First and foremost I need to mention this was among my favorite vacations. This was of course because of Daniela.
The fears about going to a South American country with a bad reputation in the US were pretty well unfounded. I never felt unsafe the entire time I was there. Colombia is a beautiful country and the people there were all very nice and very helpful. Admittedly we were mostly in the touristy areas but I do not think that really meant that much. Sure there were obvious signs of poverty in many areas but every country has poverty hidden somewhere.
I really loved the coffee region. It was definitely what I enjoy to do a lot. I would say that was my favorite area of the trip.
The food was very good. I did get a little stomach sick. I blame myself for that but it was nothing really terrible to deal with comparatively to when I got sick in Lima.
I would definitely consider going back though of course I have so many more places to visit in the world.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Colombia 2012 Day 10
We woke up late since we had such a late night and decided to just relax and take it easy as this was the day we would both be heading to our own respective homes. She in Lima and me in North Andover. It was hideously rainy all morning so we really didn't miss much there either. We checked out of the hotel at a bit past 1 and then had lunch and then played with the internet for a few minutes before getting our arranged ride back to the airport. Check-in was easy. Daniela had similar tickets to the one that got us to San Andres a few days before but this time she had no trouble getting her seats right away.
The first flight of the day was from San Andres to Bogota. We were basically on time. I think we both slept a lot through it. The flight was a bit bumpy but it was one of the smoothest landings I have ever experienced. When we landed in Bogota we had to make a long trek from the national airport to the international side. This meant a strange bus ride followed by entering the airport through what felt like a back door. Since Daniela was staying with Avianca to Lima she was already checked all the way through. Unfortunately I was switching to American which did not yet have a check-in booth ready until basically after Daniela had to go in and board. We hung out together as long as we could then said our long good byes at the security gate.
When she was inside I went back and the gates were starting to open. I waited in until a man took me out and had me use self check-in. Unfortunately the machine didn't let me check bags that way and I had to go to baggage drop and check in anyway. It really didn't save me any time from just waiting in the line as normal. In any event by the time I got through security her plane had already boarded and was closed. So I basically found my gate and got some water and found an outlet to plug in the laptop and charged the laptop and my cell phone and wrote some of the blog up.
The plane boarded on time. It was a 757. The flight was uneventful. I slept through most of it. They served a meal but I did not eat it. We landed a bit early in Miami and I got to exercise my second usage of Global Entry. I was the first one through passport control due to it and I got to go through the crew line for customs after I got my bag. I was not inspected as I went through. By the time I got to my gate for my next flight including having to use the skyway tram I was more than hour early. I chose to find a seat and fall asleep there.
The flight to Boston was also on a 757 and was basically uneventful though I was surrounded by kids. I managed to get another hour or so of sleep then just waited out the rest of the flight. We landed at almost exactly 10am. After deboarding I got my bag quick and was on my way home using Flightline in short order. I got home at about 11:30am.
The solitary picture from 10 (which is technically days 10 and 11) is located here.
The first flight of the day was from San Andres to Bogota. We were basically on time. I think we both slept a lot through it. The flight was a bit bumpy but it was one of the smoothest landings I have ever experienced. When we landed in Bogota we had to make a long trek from the national airport to the international side. This meant a strange bus ride followed by entering the airport through what felt like a back door. Since Daniela was staying with Avianca to Lima she was already checked all the way through. Unfortunately I was switching to American which did not yet have a check-in booth ready until basically after Daniela had to go in and board. We hung out together as long as we could then said our long good byes at the security gate.
When she was inside I went back and the gates were starting to open. I waited in until a man took me out and had me use self check-in. Unfortunately the machine didn't let me check bags that way and I had to go to baggage drop and check in anyway. It really didn't save me any time from just waiting in the line as normal. In any event by the time I got through security her plane had already boarded and was closed. So I basically found my gate and got some water and found an outlet to plug in the laptop and charged the laptop and my cell phone and wrote some of the blog up.
The plane boarded on time. It was a 757. The flight was uneventful. I slept through most of it. They served a meal but I did not eat it. We landed a bit early in Miami and I got to exercise my second usage of Global Entry. I was the first one through passport control due to it and I got to go through the crew line for customs after I got my bag. I was not inspected as I went through. By the time I got to my gate for my next flight including having to use the skyway tram I was more than hour early. I chose to find a seat and fall asleep there.
The flight to Boston was also on a 757 and was basically uneventful though I was surrounded by kids. I managed to get another hour or so of sleep then just waited out the rest of the flight. We landed at almost exactly 10am. After deboarding I got my bag quick and was on my way home using Flightline in short order. I got home at about 11:30am.
The solitary picture from 10 (which is technically days 10 and 11) is located here.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Colombia 2012 Day 9
I woke up before Daniela and made our reservations for lunch at the Sol Caribe Centro which is a sister hotel to the Campo we were staying in. Obviously the Centro is downtown. I also made reservations for Dinner at the Laredo which is a barbeque restaurant. We wanted the Italian restaurant but it was not open that evening so we were stuck with barbeque not that it would be a bad thing. After making the reservations I ate breakfast then attempted to book our tour for the afternoon. A swim with the manta rays. While I was trying to handle that Daniela came into the lobby and we finished out getting that sorted and then she had breakfast while I watched. I had another cup of coffee anyway. During breakfast there was an announcement by the international courts on the status of the island of San Andres. Apparently the ownership has been in contention between Colombia and Nicaragua both claiming it should belong to them. Currently Colombia owns it. The judgement awarded the island to Colombia but a lot of the ocean around the island now is in the hands of Nicaragua. It looked odd but I guess it was a sort of compromise. Daniela said that the bad of it is that Nicaragua will open it up for drilling where Colombia wanted to keep it a natural preserve for the ocean.
After breakfast Daniela had arranged a tour of the grounds by the site management as she is a travel agency. The tour would give her more information to give potential customers. So we spent about 45 minutes seeing what the Sol Caribe Campo has to offer. The tour took about 45 minutes or so and the manager could only speak Spanish so I just tagged along to see without really hearing much about it. When the tour was over we took a taxi downtown and had lunch at the Sol Caribe Centro. This was at that location's main buffet restaurant. It was much nicer than the buffet restaurant at the Campo. I am not sure why we needed reservations because no one checked. We just got in found a table and got our food and ate. I tried a beef stew that was pretty good. Since my stomach had been somewhat acting up I was staying away from foods that weren't cooked. I did that through the rest of the trip.
