afterward we walked a little further from our hostel to the Gold Museum (Museo de Oro), but stopped just outside to look through another artesian market where I got a scarf and a bracelet and David got "Diario de Ana Frank" so read in Spanish. We made our way through the Gold Museum, nothing extraordinary, but definitely cool to see. LOTS of gold. And they had a fun floor map you could walk on. Obviously I stood on Cali and therefore have a new banner for my blog title. Thanks Bogota!
We grabbed a yummy pasta and salad lunch at a little (but crowded!) restuarant called Andante Ma Non Troppo back in La Candelaria close to our hostel, which according to my Lonely Planet guide book was supposed to have the best bread. Good bread, good food, great lunch deal. We spent the afternoon walkin around more of Bogota with some more markets and just general touristy things. One thing I love about South America is the street art/graffiti and all of the colorful buildings.
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| "Smiling since 1999" |
For dinner went to Zona Rosa to the Bogota Beer Company. Not a whole lot to choose from for food, but dark beer ooooh the dark beer. It was delicious. Cali only has light watery beer that personally I think is awful. I thought they would have a larger beer selection but they only had there four normal selections and then a Weizen. Still worth the trip. Given that it was rainy and cold, we didn't explore much of Zona Rosa like we had hoped. The next morning we were up trying to decided what to do for the day, asking the ladies at the hostel for some insight. After some road blocks, we decided to head to Zipaquira to see the Salt Cathedral, Catedral de Sal. Good advice and good decision. This "salt mine" was so much more than I expected. There was an hour long tour that we decided todo in English to get the most out of it, and I'm glade we did. It meant not only could I actully understand and appreciate what he was saying, but that it was just the four of us with two older Texan couple. It made for an entertaining tour. The sculptures were beautiful and if you ever make your way to Bogota, plan this into your trip.
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| I had a "miner" accident. Haha, get it? |
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| Stations of the cross |
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| Nativity |
We had a late lunch and caught our bus(es) back to Bogota. We thought about going out for a beer, but once again the rain kept us in. That, and the hostel had Monopolio, the Spanish version of Monopoly: just one more way I've been working on my Spanish. Naturally I was the first one out and the David Hotel chain took over the world, but at least I lasted more than 30 minutes this time.
Sunday morning we were up and off to Monserrate. After buying tickets and waiting in the sweltering sun, we got on the cable car and made our way to the top to be greeted my cold rainy weather. Oh the weather of Bogota. From the top there is a beautiful view of the city, a church and yet anoher artesian market where I found a Christmas gift for my mom. Shhh don't tell her though ;-) Waiting in line there were several families and little kids that kept looking at us as we all stood corraled. I heard some "tan blanca" (so white) and finally a little boy asked if he could take a picture with Jackie, Tessa and I (had to get la rubia (the blonde) in of course. The also took pictures with the tall white guys from Sydney and Germany; apparently white people are famous in Bogota.
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| On our way up |
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| Enjoying the crowded ride |
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| Bogota in the background |
After taking the cable car back down, we caught a cab back to our hostel to have our sandwiches since the rain put a damper on our picnic idea. After a couple rounds of gin rummy, it was time for Jackie and Tessa to head to the airport to catch their 6:00 flight to Cartegena. David and I didn't have much else to do so we split a cab with them and hung out at the airport at the Bogota Beer Company near our gate. We did use our awesome Spanish to ask if there were any earlier flights (and she understood us!) but there weren't.
- Bogota has seriously bi-polar weather. Dress in layers. One minute you're sweating in a T-shirt and jeans, the next you're searching for your scarf and jacket
- The air might be cool, but the sun is strong so sunscreen is a must
- I will definitely be planning a trip back to see more of the places outside and around Bogota
- Note to self: bring back beer next time
Another long post, my apologies. Until next time...
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