Goodbye Coast, Hello Mountains!

Reunion in Bogota and beyond! (Days 8-11)

Sofia and I met in Tibet. Luckily we got along very well since we were the only two on our tour and were with each other 24/7 for over a week. So, here we are reunioning in Sofia's home country and town, Bogota! She picked us up at the airport and was the most amazing host ever! We can't thank you enough.

Sofia and I drinking salpicon in San Bolivar Park. 

Salpicon was our favorite Colombian drink, and believe me, there was tough competition. It is watermelon or Colombian soda based with pineapple, strawberries, bananas and all sorts of yummy, chunks of goodness.

Library at San Bolivar Park. Great architecture.

This park is the closest Bogota has to Central Park. People go there to picnic and exercise and chill.

Fruit lesson at the store. Curuba is a tropical fruit unlike any in the US.

By now, we drank lots of tropical fruit drinks (curuba, lulo, zapote, nispero, moracuya, mango) but most of them we had no clue what they looked like or couldn't even pinpoint the flavor. So Sofia gave us a lesson on Colombian fruits. So delicious!

One of the many awesome breakfasts Sofia made for us. Fresh fruit (no that is not cucumber or squash), hot chocolate and other delicious treats. I recall Sofia talking about these meals in Tibet and now I finally get to enjoy them myself.

 Exploring La Candeleria: Old town (Day 9)

Plaza de Bolivar. Christmas decorations still everywhere!

Side street in Old Town with mountains in looming in the background. Bogota is at 2,600 m (yes, I'm totally in the metric system)

Traditional homey ajiaco soup (the one we are staring excitedly at), one of our most favorite meals in Colombia.

We had been waiting a whole week for this ajiaco soup made of chicken, corn, potatoes and cream. It's only in Bogota where the temp is a lot cooler than the Carribean Coast. Also beans/rice and a chicken soup. All with the largest avocados ever. So delicious!

Also note I am wearing some new travel clothes never seen before. That's because Shar actually overpacked warm clothes and I underpacked for cold weather. Thanks for the many loans, Sharlene!

Hitting up the museums
 

National Museum: 
new interactive exhibit with LCD screens and audio that more accurately portrays Colombia's recent past.

Museo Boteo, where everything is playfully plump, even the books and fruits.

Monkey! Our favorite at the top-rated museum in Bogota, Museo de Oro.

The Gold Museum was all right and worth checking out. It was a bit too crowded but the entrance fee was really low as Colombia is trying to encourage tourism.

Panoramic view from atop Monserrate

A must-see in Bogota is taking a cable car or furnicular up to this vista point. Mountains on one side and city on the other. We are looking south at the class 1-2 neighborhood in the distance. Sofia explained to us how the socio-economic levels break down. 1-2 is low income. 3-4 is middle income and 5-6 top income. Like all cities, there are wealthier and poorer areas. Overall, there has been a lot of theft in the city which makes Bogotanos always keenly aware for their belongings at all times.

Honoraries of Colombia! Thanks Ibraim for tracking down the restaurant workers to sash us.

We went to a branch of the famous Andres Carnes de Res restaurant for the "experience" as Ibraim said. And it was quite the experience. We saw Ghostbusters and zombies reenactments, lots of crowning of kings and queens and given our sashes above. Definitely unique. It was a first for all of us so we were celebrating just because!

Bussing to Zipaquira for the Salt Catedral (Day 10)

Thus far we had been sitting luxuriously in mini SUVs of Sofia's or her friends or in taxis which are relatively inexpensive. This day, we finally hopped on the amazing public transport called the Transmilenio. Bogota opened up these express bus lines which have their own lanes and platforms in the middle of major roads and freeways. Pretty ingenious. 

Salt Catedral of Zipaquira: A crazy labrynith of alters underground in a huge salt mine.           Perfect setting for a church rock concert as Sharlene noted! It was quite the production underground with Colombia's first 3D movie (so it was a bit off...) and a light show.

All time favorite pastry in Colombia called Milhojas. Neopolitan flakiness with custard goodness and arequipe (dulce de leche) sweetness. Yum!

New amigas: Sofia, me, Sharlene and Diana hanging out in suburbia Chia. Still enjoying the holiday decorations.

