Me Encanta Colombia

As our spring break approached (yes, I'm almost 30 and I still get spring break!  I love my life!), I was excited to be traveling with a friend that has grown very dear to me; Marisa.  This is us:

She's fabulous.  Really, really fabulous!  She's the kind of person who's always asking how you are doing, how she can help out, predicting what you might need.  She's happy, lives life to the fullest, isn't afraid to make mistakes.  Plus, she's just a ton of fun!

So our trip to Colombia was guaranteed to be amazing, but not without a few trials first!

The morning we were set to depart, my day started out great.  I got to sleep in a bit, had a great yoga practice, and then enjoyed tea and a book on my porch.  On the way to the airport we stopped for amazing 'arepas de cochino' at Luis' house.  This restaurant is literally a few plastic chairs and grill on a sidewalk, but it is AMAZING.  Now I'm not a pork fan.  In fact I rarely eat meat.  But I was coerced into trying these things and I can't help but admit they are to die for.  It's marinated in something amazing, grilled and then stuffed in a fresh arepa with avocados, cheeses and yummy sauces:

This is basically what they look like.  I literally had a dream about them once.  Luis was walking toward me, surrounded by light, and carrying one of these delicious things.  It was the best dream ever :)

As you can see, it was a great start to the day.  Too bad it didn't stay that way...

We arrived at the airport 2 hours early for our domestic flight.  When we got to the desk however, we found out our flight had already left.  Yes, they changed the flight time to 9am and never told a soul.  We rescheduled for the 3pm flight, but it was doubtful that we would make our connection to Bogota.  We needed a new game plan. 

Marisa's boyfriend picked us up so we could try to find another way to Caracas.  The bus option fell through so we began settling into the fact that we would be driving.  But first, we needed an oil change.  We headed toward the mechanic.  The traffic was terrible, stop and go.  And it was hot.  Seriously a scorcher, with no air conditioning.  Misery.  And then... the car breaks down.  Yep.  Right at a a stoplight in the middle of traffic.  Cars driving by honking, yelling, and there's nothing we can do.  We are sweating bullets by the time we finally get the car into neutral and push it to the side.  And we are not in a good neighborhood.  I stay in the car because my 'blonde-ness' attracts too much attention.  We start hiding our purses, valuables, credit cards in the trunk.  Marisa's boyfriend has the hood up and is trying to figure out what's wrong.  The most he gets out of that though is an electric shock from the battery.  This vacation has not even gotten off the ground yet!  Now what?

We have to leave the country.  We don't have a choice.  Otherwise our visas will expire and we'll be thrown into some Venezuelan bureaucratic nightmare.  So we are back to our first option; take the 3pm flight and hope for the best.  So we need a ride back to the airport.  Eric offers to come get us, but he gets caught in a Pro-Chavez blockade!  Seriously!  Can this day get any worse?!  After hours of waiting, our ride finally arrives and we head to the airport for the second time.  There's not much hope left however.  These local flights rarely leave on time.

These are the moments I hate traveling...

Surprise again; the airport turns out to be wonderful!  It's air conditioned, they have drinks, and our flight leaves on time!  Amazing!  But when we land in Caracas, the real test begins.  We push people out of the way as we sprint through the airport.  Marisa heads to international check-in and I wait for our bags.  By some stroke of luck, their isn't even a line for check-in.  Marisa has our tickets ready and all we need to do is get our bags to them within 15 minutes.  However, the luggage fails to arrive.  Now we are down to 10 minutes.  Finally the carousal starts turning!  But... then it stops again.  5 minutes left!  Finally our bags show up.  I grab them in hand and literally sprint to the international terminal.  They tape on some luggage tags with a mere 3 minutes remaining. 

Phew.

Luckily it turns out to be worth it.  Colombia is such a delight.  Incredible beauty, yummy food, friendly people.  Here are some highlights from our stay in Bogota:

Hot coco and cookies at little Arabian cafe - colombian chocolate is delicious!

Full-on Recycling Program! (Come on, Venezuela!  You can do it too!)

Parque Simon Bolivar- bigger than central park, trails around lake, yummy food stands (grilled corn, grilled pork and potatoes, obleas (caramel strawberry waffle)), various theatrical events, scary naked people, people on stilts:

 

Huge eye-ball men running around scaring children.  Is is wrong that I found this hilarious?!

A Restaurant called 'Andres Carne de Res' in Chia - World-renowned restaurant, fun, dancing event - Welcomed us with a small band that asked if I'd be their grilfriend and made us dance all around!

 Big Drinks in coconut cups!

 

 The menu is a BOOK!

 

Empanadas, red snapper in a Colombian sauces topped with cheese and shrimp. Delicious!

Colonial bogota:

   

Buying my dad "Treasure Island" at the used bookstore:

Highlights from our stay in Salento, a sleepy little mountain town with great views, hiking, cocoa farms and people!

 The town of Salento, surrounded by mountains.

 View from top lookout point.

 Bridges through the jungle - awesome!

 

Salento at night.

 

Tired while hiking, but loving it!

 

The Coffee process from left to right!  Best coffee (and strongest!) I've ever had.

Then we discovered this Colombian game called "Tejo"; game that was surely invented by a teenage boy.  Basically you throw metal, disc-like 'tejos' at a clay pit where gunpowder has been buried. 1 points for getting wedged in the clay, 3 points for causing an explosion, 6 points for landed in the small, circular middle target, and 9 points for and explosion and hitting the middle target. About every few minutes you almost wet your underwear when one of these things exploded starting small fires or sending out a small fireball of burning material.
Only in Colombia, throwing heavy chunks of metal and targets full of gun powder while drinking.

 The clay pit targets.  Me throwing - kinda like 'Bags'!  I'm so good.

 Marisa and I holding 'Tejos'

 The winning team!  Me, Marisa, and the shortest German I've ever met.