After lunch we walked a bit down the street and Daniela did some shopping for her mother and then it was over to our tour. The tour was a boat ride that took us first into the Manglar which I guess the everglades is the closest approximation I can think of. It is salt water surrounded by forest. After the Manglar we were brought back out to sea and came a reef location where we got into the water with life vests tied to us like floaties and snorkeled to see the reef. This was my first ever attempt at snorkeling. It took a bit of getting used to but once I figured it out it was rather cool. I did suffer a bit of salt water up the nose but it could have been much worse. We got to see a bunch of tropical fish and the guides pulled up some urchins and stuff like that. After the deeper section we were brought to where the rays are. I am not sure if they are really manta rays but they are definitely rays.This location of water is very shallow and we could be out of the boat without having to have on life preservers. We brought the snorkels and masks to be able to see underwater. I was actually fairly close to swimming here. I am not a strong swimmer, but with the snorkel I didn't so much have to worry about breathing (what I don't know about swimming).The guides caught ray and everyone on the boat got to hold it. We also saw tons of others as well as fish in the water. The ray had a very soft and sort of velvety feeling to it. They caught a fairly big one. After everyone held it we all just hopped and swam around for a long time until they said it was time to go. From there they just basically headed back in and we disembarked. The most amazing thing about the tour is the guides were three kids that couldn't have been older that 23 at the highest (and I am sure that was only one of them). They did a great job and honestly we saw a lot of other tours doing the exact same things and it looked very easily like we got the best one. The boat was nice and clean. They served beer and water and they were knowledgeable and organized.
After the tour we got ice creams. Me a mokka coffee and Daniela a mixture of caramel and pina colada ice creams. After we finished eating them we also shopped for a USB drive for the pictures for Daniela. By the time we were done with that it was time to go tot the Barracuda park to get on a shuttle bus to the Campo. That ride took maybe 20 minutes and we had time to shower and get ready for our dinner reservations at 8:30pm. We were probably a few minutes late at the Laredo but they weren't concerned. Our table was ready. So we sat down. Daniela did the salad bar and I waited for the wine which we got and then the food order. She had a grilled chicken and I had grilled beef. It was very tasty if a touch overcooked for me. Still it wasn't burned so it was not so bad. It was accompanied by rice and potatoes and there was really a lot of food so I didn't end up finishing.
After dinner we headed out of the restaurant (we were last to leave). We went back to the room and I changed because I was a touch dressed up to what everyone else was wearing and then we headed back down for dancing. Yes, I danced though of course not well and all of it at Daniela's teaching. She is a very good dancer. We did it off to the side rather than on the main floor. We stayed at the dancing bar until they closed that location an by then we were done for the night then headed back to the room and called it a night.
Today's pictures are located here.
After breakfast Daniela had arranged a tour of the grounds by the site management as she is a travel agency. The tour would give her more information to give potential customers. So we spent about 45 minutes seeing what the Sol Caribe Campo has to offer. The tour took about 45 minutes or so and the manager could only speak Spanish so I just tagged along to see without really hearing much about it. When the tour was over we took a taxi downtown and had lunch at the Sol Caribe Centro. This was at that location's main buffet restaurant. It was much nicer than the buffet restaurant at the Campo. I am not sure why we needed reservations because no one checked. We just got in found a table and got our food and ate. I tried a beef stew that was pretty good. Since my stomach had been somewhat acting up I was staying away from foods that weren't cooked. I did that through the rest of the trip.
After lunch we walked a bit down the street and Daniela did some shopping for her mother and then it was over to our tour. The tour was a boat ride that took us first into the Manglar which I guess the everglades is the closest approximation I can think of. It is salt water surrounded by forest. After the Manglar we were brought back out to sea and came a reef location where we got into the water with life vests tied to us like floaties and snorkeled to see the reef. This was my first ever attempt at snorkeling. It took a bit of getting used to but once I figured it out it was rather cool. I did suffer a bit of salt water up the nose but it could have been much worse. We got to see a bunch of tropical fish and the guides pulled up some urchins and stuff like that. After the deeper section we were brought to where the rays are. I am not sure if they are really manta rays but they are definitely rays.This location of water is very shallow and we could be out of the boat without having to have on life preservers. We brought the snorkels and masks to be able to see underwater. I was actually fairly close to swimming here. I am not a strong swimmer, but with the snorkel I didn't so much have to worry about breathing (what I don't know about swimming).The guides caught ray and everyone on the boat got to hold it. We also saw tons of others as well as fish in the water. The ray had a very soft and sort of velvety feeling to it. They caught a fairly big one. After everyone held it we all just hopped and swam around for a long time until they said it was time to go. From there they just basically headed back in and we disembarked. The most amazing thing about the tour is the guides were three kids that couldn't have been older that 23 at the highest (and I am sure that was only one of them). They did a great job and honestly we saw a lot of other tours doing the exact same things and it looked very easily like we got the best one. The boat was nice and clean. They served beer and water and they were knowledgeable and organized.
After the tour we got ice creams. Me a mokka coffee and Daniela a mixture of caramel and pina colada ice creams. After we finished eating them we also shopped for a USB drive for the pictures for Daniela. By the time we were done with that it was time to go tot the Barracuda park to get on a shuttle bus to the Campo. That ride took maybe 20 minutes and we had time to shower and get ready for our dinner reservations at 8:30pm. We were probably a few minutes late at the Laredo but they weren't concerned. Our table was ready. So we sat down. Daniela did the salad bar and I waited for the wine which we got and then the food order. She had a grilled chicken and I had grilled beef. It was very tasty if a touch overcooked for me. Still it wasn't burned so it was not so bad. It was accompanied by rice and potatoes and there was really a lot of food so I didn't end up finishing.
