A Random Entry

Since my last days in Colombia are being spent hanging around Bogota, I don't have any big new adventures to share on this blog. That doesn't mean that I don't have anything else to post, however! I have lots of random pictures that I've been wanting to add here...

We can start with today. Julian, Edith, Milton and I spent the day walking around, and I invited them to lunch to say thanks for being such an unbelievably fantastic family to me during my (all too brief) stay. We decided to go to a Peruvian restaurant called "Nazca," where everything is actually imported from Peru. The food was wonderful- their specialty is seafood, and the fish/shellfish/etc. were flavored with all kinds of yummy sauces (lime, avocado...). We dressed up, as it is a fine restaurant, and we had a wonderful time. Mostly I'm just posting the pictures below because it was such a happy outing and I really enjoy seeing all of us smiling ear to ear.



The boys (why so serious?)

The girls

Edith's dish: very typical of the Peruvian food offered at the restaurant. Rich rice seasoned with soy sauce and mixed with onions and peppers, shrimp with a delicate lime coating, fish, squid...and maybe something else?

Seeing those pictures reminded me that I wanted to share with you photos of two Colombian apartments: Edith's and Dario's. Both are beautiful, and it is interesting to see how apartments/houses look in different countries, no? First, here are some pictures of Edith's (you can see a bit of it in the pictures above, too). It is very elaborate and beautifully decorated:

The living room: what you see when you first walk in

The front door is to the right, behind that yellow column. Down the hall that you see there is the computer area, guest bathroom and both bedrooms.

The hallway with lights!

The wall to the left of the entrance, when you first walk in

The view to the left of the entrance: a dining room, and the kitchen. Note the pretty ceramic floors! They don't show up well in the picture, but they really complement the rooms.

I don't have any pictures of what the bedrooms are like, but both are quite lovely and each has its own bathroom.

Dario's apartment is of a totally different- but equally nice- style:

The front door is in the corner of this picture; it opens into the corner of the dining room, and you can see the living room (with its big picture-window) to the right of the door

The dining area. Below, the hallway down to the bathroom/bedrooms- the dining room is on your right when you stand at the end of the hall

And to round out the randomness of this entry:

This fruit is called Granadilla: it is one of the first Colombian fruits that I was introduced to here. It looks like an orange, but on the inside has watery fruit and large seeds that you eat along with the fruit-pulp.


Ok, that's enough randomness for the moment. Hopefully I will have time to post pictures of tomorrow's party before I take off on Saturday.

Un beso y un abrazo...

Vamos de Paseo (Part II)

Today we got up extremely early (ok, just 6am) to accompany Marco to Villavicencio- a city about 2 to 4 hours outside of Bogota, depending on the route you take (either through the mountains, via new tunnels, or around the mountains, via the old highways). On the drive down, we passed through the southern part of Bogota- the poor area of the city, which Julian could not remember ever even seeing. For the most part, those from the more affluent north do not venture into the south. I wanted to post a couple pictures, though, because it is quite impressive to see how incredibly different two halves of the same city can be.

Southern part of Bogota

Ciudad Bolivar: thousands of poor houses in the south of Bogota that lie on the lower part of the mountains

This entry is not going to be that long, because for the most part we were riding around in the car looking at the vistas. Which, I must say, were breathtaking. I'm not sure pictures could ever do them justice. Marco took us on the 4 hour, deluxe tour around the mountain on the way there, so that we could fully experience the Colombian landscapes.

Driving through the clouds!

Look at the waterfall in the center- so beautiful

I love this picture...

All the flat-land that you see makes up the llanos orientales - plains that are known for their Colombian cowboys, oil, and agriculture

It is also really interesting how the climate changes so drastically during the drive to Villavicencio. We left chilly, fall weather...climbed mountains into more chilly, damp mountain weather, and then started passing into humid, tropical weather. Quite a trip!

Located at the horizon of these pictures is the Amazon. Interesting, no?

Marco and his car, waiting for Julian to take his pictures

At a local restaurant for lunch... we don't have a good shot of it, but it was basically just a bunch of picnic benches under a gigantic roof of dried palm leaves. They had great food! Below is a picture of carne a la llanera: the specialty meat of the area. It is a specific cut of meat cooked on wood and coals in a certain manner...I tasted Julian's and it was quite yummy. We also had a surprisingly delicious beverage called refajo- a (potentially dangerous) mixture of Pony Malta soda, local beer, aguardiente and Colombiana soda.

As I said, not much to say for today because it was mostly a driving day. I fell asleep on the ride home, and I am now more than ready to crash in an actual bed.

Buenas noches y que descansen!