Exploring beyond Bogota (Day 11)

For our last day, Sofia arranged for us and her friends to check out Laguna and lake Guatavita and some small towns.

Posing at Laguna Guatavita, aka El Dorado. Do you see the gold?

One, two ... wait, is Diego jumping already?! Sandra and her baby are just chilling while we engage in our shenanigans. Fun with more new amigos.

We also hit up the town of Sueca where many people were rock climbing near the Virgin Mary.

Postres at the small town of Guatavita. Some were quite delicious!

Last stop, Lake Gautavita. What a fun day!

Good night Bogota! It was a splendid time

Another fantastic trip to South America. Another memorable adventure with Sharlene somewhere in the world. Good times with new friends in Colombia. And thanks again for Sofia hosting us and allowing us to crash with her. We got such a special glimpse of this beautiful country and met so many wonderful people. We are already plotting her and Ibraim's visit to California! Hopefully in the summer I can take them around my neck of the world. Until next time ...

Coastal Columbia

Dive in Taganga: Old Fishing Village Equals SCUBA! (Days 1-3)

After 24 hrs en route and a dubious taxi ride solo, I reunite with Sharlene at our hotel in yet another country, Colombia!

Taganga!
Ex-fishing village turned laid back beach town

First meal: grilled fish, coconut rice, plantains and fresh Lulo juice (no clue what our equivalent would be, but it was tropical and delicious!)

Arepa man! You know I love my street food.

Happy 2015 on a Colombian Beach! Not a shabby beginning

SCUBA: the world down under

The main goal of these travel is to get SCUBA certified. After careful research, we went with Poseidon for PADI certification. I studied all Christmas break through PADI e-learning. Go figure on my first week out of the fall semester, I'm madly doing grades and taking an online course. After 5 units, quizzes and a final exam, I'm pleased to say I passed! I was a bad student just looking for answers and I think I skipped all the videos. Oops. The important thing is I'm alive and certified. We went with Poseidon Dive Center which was professional, though our instructor wasn't the best.

Three day SCUBA plan:

Day 1: learn about equipment, practice exercises in pool

Day 2: review quiz (whew, also passed with a 24/25!), out to the open waters! 2 dives at 12 meters

Day 3: 2 more open water dives at 18 meters

(All were half day plans so we had plenty of time to siesta and explore Taganga)  

SCUBA buddies

 I need to work on my buddy skills (sorry for losing you Sharlene!)

Thank goodness for some land time between open water dives

Everything about this open water course was intense. In fact, my friend joked that PADI is Pay And Dive Immediately. Yes, that's what we want! On the last day our goal was to not vomit. It was barely accomplished. We pressed on. The waters were crazy rough so it was hard to even do buddy checks at the surface. Oh, to not have salt water in my mouth, nose, ears and everywhere.  I need to work on my buddy and my neutral buoyancy skills. It's hard to stay neutral. SCUBA cert wasn't the most fun vacation activity, but also not the worst. It was no Nepal monsoon trek. Totally worth but nonetheless we were glad to be done. now I'm excited to put SCUBA on the table for future travels! Who's in?

Typical street and homes in Taganga

Tayrona National Park: where Colombians vacation (days 4-5)

We spent two days and one night in a hammock here. It's a gorgeous coastal section with beaches and jungle in the background. We hiked an hour into the park then another hour beach hopping. It was traffic time in the coast so there were lots of stops for passing people and horses.

Cabo San Juan Beach: the picturesque place on the cover of lonely planet

Sunset at our Beach: Arrecifes

It was a fitful night of sleep in my hammock #18 out of 24. I tried to readjust and not fall out. The howling wind, and maybe animals (?) didn't help either. I was willing for the sun to rise. We were on the trail at 6:30 AM. No one else was up. Score. Beat the morning rush hour traffic. No hoards of Colombian families.

To Pueblito

Hiking in a jungle to Pueblito

We did this fun, challenging uphill hike scrambling up, over and under boulders. One of the best things was we had the trail practically to ourselves. After making it to the top, we chilled with a lukewarm Gatorade for 15 min, noticed we were way too early for the activities which were probably crafts. No thanks, I'll pass. Though the trails were fairly clearly marked I managed to loop ourselves in a circle and head back up the mountain. Oops. Note, this is why I should never lead a hike or go solo, which I may have done before (shhhh!).