After dinner we headed out of the restaurant (we were last to leave). We went back to the room and I changed because I was a touch dressed up to what everyone else was wearing and then we headed back down for dancing. Yes, I danced though of course not well and all of it at Daniela's teaching. She is a very good dancer. We did it off to the side rather than on the main floor. We stayed at the dancing bar until they closed that location an by then we were done for the night then headed back to the room and called it a night.
Today's pictures are located here.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Colombia 2012 Day 8
The day started a little bit rainy. Not sure if it is rainy season here or something but it appears we are getting a bit of it. We decided to take it easy in the morning and got breakfast a bit late. With the weather not being great and both of us still being a bit tired from the long travel day the day before we decided to go back to the room for a while and we ended up not coming back out until in the afternoon. We decided to catch a taxi to the center of town and walked around for a while. The center has a stretch of public beach so we go to walk out onto the sand and felt the warm water. It was very pretty but it was also very crowded. Still it was nice out there. After walking the majority of the stretch of beach it started to rain a bit and we turned into the town originally with the intention of visiting the Sol Caribe Centro for its bar, however we didn't find it before it stopped raining and ended up just walking around shopping. Not all of the shops were open since it was Sunday but still most all of them were. Daniela was searching for some luggage. The suitcase she was using during the trip was borrowed from someone else. She had loaned hers to someone and it got destroyed. The one she was borrowing didn't have a top handle. So we found her some luggage in the form of a pink spinner and also a Hello Kitty carry-on (probably meant for children but she is almost short enough to use it as a roller.
After the center we took a cab back to the hotel and ate dinner in the buffet restaurant since we woke up too late to make reservations for the nice restaurants. I had a chicken breast (which was tiny) and some rice and salad. We tried their wines neither of which was much good. As we were finishing dinner a woman came in and said there would be a show upstairs in Showtime above the buffet restaurant at 9:30 and it almost was so we decided to head straight up. The show turned out to be 3 guys playing traditional songs. Two guys played guitar and one played clarinet. Two of them switched off to percussion style instruments for some songs. The two guitarists sang. Overall I liked it but I had difficulty identifying the difference between songs some times as I am not familiar with any of them and have listened to the style only a little. Not speaking Spanish well enough doesn't help either.After the show was over we tried to get to a bar to have some drinks. As soon as we did it started to rain. We had our one drink then decided to head back to the room for the evening. My stomach was giving me a little bit of trouble during the day. Nothing epic, but enough to slow me down.
The pictures from today are found here.
The pictures from today are found here.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Colombia 2012 Pictures
The connections I have had since leaving Mi Monaco have not been good enough to upload pictures so I will not be able to post anymore till I get home. I will update the individual days with the appropriate links when I have them done. Right now in Sol Caribe Campo we only have internet in the lobby.
Colombia 2012 Day 7
We had a late start for the day because we really didn't have anything planned except our transfer to San Andres. The hotel was going to drive us to the airport at 2pm so we could get on our first flight at 4:45. That meant we started late and went to the dining area and had breakfast late as well. They were obliging and served us anyway. The owners were there in the morning and we got to talk to them a bit. They had lived in America for a while. Some locations mentioned were Miami, New Jersey and upstate New York. They were very nice people. For breakfast we had fried eggs with fresh cheese and their local bread called arequippa. Instead of coffee they served us big mugs of hot chocolate with milk in it. It tasted like pure chocolate with sugar and milk added rather than like a cup of Swiss Miss. At breakfast we met Max who was their dog as well. Like most dogs, Max really liked me and we hung out together while I ate. The food was good though I am still not really a fan of eggs.
After breakfast we took a small tour of the hotel grounds to see the pond, path, pool, Jacuzzi and general landscaping. The area was very pretty and even though they are not far from a fairly major city in the region you could not tell from there. The owners said that around 90% of their guests are local (which I assume means Colombian) and the rest are foreigners. I am not sure fully what else there would be to do around the area besides the hot springs but if there are then it would be a nice place to stay a few days and just relax. After we toured the grounds we decided to take a short nap until it was time to pack. When the alarm went off we got up and finished cleaning up and packing. The owner was waiting for us and we loaded up into her Kia SUV and it was of to the airport. it took us about 50 minutes to get there from the hotel.
At the airport checkin was not that difficult but they did search our luggage beforehand. It probably took us about 20 minutes or so with the ine. They told us our first flight was delayed due to traffic and we had more time. So we used that time to get something to eat. Basically there were snack stalls and two fast food joints. We chose the one called Presto. I had what were called Mini Chicks (which were chickent nuggets) and Daniela had a barbeque chicken salad. The drink I got was a Fanta apple soda. She had some sort of orangy soda. After we ate we decided to go through security which is basically nothing like the US. You do not need to remove your laptop from your bag or take off your shoes. They still wand you with metal detectors after you go through the big one. Once inside we had to figure out where our waiting area was which was a little confusing but we managed it. The flight left even later than they thought it was going to but all the same we would have plenty of time for our connection to San Andres. We were on an Airbus A319 which I had never been on before. It had in seat entertainment but it was kind of pointless. We were in the air for around half an hour and the flight was over.
When we landed and deplaned the minor adventure began. We didn't buy direct purchase flights together to get to San Andres but rather round trips from Bogota to Periera and back then round trips from Bogota to San Andres and back. Both were with Avianca so they were willing to check our luggage straight through though. Daniela did not purchase her tickets normally but used a special method for travel industry travelers. This meant she was on standby for the flight to San Andres and we weren't going to know if she could board until the very end. I had a normal ticket and it wasn't an issue for me but obviously I wasn't going to go unless she could. We had to pay a $26 per person tax to enter San Andres as a visitor too. while we waited the plane looked very full. She had to talk to a couple people to see if she could get her "Johnson" seat. At basically the very last minute with us waiting just outside the plane we were told that she could board and we both would sit in the business class seats. In fact the very front two. Ok, so that turned out to be nice. We were on an Airbus A320 this time. The flight was about an hour and a small bit. They served us a snack which was meh, like an open faced ham and cheese sandwich and I had a coffee during the flight. There was a lightning storm outside so I had to keep her mind off of that by telling her some stories of my previous travels. We landed without incident then couldn't get our free shuttle transfer to the hotel for some reason I didn't understand and had to take a taxi instead. They said we would be reimbursed for it though. They gave us a nice explanation of the grounds before taking us to our room. The room had a nice size to it but the faucet was a bit of a problem. We had a balcony and could see the ocean from it but we were not on the beach itself. After getting settled in I was pretty much dead to the world and crashed then. It was near midnight. Daniela went to the lobby to find internet but was not successful. We didn't have internet in the room.