Vamos de Paseo (Part I)

These past couple of days have been full of sight-seeing, so let's start with everything we saw yesterday: Below is a zorra that passed by us on the way out of Bogota. These horse and cart combos are very Colombian...




Our main destination yesterday was the Catedral de Sal. This sight is located in the city of Zipaquira, about one hour outside of Bogota in an area called la Sabana. It is a large tourist attraction, and is considered the #1 marvel of Colombia. The pictures below were taken when driving up to the entrance.

This sight has a very interesting history, because it is (and has been years) an active salt mine. In fact, it provides salt for the vast majority of Colombia and is something like the fourth largest source of salt in the world (it used to be part of the ocean...millions of years ago). From what geologists can tell, the mine can continue to provide salt at the rate of about 700 tons of salt a day for at least 500 years more. So you see, we were not exactly going simply to see a cathedral- we actually walked through a working salt mine to get to there. Below is the entrance to the mines.

If you hadn't already guessed, the famous Cathedral of Salt is located underground (inside the mines). This underground cathedral was constructed because mining is a dangerous occupation, and this being the Catholic country that it is, in 1954 the Colombians decided to build an underground cathedral for the religious benefit of all the miners who were risking their lives to gather salt from hundreds of feet underground (the mine is quite deep- something like 600 feet under the surface). You will notice a lot of crosses in the pictures below- many of them are located along the path down to the cathedral. Along this path are monuments for each of the Stations of the Cross, and various types of crosses represent various stations.

This photo is of holes (each three meters deep) that miners used to carve in which to place explosives and blow out chunks of the walls. This is how they used to mine... now they have a much safer technique!

This photo is of a domed ceiling that was carved in a circular room along the path. The walls were left rough, so as to represent the earth, and the ceiling was designed to represent the stars and heaven.

If you look closely, you will see lines on the ground between the large stones. Those are not just lines, however, they are stairs! This was an extremely steep stairway, which we thankfully did not have to attempt.

View of the path

Just to orient you a little, one we got to the bottom of the mine we came upon a huge central room. From this room, you could see three separate (and huge) worship areas. They actually hold Sunday masses, as well as conduct marriages and baptisms, down here! The cross above is actually on the wall behind the main alter in the cathedral at the bottom of the mine. Although you can't tell from the picture, it is absolutely enormous and is the largest underground cross in the world.

View of the central room at the bottom of the mine

More path pictures

Statues near the bottom of the mine

One of two massive columns located at the entrance of the main cathedral

Julian and I at the back of the main worship area...behind us you can see the pews and the massive cross behind the alter area

Art on the floor of the main cathedral

More statues

More pathway

Baptism center

Looking up from the bottom of the massive cross on the wall

A picture of a couple of real miners next to a statue of Jesus. Did you know that if Jesus' head is to the right (our right) it means he is alive on the cross and suffering, and that if he is depicted deceased his head is lowered to the left?

The pews in one of the smaller worship areas

Memorial to fallen miners

Another view of that scary, steep staircase

The entire tour took about 1.5 hours, and I think we were all quite happy to get back out into the sun. The Cathedral and the mines are very interesting, and certainly worth the trip, but there is something palpably depressing about being so far underground. There is something else peculiar about the mines as well- the air smells like sulfur from all the minerals and such (it is so strong, it smells even in the area outside of the mines). For this reason, there are gigantic, cavernous tunnels underground that serve to ventilate the entire area so that it is safe for tourists and workers alike. After the mine-tour, we did a quick walk-through of two other museums on the grounds (one explaining how the salt is mined, one showcasing art from various Colombian tribes). After that, it was time to move on!

Views of the grounds

The area in which we were driving around - la Sabana - is known for being very green and very lovely. The pictures below prove it!

(...not part of la Sabana- pure Bogota)

I'm not sure if it was on purpose, but in our quest to see the scenery and maybe find lunch, we ended up at what was once Julian's childhood obsession (or one of them): the factory of Alpina. Alpina is one of the largest Colombian companies, and it produces a variety of dairy products. Alpina also makes those fantastic 100% fruit juices that I mentioned early on in my trip. This company is represented in many countries, unfortunately I don't think they have a huge representation in the states. I have heard rumors that you can find their products in areas such as Miami, however...


The factory

What is particularly exciting about the factory, however, is that it has a store attached to it where you can buy a multitude of Alpina goodies!

We took advantage, and bought lots of things to try- including incredible desserts of strawberries and cream....mmmmm...

The booty!

By the time we got home, we were ready to crash. Unfortunately I had to take care of some school stuff, so I didn't get to bed as early as I wanted. This wouldn't have been such a big deal, except for the fact that today we had to get up at 6am! But you have to read Part II for that story...

as they say in Spanish, a continuacion...