Bogota!

Hola mis companeros,

From my last post, I promised a tale about my recent trip to Bogota.

Very interesting place Bogota. I’m not sure what’s more disconcerting. The fact there are more bomb/drug sniffing dogs and military police than people in Costa Rica or the fact those security measures are needed in Bogota. I admit to being pretty open about traveling there as it was the “lesser of two evils”. Either go to Bogota or Mexico City. Both places are challenging from an American perspective. Regardless of what we do, regardless of fluent our Spanish might be or how well we appreciate and know the culture, Americans will always stand out in Latin America. Bogota is no different. However, taking the fact Columbia takes security to the level of an art form aside, I really enjoyed Bogota.

Let’s start with the weather. It was cooler than Costa Rica but not too cold. During the day long sleeves were okay. In the evening, a leather jacket or sweater was definitely needed.

Let’s talk the food. OMG…the food. It was great! Traditional Columbia food is VERY close to what Americans would classify as “comfort food”. It’s creamy soups with big chunks of chicken and vegetables. It’s baked chicken with gravy. It’s absolutely mouth watering steak with baked potatoes with all the fixings. It’s incredible deserts with fresh fruits, whipped cream or the most delicious cakes with intricate frostings.

Then, the buildings. Where I stayed it was a more upscale but older part of town. There were high rise buildings but also many older and more traditional buildings, many of the brick with beautiful and intricate wood trims. Our hotel was one of these buildings. It reminded me of a turn of the century castle with round turrets with stained glass windows.

Now, we shift to the mountains which were all around Bogota. Not sure if they were taller than the mountains circling Costa Rica’s central valley or not. But they were certainly beautiful. From one of the Citi offices in downtown Bogota, the view of those mountains and several of the buildings built along the range illustrated some of the most spectacular sunsets Bogota has to offer.

Finally, the LEATHER. Again, OMG…the leather! Managed to get a little shopping in while we were in town. Well…more like A LOT. J In fact, I did all of our family Christmas shopping with the exception of the kids. It was awesome. A jacket for me, a jacket for James. Wallet for me, belt for James. Plus, wallets, belts, gloves, boots, purses and all sorts of other cool nifty things for our friends and family. The only people I didn’t shop for were the kids. At 3 and 7 they just aren’t that into Columbia leather. LOL!

All in it was a great trip. However, I definitely noticed the difference coming back to Costa Rica, enough of a difference to say, “I missed Costa Rica!” There is no pollution, no bomb/drug sniffing dogs outside of airport security and no military police with sub machine guns every 2 blocks. Yes, Costa Rica has its challenges. However, our challenges don’t involve traveler warnings from the US State Department. Pura Vida!