The pictures from today are located here.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Colombia 2012 Day 6
Today started later as we really didn't need to be anywhere early. Aurelio picked us up a bit after 10am. We had breakfast as eggs with tomato and onion, fresh cheese and passion fruit juice and a coffee. We also had to pack up because we were moving to a different hotel for the night. The first stop was to visit Salento which was a small town with a lot of colonial style buildings and very nice scenic look of the river valley below it. We walked down from the scenic look down the Camino Real (Royal Way) back to the center of town where we got back into the car and then rode on to the Valle de Cocora.
This was basically the river valley we had seen from above. When we got there we took a horse ride along the river and back. My horse was really intent on moving fast and Daniela's was not so keen on keeping up but the guide held things together fairly well. He took a bunch of pictures for us and even posed the horses to take some of the pictures. It was fun. That was only the second time I had been on a horse in my life, the first being when I was young in Bar Harbor with my family. After the horse ride we had lunch at the restaurant Donde Juan B. We ordered the local trout which was a multicourse meal. It started with a trout soup which was good. Then a salad which had pineapple in it. Then the fish which was like salmon more than trout to me. Anyway it was good and served on a gigantic plantain chip. I had a Club Colombia beer. Daniela had fresh fruit juice then a warm drink that was flavored with cinnamon and lemon and had a local alcohol in it. After the valley we drove to the Hotel Matisses which is where we were going to stay for this night to drop off the bags and get read to go to the Termales Santa Rosa de Cabal, which is a hot springs.
After quickly getting settled we headed right back out the door and Aurelio drove us to the hot springs and we parted ways with him when he dropped us off. It was a fair walk from the entrance to the actual springs along a river. It took us a few minutes to get situated and ready but once we did it was straight into the pool which was at 37.5C. It was very comfortable. We probably got there at about 6 and stayed till past 10pm. Then we had to call for our ride back to the hotel where we settled in for the night.
The pictures from today can be found here.
This was basically the river valley we had seen from above. When we got there we took a horse ride along the river and back. My horse was really intent on moving fast and Daniela's was not so keen on keeping up but the guide held things together fairly well. He took a bunch of pictures for us and even posed the horses to take some of the pictures. It was fun. That was only the second time I had been on a horse in my life, the first being when I was young in Bar Harbor with my family. After the horse ride we had lunch at the restaurant Donde Juan B. We ordered the local trout which was a multicourse meal. It started with a trout soup which was good. Then a salad which had pineapple in it. Then the fish which was like salmon more than trout to me. Anyway it was good and served on a gigantic plantain chip. I had a Club Colombia beer. Daniela had fresh fruit juice then a warm drink that was flavored with cinnamon and lemon and had a local alcohol in it. After the valley we drove to the Hotel Matisses which is where we were going to stay for this night to drop off the bags and get read to go to the Termales Santa Rosa de Cabal, which is a hot springs.
After quickly getting settled we headed right back out the door and Aurelio drove us to the hot springs and we parted ways with him when he dropped us off. It was a fair walk from the entrance to the actual springs along a river. It took us a few minutes to get situated and ready but once we did it was straight into the pool which was at 37.5C. It was very comfortable. We probably got there at about 6 and stayed till past 10pm. Then we had to call for our ride back to the hotel where we settled in for the night.
The pictures from today can be found here.
Colombia 2012 Day 5
With our change of plans the day was to start with being picked up at 8:40 by Aurelio, our driver. That meant we tried to get down to breakfast in time and made it there by maybe 8:30. Breakfast was eggs with ham and fresh cheese and a fruit juice that I couldn't identify along with a cup of coffee. Aurelio was a bit late so though we went down to breakfast late we didn't get rushed trying to eat.
Our first stop of the day was Panaca, which is an agricultural theme park which was loaded with animals. It had some zip lines that would run around the park but when we got there the weather was not so good and they wouldn't let us go then later in the day we didn't have the time. Realistically we should have had all day to visit Panaca except that we were going to the National Park of Coffee later. There were two shows we could see for the time we had at Panaca. So we tried to aimed to get both of them in during our visit and managed to. The park is loaded with all sorts of animals mainly agriculturally themed,such as cows, goats, sheep an horses. There were birds, mainly chickens. Rabbits. Guinea pigs. Cats. Dogs. The list goes on. We didn't get to see all of them. We did get to meet Martina who was some weird sort of plant eating rodent that was very friendly and let us pet her and we took a few pictures of her. She made a strange whistling sound. It might have been like a purr it was making. She was definitely cool. The first show was about livestock that could be milked. They ran a humor based show that also required audience participation. Daniela was selected to go out and milk a cow. I was unfortunately selected to milk a goat (which I failed at). The entire show was in Spanish by the way with very little English being used to help me when I was in front of the audience. I had to say things in Spanish and do a silly dance. It was very embarrassing. They also had kids ride animals or carts drawn by animals and a tug of war with an oxen where of course the people lost. It was a fun even being publicly mocked. I did get to drink the goat milk and Daniela got the fresh cows milk too.
After the first show was over we looked at the goats and cows and rabbits among other things then headed to the second show. This one was a comedy show about a country woman that was leaving the country to go to the city. This also was obviously in Spanish and they spoke so fast I really couldn't understand even a couple words. I told Daniela not to bother translating because there was no real value to it. She wouldn't be able to enjoy it if she had to do that. I still enjoyed watching it. They had a couple animals do tricks but overall it was about the comedy. After that was over we walked down and saw the ostriches and then headed out to the gate to be picked up by our driver.
