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Published: February 11th 2010
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So I was feeling a little shaken up on the plane ride over and my first day in Bogota. Still with the memories of the armed robbery fresh in my head, the intense face, with glazed eyes, and the feeling of pure evil intent….
However, as I was landing, I couldn´t help but notice, the beauty of Bogota and the surrounding mountains and country side. It was really striking, and I couldn´t remember landing in a more beautiful place. Its beauty and the well-organized nature of the airport, the secure pre-paid taxi system, well paved roads, and extremely modern-looking buildings and infrastructure, all helped to make me feel a little more secure.
I soon arrived at Julian´s house, my cs host. Julian, who spoke perfect English, and his wife Edna, a super cutie sweety, were incredibly, generous, trusting, and compassionate hosts. As soon as I arrived they made sure my every need was met, but they also left me alone (with my own internet connection), and gave me the space they didn´t know I needed.
Staying with Julian there was an Australian named Linden, a good-looking player, working his game on the surrounding Colombian girls. He was
a good enough dude and x-military, which made for nice conversation. That night, he made an awesome spaghetti dinner, and I settled into my FREEZING new life in Bogota, which is located at 2600 m. I slept in my minus 3 sleeping bag under two comforters, with all my clothes on. The apartments don´t have heating but are probably about 18 degrees freezing- quite a change from my regular 40 plus I was use to back in the Amazon….
I spent the next day walking around downtown with Linden. Bogota is a beautiful, modern, comfortable city, unlike any that I had seen in South America so far- not that I hadn’t seen beautiful cities, like Rio for example. -but Bogota was more… I guess Americanized, you can definitely see the influence of the strong US ties here. Everything is available and easy.
Anyways, I my headache that I had probably brought with me since the amazon was starting to become unbearable, and I was feeling the altitude a little so I decided to go home a little early to Julian’s and hit the sack. Julian was leaving the next day to visit his parents in Cali and so
I had to find another host- I found Luis, who actually lived 8 hours away in Barrancabermeja- It’s a really long story but basically Luis arranged for me to stay with his family in Bogota until I could come meet up with him.
So Julian was nice enough to let me stay in his house after he left for Cali until I went to Luis’s family ‘s house, where I met his magnificent parents, sweatheart Alba, and hilarious Luis SR, his sister (med student) Lina, little bro, Javiar, and best friend and nicest guy ever, Edgar. It took me about 2 hours to get a damn cab to head over there around 9 pm, cause it was a Friday night and the chick on the phone was a four letter word (definitely not typical for infamously nice Colombian). Anyways, Senora Alba (Luis’s mom) made me my typical nighttime snack (as she would each day) upon my arrival. We chatted and laughed, and it felt nice to be home. I settled into my bed next to Edgar’s bunkbed and went to sleep.
The next day Edgar, Lina, and I went to the Leonardo Davinci exhibit- It was fantastic to
see all the inventions and paintings! (I simultaneously lost my bank card and called my bank and dad and arranged it to have it fedexed the following Monday to me). At the exhibit I met David, a travelling American who had come to Luis’s house as a couchsurfer 14 months ago and since then had staying in Bogota, living at the home and eventually moving into his own apartment. (Don’t worry parents, I am coming home eventually, heheheh). Anyways, David, was a real, real, nice down to earth, roots guy, who had studied religion in university and was now just enjoying teaching English and learning Spanish- we only conversed in spanish. I also met Edgar’s mom, Luzma, a marine biologist, who invited me to come with her to travel the coast for 2 weeks in a week. She was going for work and would have a car and boat to visit beautiful remote areas and island (including scuba diving), and she offered me to come along free of charge. Of course I would have to buy my meals, etc. but wow, what a wonderful opportunity, and nice lady, so I accepted!
As the day went on maybe cause of
all the commotion, or who knows what, I developed my headache again, but it was more like a migraine, that was becoming more and more familiar. I had my to die for coffee, Juan Valdez pod café cumbre (god I love Colombia!!), and it temporarily helped but not for long. After the exhibit, we all hoped into a cab and I thought we were going home but we actually ended up at Lina’s aunt’s house -It was her bday party. Terrific cake and honestly the best pizza of my life… I really enjoyed meeting the whole family but my headache was growing and I was getting tired so I was happy to finally go to bed when we got home.
I woke to another delicious breakfast Senora Alba had made and Senor Luis was all ready to take me to the extreamely famous Cathedral at…. Zipa…. Something. We took the one hour train and fourty minute bus ride out of town, and the green, green, valley, nestled between the endless stream of gorgeous mountain was breathtaking. Senor Luis was funny and nice, and I knew that if Luis’s family was so amazing, he should be too. We coffee and
cake in the elegant colonial town before entering the massive mine, to see the amazing underground cathedral created entirely of salt, as it was a salt mine. Wow! Breathtaking… Senor Luis and I had a great time walking through the dozen of tunnels that surrounded the giant cathedral, which can hold up to 8000 people.
This was like the Disney land of mines, especially compared to my hard core mining experience in Potosi, Bolivia. I felt a feeling of nostalgia and happiness that I was able to have seen so many unique and wonderful places. I remember Potosi and missed the experience, but sadly knew it was unlikely I would ever return there (unless to bring someone there). So many experiences in life are just once around… Nearly most; forcing me to cherish each moment, to realize its uniqueness and its rarity, and to try to let go of the sadness knowing it is the last of its kind.
After the mine, we grabbed a delicious lunch and the waiter took a picture of me to use for the restaurants’ advertizing- go figure…
We then took the train home, and I packed my stuff, as that night
I was taking the night bus to Barrancabermeja to meet Luis, who had got special permission to take me after the following day on his business trip to La Guajira to visit the restricted largest coal mine in the world. My new Colombian parents, and best friend, Edgar, took me to the bus station, haggled my ticket, and packed me into the bus. They were so cute, and I was so grateful to have been blessed with such nice people. I had no idea that I was beginning to taste true Colombia, and I would be unaware of it for still another month…
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