Bullrings, Superbowls and Peace Marches...

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Wow....the last week has flown by. With so much packed into my days, its hard to get time to breathe....let alone write on the blog. But let me try and catch you all up...

Last Tuesday, a little over a week ago, I chaperoned my Senior class to Santa Maria Plaza de Toros......One of the oldest bullrings in South America. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the bullfight, but we did hang out in the ring. We toured the facilities, went into the holding areas where they keep the bulls and saw the stadium from inside and out. I promise to get pictures up as soon as possible. Again, my computer just can't handle the task....

From there, we went and chilled out at a beautiful nearby park. Bogota is filled with small parks. Literally, every two or three blocks has a park, but there are well maintained and landscaped city parks all over. Simon Bolivar Parque, the biggest in Bogota, is bigger than Central Park in New York. These people love their green spaces. Everyone goes out and plays soccer, have picnics and a big thing down here is to fly kites. This city is so windy, that it is perfect for lofting light plastic on a string. Just great fun. Anyway....so me and my kids hung out at this park for an hour. We took millions of pictures, climbed on statues (that we weren't supposed too) and jumped on a carousel (that was closed for repairs).....Hey! I'm a gringo. I don't know any better. The sign should be in English so I can read it!

After the park, we went to this Parilla....which is like a steakhouse. I had the best meal so far in Colombia. It was the perfect meal. For an appetizer I had a huge piece of bbq chicken. For the main meal I was served a huge steak...cooked perfectly, and for the vegetable side dish I had a nice cut of grilled pork. No kidding...this meal was just meat. Yummy and delicious seared animal flesh. Yumm. All the girls were upset because the poor bulls died in the bullring, but when it comes time to eating, I don't think animal rights have much sway...They only have the right to be delicious!

And in typical field trip fashion, we tried to play games and sing songs....Bogota is built on the mountain and in the valley below it. The bullring is in the old section of town, which is on the mountainside. Our chartered bus couldn't make it up the side, and we kept stalling and rolling back down the hill. Police escort had to come and block off the road below us, just in case we rolled all the way backwards. We rolled down the hill a far way, and then started taking off....slowly the bus churned....and slowly we made it up the hill. As passengers, we knew our role and all leaned forward...to help the momentum. The bus made it to the top of the hill...and into the busy intersection where we almost caused a massive traffic jam....oh well! This is Colombia! And then again, in typical field trip fashion, we all fell asleep on the bus ride home....belly's full of food and a day of playing behind us.

Sunday of course was the Superbowl....it was an amazing game. Just awesome. The game set a record for the 2nd most viewed American television event in history....and I'm pretty sure we set a record for the most people in Colombia watching American football. The game is not popular here....but us Americans know that the Superbowl is more important than Christmas and 4th of July rolled together....so we invited everyone over we could find. The living room was packed, no where to sit....and I kept cooking burger after burger. We had so much fun, so much fun. Half of the people in our apartment were Colombian and didn't know what was going on....they were so confused that everyone touched the ball......and they couldn't grasp the concept of the pass, but when someone kicked the football....then they all cheered loud as could be!

On Monday, an amazing show of peace and liberty showered down on Colombia. Over 5 million people country wide went out to protest against Las FARC, the narco-terrorist group that has been causing civil war for over 50 years. If you think Al Queada, think Las FARC. They kidnap, sell and profit off of drugs and try to make everyones lives as miserable as their own. Colombians have been dealing with this for a long time, and enough is enough. This country was washed in Yellow, Blue and Red....the colors of the Flag. Everyone wore white shirts for peace....it was just incredible. Since I'm head of the yearbook committee, I had to stay here and take pictures of the festivities...it was completely safe at the school where I was at....but still, you could feel the unity and brotherhood of the entire nation.

So, besides the crazy going ons of Colombia....I've been trying to get more sleep, eat better and walk more. I've become pretty comfortable with living here....craziness and all....TIC! (this is Columbia!)

jz

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Comments

[Robert]

How freaky is it in Colombia for American's? I recently found out that I have many relatives living in Bogota and in Barranquilla and I would like to plan a trip to visit and quite honestly I'm a little worried because of all the bad things in the news etc. What's your thought on this?? Thanx for your time Robert in Ventura ,CA