We were then taken to the National Park of Coffee which we were supposed to do the day before but didn't because especially we'd miss the dance show Daniela wanted to see. So we made it in time to get in line for entry to the dance show and only had to wait a few minutes to get in and the show started. It was fairly impressive in the sense the dances looked very difficult and it was very showy. There was a little bit of English to be had this time. The show might have lasted around 45 minutes and had a lot of different dances in it. We weren't allowed to take pictures of video of it. After the show we walked through the bamboo grotto to the restaurant area and ate at the only real restaurant in the place. We got a bottle of Argentinian wine, a red, Malbec, the brand being Trapiche. It was reasonably good. I got a dish of pork cooked with a coffee based sauce and Daniela go beef tips with a wine sauce. Both were really good though perhaps the coffee based sauce was a bit sweet. In all honesty we were having a good time enjoying the wine and just talking that we really didn't do much else in the park except ride the cable car back to the entrance and then visit the Jeep Willys and then get a cup of coffee. After that it was time for or ride to come pick us up.
After we got back to the hotel we got changed and hit the Jacuzzi again. This time the water heater was actually working and the water was warm. After we finished with the pool it was dinner then in for the night.
The pictures from today can be found here.
Our first stop of the day was Panaca, which is an agricultural theme park which was loaded with animals. It had some zip lines that would run around the park but when we got there the weather was not so good and they wouldn't let us go then later in the day we didn't have the time. Realistically we should have had all day to visit Panaca except that we were going to the National Park of Coffee later. There were two shows we could see for the time we had at Panaca. So we tried to aimed to get both of them in during our visit and managed to. The park is loaded with all sorts of animals mainly agriculturally themed,such as cows, goats, sheep an horses. There were birds, mainly chickens. Rabbits. Guinea pigs. Cats. Dogs. The list goes on. We didn't get to see all of them. We did get to meet Martina who was some weird sort of plant eating rodent that was very friendly and let us pet her and we took a few pictures of her. She made a strange whistling sound. It might have been like a purr it was making. She was definitely cool. The first show was about livestock that could be milked. They ran a humor based show that also required audience participation. Daniela was selected to go out and milk a cow. I was unfortunately selected to milk a goat (which I failed at). The entire show was in Spanish by the way with very little English being used to help me when I was in front of the audience. I had to say things in Spanish and do a silly dance. It was very embarrassing. They also had kids ride animals or carts drawn by animals and a tug of war with an oxen where of course the people lost. It was a fun even being publicly mocked. I did get to drink the goat milk and Daniela got the fresh cows milk too.
After the first show was over we looked at the goats and cows and rabbits among other things then headed to the second show. This one was a comedy show about a country woman that was leaving the country to go to the city. This also was obviously in Spanish and they spoke so fast I really couldn't understand even a couple words. I told Daniela not to bother translating because there was no real value to it. She wouldn't be able to enjoy it if she had to do that. I still enjoyed watching it. They had a couple animals do tricks but overall it was about the comedy. After that was over we walked down and saw the ostriches and then headed out to the gate to be picked up by our driver.
We were then taken to the National Park of Coffee which we were supposed to do the day before but didn't because especially we'd miss the dance show Daniela wanted to see. So we made it in time to get in line for entry to the dance show and only had to wait a few minutes to get in and the show started. It was fairly impressive in the sense the dances looked very difficult and it was very showy. There was a little bit of English to be had this time. The show might have lasted around 45 minutes and had a lot of different dances in it. We weren't allowed to take pictures of video of it. After the show we walked through the bamboo grotto to the restaurant area and ate at the only real restaurant in the place. We got a bottle of Argentinian wine, a red, Malbec, the brand being Trapiche. It was reasonably good. I got a dish of pork cooked with a coffee based sauce and Daniela go beef tips with a wine sauce. Both were really good though perhaps the coffee based sauce was a bit sweet. In all honesty we were having a good time enjoying the wine and just talking that we really didn't do much else in the park except ride the cable car back to the entrance and then visit the Jeep Willys and then get a cup of coffee. After that it was time for or ride to come pick us up.
After we got back to the hotel we got changed and hit the Jacuzzi again. This time the water heater was actually working and the water was warm. After we finished with the pool it was dinner then in for the night.
The pictures from today can be found here.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Colombia 2012 Day 4
We had a tour scheduled at 9:30 so we woke up and started to get ready close to early enough to make that on time. Our shower head in the bathroom was broken so we talked to reception during breakfast about having our room changed but reception said they only had rooms surrounded by the tour of noisy school kids that were staying all the way through Saturday. They said they would fix the shower head for us. For breakfast they prepared an omelet with tomato and onion along with a block of local fresh cheese and a fresh made juice that was probably pineapple. We also had a cup of coffee each. Our driver, Aurelio, showed up while we were still eating. We were a couple minutes late but the hotel staff said not to worry, the drivers around here would wait all day if they had to. We finished eating quickly and got our stuff to go on the tour for the day.
The first event in the day was a visit to the local coffee plantation Recuca. It was not that far of a drive. Inside we were met by the staff and sent over to dress up in local traditional costume for a few pictures to be taken.The costume was explained to us and I was made to join in a mock fight with our guide Andres using the local custom. It was fun and I know Daniela was laughing. I had to yell something over and over again. Daniela has to ask what it was because both of us forgot it later in the day. After we removed the costume we were taken out in to the plantation to see the plants and learn the history of coffee making in the region. Of course they say that Colombian coffee is the finest quality though there are several regions that produce coffee including Africa, and Viet Nam among the list. Viet Nam is apparently the largest producer. We got to see the stages of planting along with some of the blights and pests that affect the coffee plants. After that portion was over we were brought try on another costume to try to harvest some beans. The beans are harvested by hand in Colombia. They gave me a winter costume (thanks) and Daniela a summer costume and we each got buckets to collect. Andres showed us how to gather the yellow or red ones only. When we had finished collecting we were shown the various stages of production after the coffee is harvested. First they have to separate the shell from the bean which is done by a machine. Then the beans are sorted and washed and then they are set out to dry by the sun or by a coal oven. During the drying they are again sorted so the best quality beans are are kept apart from the lesser quality ones. After they are dried they are roasted in a large oven that spins using centrifugal force to keep the moving so they don't burn. Once they are roasted they are done. Colombia ships out 98% of its best quality coffee and the lesser quality is more what the locals drink. The Colombians are the lowest consumers of coffee per person. Finland is the highest.