Climbing boulders. I know it doesn't look like it, but we really did need this rope to go over the edge

Pueblito with traditional houses and people

Tayrona park accomplished! We hiked ourselves two hours out of the park, getting only a little lost again. Then hopped on a shuttle to the local bus to Santa Marta. There, we accidentally walked towards the suburbs. Rerouting we finally made it to our posh hotel, the nicest of the trip. That was our prize for roughing it in the jungle 1.5 days. Man, am I getting soft?

Dichotomy:Hammock hostel in the jungle one night.
Posh hotel in the city of Santa Marta the next night.
Because that's how we roll.

Santa Marta 

Santa Marta is South America's oldest surviving city. Overall, we didn't explore Santa Marta too much as we were only there in the evening. We chilled, treated ourselves to a nice dinner on Plaza Nuevo, but no Ouzo that we planned because almost everyone takes Sunday off. Darn Sabbath interfering with our plans. Guess we can't get too upset. 

Catedral: supposedly Colombia's oldest church

Cartegena: Jewel of the Carribean Coast (Day 6-7)

After waking up at 6 am for no reason, we. had a nice chill breakfast and then chilled with our smartphones. Yes, I just might have become one of those peoples on this trip. Sigh, but hopefully that means you'll get pics faster.

It was a smooth transfer and only about 5 hours in total. Walking towards the hotel (not in circles or the wrong direction), my 6th bakery sense kicked in and I walked right into the panaderia to pick up scrumptious napolean buns for a snack. I knew I would like this town already.

Sharlene walking the wall at sunset, our first activity.

Snuck in on a model shot.

Iglesia de San Pedro Claver in its plaza. One of the many plazas in town.

Ceviche Peruvian Style at La Cevicheria

The last time I had this was in Puno, Peru. We ordered raw fish by accident at an unvetted restaurant but it was sooo good we couldn't stop eating.  This time I could enjoy with a peace of mind. No worries of food in Colombia, or at least none that we are aware of.

Plaza de la Aduana. Night time here is amazing. Lights galore from Christmas decorations.

 Our main goal of the next morning was to go to Mercado Barzuto. Lonely planet described it as "for adventurous souls only" and "an assault on all your senses." Sold. Must go there. Here's the convo I had with our hotel concierge.Me: where do you take the bus to Mercado Barzuto?
Man: Why do you want to go there? There are many people and only food.
Me: Because it is interesting.
Man: Be careful with your phone and camera.

He was definitely thinking "These crazy girls." Oh well, off we went! It actually wasn't that crazy and the fish made it smell like Chinatown. But we had success in that all our money and phones stayed on us.

Food at Mercado Barzuto

Fort: Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas

We hopped off the public bus at this fort to explore the underground tunnels. They were all right, and the fort was just OK. We zoomed through it pretty quickly.

Pastries! Bread and cheese. Yum! Note also the traditional water in a bag and postobon. All for under $2.

Grilled corn lady magically appears at night only. Thank goodness we found her again!

Picturesque street in Cartegena

Cartegena is a lovely, walkable town. We enjoyed exploring and eating. We had traditional food at La Muleta which we highly recommend. Good siesta times. Two days and one night was sufficient. Now we are off on a plane to Bogota!

Palacio de Inquisicion. Cartegena: cut!

Colombia and SCUBA at Last!

Colombia .... the country, not the University. It is often a point of confusion when it comes to me. In fact, when I took my first job out of grad school at Columbia University, my friend thought I meant Colombia the country because that seemed more probable than staying in NYC.

Why Colombia? For the past 3 years it has always made the top 3 list of places to go but never made the cut. Now I have a friend, Sofia, in Bogota that I met in Tibet. She showed me awesome pics and stories of her home country AND that Colombia is a great place to learn SCUBA. Done and done! Scuba is a big hole in my travels that I've been meaning to fill. It wasn't hard to convince Sharlene of this plan. So we both studied hard for our PADI certification over break and are off from our respective sides of the states to convene in Colombia tomorrow

Pics and stories to come. And I broke my rule of posting my last trip before I take off on the next one. Sorry, Tibet and Nepal pics are not finished. Life is crazy and I seem to travel more often now. Not a bad thing.