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Published: June 29th 2015
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Monserrate
Classmates from the Spanish school - Andreas from Denmark; Zoe and Juan from the US So I've been going to class every morning, gym and homework in the afternoon and training every night with the Castores. This weekend, the team were in Medellin for a tournament, so Nat and I had a little break. But the madness begins again next week!
On Tuesday, after class, a few of the Spanish school students went on a field trip to Monserrate, which is a mountain which overlooks Bogota. It rises to 3,152 metres (10,341 ft) above the sea level (thanks Wikipedia), where there is a church (built in the 17th century) with a shrine, devoted to "El Señor Caído" (Fallen Lord), as well as a few restaurants and little shops. Monserrate is a popular destination for pilgrams and on special holy days, they climb the mountain on their knees, up a steep track of stairs. Luckily, there are other options, and we climbed the mountain by funicular and came back down on the cable car.
In true Bogota fashion, the beautiful sunny day turned into a cold, windy, rainy hell by the time we arrived at the top of the mountain. The weather in Bogota is very reminiscent of Melbourne - they have a similar saying
about having all the seasons in one day! Despite the weather, it was still an amazing view - with Bogota sprawling out below us, we could see the intermittent rain and sunshine moving over the city. Muy chevere!
On Thursday, after class, we went to the Botanic gardens. The gardens are amazing - they feature plants from every Colombian altitude, climate and region. They serve as both a recreation destination and research center, with an emphasis on conserving the more endangered Colombian ecosystems. The garden has a number of interlinking greenhouses, climatised at different temperatures where a variety of flora can be found from different zones in Colombia. From the Guajira (near the Caribbean), the Páramos (at the heights of the Colombian Andes) and the Amazon Rainforest. They also have sections of Andean woodland plants; Roses; Medicinal plants; Aquatic plants; and even a Cacti zone. Our guide, who's studying environmental engineering at uni, which apparently also includes knowing the common and scientific names of all the plants in the garden, showed us around all the areas with a heap of interesting information that I've since forgotten, of course. She showed us everything from a tree
with little fruits that had a sweet goo inside that you could suck out (mmm delicious) to the coca plant, whose leaves are used by farmers to suppress hunger and thirst so that they can work longer. A lot of chemical processes are required to convert the coca leaves for their other use! There was also a plant who's sap smelled like chicken flavoured potato chips, one whose leaves smelled like licorice and one where drinking water out of its flower has an effect like alcohol. We then went for a stroll through the Parque Simon Bolivar and checked out the huge, round public library.
Friday was the quarter finals of the Copa America and Colombia was playing Argentina. It was a really exciting game with a number of really close calls. In the end it was 0-0 so they went to a penalty shoot-off. Unfortunately, Argentina won with an additional penalty point, so Colombia is out of the Cup 😞
On Saturday, Nat and I went swimming and then helped her mum with moving apartments. We are moving from the 3rd to the 2nd floor in the same building to an apartment with an additional
A surplus of sauces
Delicious empanadas with 7 amazing salsas - que rico!! room, which will be handy when the other girls arrive. The bigger furniture is being moved tomorrow.
Today (Sunday) Nat and I went and checked out the Zona T and Zona Rosa - a nice area of Bogota with arcades of restaurants and other shops. We had a huge lunch consisting of the usual Colombian fare of meat, arepita, egg, rice and beans; as well as some epanadas to start with a ridiculous amount of sauces. I'm definitely loving the Colombian custom of having a larger lunch and a smaller dinner. We then went to Parque 93 which is a cool spot to hang out at night, where they have various activities, like showing the football games.
Ok guys, hasta proxima... chao!
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