After were done with the historical and procedural lessons we were brought to a room and the process of making coffee properly was explained to us using some of their finest quality coffee. The serving size he gave us and suggested is much smaller than typical American coffee cups. Probably about half the size. The best quality coffee grinds into even but small grounds with very little dust particles. He suggested the cup and the serving vessel should be kept warm and the water should not actually boil. He poured the water through a small bag filter and let it brew through natural drip through the bag until it was finished. The coffee was really very good. We both drank it black to the best flavor. Andres gave us each a small sample of the coffee that could be used to make one small cup and then we were brought over for lunch.
Lunch was served at the plantation. We had a local style soup that had beans and pork in a broth that probably had some tomato in it. There was a salsa served with it to be stirred into the soup. The soup was very tasty but there were some very large chunks of pork fat that were a little too much to eat. We were also given some rice, a fried banana, shredded beef, a small piece of bread and a large hunk of pork that was cooked crisp and tasted a lot like bacon. The food was quite good. They served us also a typical drink given to the workers who collect the beans a couple times of day. The drink is like a sugary syrup. We also tried it after we came in from collecting the beans. For dessert they served a milk and corn porridge that you were supposed to stir in some sugary crunchies and eat. It was good but the milk and corn part was not sweet at all. It all was a lot of food so we didn't finish everything.
After the lunch we had also bought a coffee tasting to go along. The coffee tasting segment was run by Manuel and taught us to properly taste coffee and about the properties of the various types of coffees. To start us off we first had to guess the scents of 8 liquids in bottles to see how good we were at aromas. Then we learned to judge the 4 types of tastes: sweet, bitter, acid and neutral. After that we learned how to judge coffee using 2 varieties. We learned to first judge the fragrance of the dried coffee. Then we learned how to judge the aroma in both the cup then in a spoon properly separated from the grounds. This is done by stirring front to back 3 times then filling the spoon half full from the top and smelling that. Each use you need to wash the spoon off. Then we learned to judge flavor after the foam that was made by the coffee was skimmed off. You should spit out the coffee after you taste it. After tasting the teaching coffees Manuel gave us 4 varieties to judge and we had to go through the process. He said they were all brand name coffees. Of the group I liked the 4th the best though I thought it was not so good tasting as it smelled. In the long run that was because it was not brewed properly so some of the characteristics were too over-pronounced. Number 4 was the local finest quality coffee. Amusingly there was a Colombian woman also doing the tasting with us and she liked what turned out to be instant coffee the best (at least until the taste). I could already tell that one was instant coffee quickly. After we finished our tastings we we shown the roasting process in a small antique machine that does what the large ones do on a small scale. Interestingly the coffee doesn't smell like coffee while it is roasting and not until after it has cooled down do you get the correct fragrance. Manuel gave us a small packet each of beans that he just roasted to take with us.
After the tasting we were supposed to go to the national park of coffee for the rest of the afternoon (it was about 4pm). However when we got there the girl at the counter told us it was too late and we should not do it today because we would miss too many of the attractions. We decided she was right and we would head back to the hotel. So we called Aurelio and waited a few minutes for him to come back and he drove us back to the room where since it was quiet and the students were still out we decided to use the Jacuzzi at the pool. We were in for a while when we saw lightning in the distance. We decided to get out of the water then we used the sauna for a while after that. The storm really came upon us while were were in the sauna and we had to dash through it back to the room. Daniela is not used to thunder storms as they do not get them in Lima. We got changed and ate dinner while the storm fortunately slowed down. The dinner was pork with rice and french fries along with fresh tomatoes and a fresh juice which I couldn't identify but Daniela thought was raspberry. After Dinner we headed back to the room and watched a couple movies on the computer as it was still very early. During one movie the storms started back up and all the insects started trying to get into the room from under the front door. We had to block it off with a towel and kill as many of them as we could. It took a few minutes to get that done. We also turned on the bathroom light to hopefully attract them there instead of to us. We finished watching the last movie then went to bed. The storms lasted through most of the night.
The pictures from day 4 can be found here.
The first event in the day was a visit to the local coffee plantation Recuca. It was not that far of a drive. Inside we were met by the staff and sent over to dress up in local traditional costume for a few pictures to be taken.The costume was explained to us and I was made to join in a mock fight with our guide Andres using the local custom. It was fun and I know Daniela was laughing. I had to yell something over and over again. Daniela has to ask what it was because both of us forgot it later in the day. After we removed the costume we were taken out in to the plantation to see the plants and learn the history of coffee making in the region. Of course they say that Colombian coffee is the finest quality though there are several regions that produce coffee including Africa, and Viet Nam among the list. Viet Nam is apparently the largest producer. We got to see the stages of planting along with some of the blights and pests that affect the coffee plants. After that portion was over we were brought try on another costume to try to harvest some beans. The beans are harvested by hand in Colombia. They gave me a winter costume (thanks) and Daniela a summer costume and we each got buckets to collect. Andres showed us how to gather the yellow or red ones only. When we had finished collecting we were shown the various stages of production after the coffee is harvested. First they have to separate the shell from the bean which is done by a machine. Then the beans are sorted and washed and then they are set out to dry by the sun or by a coal oven. During the drying they are again sorted so the best quality beans are are kept apart from the lesser quality ones. After they are dried they are roasted in a large oven that spins using centrifugal force to keep the moving so they don't burn. Once they are roasted they are done. Colombia ships out 98% of its best quality coffee and the lesser quality is more what the locals drink. The Colombians are the lowest consumers of coffee per person. Finland is the highest.
After were done with the historical and procedural lessons we were brought to a room and the process of making coffee properly was explained to us using some of their finest quality coffee. The serving size he gave us and suggested is much smaller than typical American coffee cups. Probably about half the size. The best quality coffee grinds into even but small grounds with very little dust particles. He suggested the cup and the serving vessel should be kept warm and the water should not actually boil. He poured the water through a small bag filter and let it brew through natural drip through the bag until it was finished. The coffee was really very good. We both drank it black to the best flavor. Andres gave us each a small sample of the coffee that could be used to make one small cup and then we were brought over for lunch.
Lunch was served at the plantation. We had a local style soup that had beans and pork in a broth that probably had some tomato in it. There was a salsa served with it to be stirred into the soup. The soup was very tasty but there were some very large chunks of pork fat that were a little too much to eat. We were also given some rice, a fried banana, shredded beef, a small piece of bread and a large hunk of pork that was cooked crisp and tasted a lot like bacon. The food was quite good. They served us also a typical drink given to the workers who collect the beans a couple times of day. The drink is like a sugary syrup. We also tried it after we came in from collecting the beans. For dessert they served a milk and corn porridge that you were supposed to stir in some sugary crunchies and eat. It was good but the milk and corn part was not sweet at all. It all was a lot of food so we didn't finish everything.
After the lunch we had also bought a coffee tasting to go along. The coffee tasting segment was run by Manuel and taught us to properly taste coffee and about the properties of the various types of coffees. To start us off we first had to guess the scents of 8 liquids in bottles to see how good we were at aromas. Then we learned to judge the 4 types of tastes: sweet, bitter, acid and neutral. After that we learned how to judge coffee using 2 varieties. We learned to first judge the fragrance of the dried coffee. Then we learned how to judge the aroma in both the cup then in a spoon properly separated from the grounds. This is done by stirring front to back 3 times then filling the spoon half full from the top and smelling that. Each use you need to wash the spoon off. Then we learned to judge flavor after the foam that was made by the coffee was skimmed off. You should spit out the coffee after you taste it. After tasting the teaching coffees Manuel gave us 4 varieties to judge and we had to go through the process. He said they were all brand name coffees. Of the group I liked the 4th the best though I thought it was not so good tasting as it smelled. In the long run that was because it was not brewed properly so some of the characteristics were too over-pronounced. Number 4 was the local finest quality coffee. Amusingly there was a Colombian woman also doing the tasting with us and she liked what turned out to be instant coffee the best (at least until the taste). I could already tell that one was instant coffee quickly. After we finished our tastings we we shown the roasting process in a small antique machine that does what the large ones do on a small scale. Interestingly the coffee doesn't smell like coffee while it is roasting and not until after it has cooled down do you get the correct fragrance. Manuel gave us a small packet each of beans that he just roasted to take with us.
After the tasting we were supposed to go to the national park of coffee for the rest of the afternoon (it was about 4pm). However when we got there the girl at the counter told us it was too late and we should not do it today because we would miss too many of the attractions. We decided she was right and we would head back to the hotel. So we called Aurelio and waited a few minutes for him to come back and he drove us back to the room where since it was quiet and the students were still out we decided to use the Jacuzzi at the pool. We were in for a while when we saw lightning in the distance. We decided to get out of the water then we used the sauna for a while after that. The storm really came upon us while were were in the sauna and we had to dash through it back to the room. Daniela is not used to thunder storms as they do not get them in Lima. We got changed and ate dinner while the storm fortunately slowed down. The dinner was pork with rice and french fries along with fresh tomatoes and a fresh juice which I couldn't identify but Daniela thought was raspberry. After Dinner we headed back to the room and watched a couple movies on the computer as it was still very early. During one movie the storms started back up and all the insects started trying to get into the room from under the front door. We had to block it off with a towel and kill as many of them as we could. It took a few minutes to get that done. We also turned on the bathroom light to hopefully attract them there instead of to us. We finished watching the last movie then went to bed. The storms lasted through most of the night.
The pictures from day 4 can be found here.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Colombia 2012 Day 3
Even with the short night we had to get going fairly quickly because we had another tour scheduled before we were to fly to Armenia in the coffee triangle. We got up and cleaned up and headed to breakfast and still managed to be a couple minutes late for our driver Marco Antonio because we had to complete packing. Marco Antonio drove us out in a similar direction as we took to get to the salt mine. In fact we were going to another salt mine,this one the Cathedral de Sal. This salt mine produces industrial salt rather than table salt and is still active. The main attraction in the mine is the cathedral which is the new cathedral of salt. The old one survived for 40 years but collapsed due to a number of reasons including poor mining technique and too close a proximity to the surface where rain caused damage to the salt (surprise) and melted it. As salt mines go this one was less interesting than Nemocon. Our guide was very good and spoke English very well. We went on an English language tour and had the two of us and a British couple who had a 5 month old boy. Before the tour started we met an Austrian man who was motorcycling all over south America. He appeared to be in his 60s or so. He was interesting but we didn't get to talk to him long because the tour started and he was not going on the one we took, having just finished. The mine has a 2 part tour. First you see the stations of the cross done in a more abstract method because the rock salt doesn't lend itself to detailed carving. Then you see the cathedral itself. I will admit it was reasonably impressive but I enjoyed the Nemocon mines better. In all the tour took about 2 hours. Then Daniela did a little bit of shopping for an emerald. After that tour we took a brief visit to the archeology museum not too far away from the cathedral, just down the hill. This was quick and consisted of a lot of native artifacts that had been discovered in the region. Most all of them were made of pottery.
From the museum we were taken to the restaurant Funzipa where we had a typical soup meal that Marco Antonio said was one of the best typical dishes of the region. We got a bowl of chicken and potato soup that was really very good and it was accompanied by a slice of grilled beef, salad, rice, potatoes and was followed by a dessert that consisted of milk curds in a brown sugar sauce. The soup was definitely the highlight of the meal and we enjoyed it very much. There was a tour that was sort of finishing up when we got there and they had some live entertainment happening, which was Andean native music that Daniela said is not typical to the regions were were in. They also played music that was Bolivian after the performers left. She thought that was very funny.
By the time we had finished eating it had started to rain. Marco Antonio took us towards the airport but Daniela wanted to see a typical local market before we got there. Fortunately the rain stopped and started a couple times but mostly it happened when we were in the car and was over by the time we stopped at the market (which was covered anyway). In the market we walked around and looked at all the stuff people were selling. Since it wasn't really a tourist area I didn't flash the camera around too much until we got to the booth that was making shakes. There wee all sorts of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish and well, practically anything you can think of in the market. It all looked very good. Every booth owner greeted us. It was probably very safe there and I could have taken more pictures but I figured discretion was probably better. In any event, we made it to a booth that had a bowl of live crabs out front. Daniela being properly curious started talking to the people that worked there and it turns out they put them into their shakes to add nutrients. This of course meant we had to try it. So she ordered one and we watched it being made. The crab went in live and probably drowned in the goop before it was pulsed up by the blender. It also consisted of local fruits, some brandy, some wine, some powders of eggs and ginseng at the very least. After it was blended, it was strained and we drank it. Daniela made me try mine first. I actually quite liked it. There were tiny fragments of shell in it but not anything you would really notice. The flavor was fruity, though I had not tasted a fruit like this exactly before. We finished up and then pretty much headed out the door as it was time to get to the airport to fly to Periera.
The airport was very small and I think the average American would recognize the serious differences in security concepts from the US. This meant that check-in and security were fairly quick. The plane was an Airbus A18 (which I have never been on one before). Daniela and I were on a 3 person row but no one took the last seat, which was nice. I think otherwise the flight was full. The flight was short and we slept through most of it. We had to wait a few minutes for our shuttle to the hotel in Armenia but we eventually found him and then had to ride about an hour and a half to the hotel. Since I had a headache the better part o fthe afternoon I again slept a good portion of the drive. We got to the hotel and had to immediately get dinner because they were closing the kitchen. It was just about 9pm. The hotel is called Mi Monaco. I wasn't feeling terribly hungry and didn't finish but we had chicken and fried plantains accompanied by rice and salad. They served us a Lulo juice which was better than the one we had tried previously as well. After dinner I got cleaned up and immediately headed to bed while Daniela worked on the computer for a bit.
The pictures from day 3 are found here.
From the museum we were taken to the restaurant Funzipa where we had a typical soup meal that Marco Antonio said was one of the best typical dishes of the region. We got a bowl of chicken and potato soup that was really very good and it was accompanied by a slice of grilled beef, salad, rice, potatoes and was followed by a dessert that consisted of milk curds in a brown sugar sauce. The soup was definitely the highlight of the meal and we enjoyed it very much. There was a tour that was sort of finishing up when we got there and they had some live entertainment happening, which was Andean native music that Daniela said is not typical to the regions were were in. They also played music that was Bolivian after the performers left. She thought that was very funny.
By the time we had finished eating it had started to rain. Marco Antonio took us towards the airport but Daniela wanted to see a typical local market before we got there. Fortunately the rain stopped and started a couple times but mostly it happened when we were in the car and was over by the time we stopped at the market (which was covered anyway). In the market we walked around and looked at all the stuff people were selling. Since it wasn't really a tourist area I didn't flash the camera around too much until we got to the booth that was making shakes. There wee all sorts of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish and well, practically anything you can think of in the market. It all looked very good. Every booth owner greeted us. It was probably very safe there and I could have taken more pictures but I figured discretion was probably better. In any event, we made it to a booth that had a bowl of live crabs out front. Daniela being properly curious started talking to the people that worked there and it turns out they put them into their shakes to add nutrients. This of course meant we had to try it. So she ordered one and we watched it being made. The crab went in live and probably drowned in the goop before it was pulsed up by the blender. It also consisted of local fruits, some brandy, some wine, some powders of eggs and ginseng at the very least. After it was blended, it was strained and we drank it. Daniela made me try mine first. I actually quite liked it. There were tiny fragments of shell in it but not anything you would really notice. The flavor was fruity, though I had not tasted a fruit like this exactly before. We finished up and then pretty much headed out the door as it was time to get to the airport to fly to Periera.
The airport was very small and I think the average American would recognize the serious differences in security concepts from the US. This meant that check-in and security were fairly quick. The plane was an Airbus A18 (which I have never been on one before). Daniela and I were on a 3 person row but no one took the last seat, which was nice. I think otherwise the flight was full. The flight was short and we slept through most of it. We had to wait a few minutes for our shuttle to the hotel in Armenia but we eventually found him and then had to ride about an hour and a half to the hotel. Since I had a headache the better part o fthe afternoon I again slept a good portion of the drive. We got to the hotel and had to immediately get dinner because they were closing the kitchen. It was just about 9pm. The hotel is called Mi Monaco. I wasn't feeling terribly hungry and didn't finish but we had chicken and fried plantains accompanied by rice and salad. They served us a Lulo juice which was better than the one we had tried previously as well. After dinner I got cleaned up and immediately headed to bed while Daniela worked on the computer for a bit.
The pictures from day 3 are found here.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Colombia 2012 Day 2
I woke up fairly early this morning but Daniela proved a bit more difficult to get out of bed which was something I already understood going into this. The main thing was that we had a tour that was starting at 9am and we wanted to eat breakfast before we left. She ended up getting out of bed at about 8:10 or so and we made it to breakfast by maybe 8:45. The tour showed up while we were still eating but since it was a private tour we really weren't holding anyone else up. The guide only spoke Spanish so I picked up what I could along the way and Daniela translated a lot for me.
We started out with a drive across town towards the north where we stopped at a square that was supposed to be the original founding location of the city of Bogota. It turns out that the concept is in contention and there are at least 3 sites in the city that claim to be the founding location. In any event it wasn't really much to look at but there was some interesting graffiti on one building. After getting the history it was back into the car where we headed to a stop that took us in a roundabout method to the main square or Plaza de Armas. I have to admit that the square was not really all that great. I liked Lima's much better as it was cleaner and the buildings around it were more impressive. We did get to see some of the preserved colonial architecture on the way there as well as a visit to the Museo de Botero. Botero is a Colombian painter that made all of his paintings of people look like they were very fat. I particularly liked his version of the Mona Lisa. In any event there was art from several other famous people besides Botero including a couple by Renoir and Picasso. It was a nice little museum with the building itself being a traditional colonial style. They also had a museum of the mint in the same complex. They handed out coins minted at the museum as a souvenir.
The main square was a lot of graffiti and wasn't particularly that clean. The guide said it was because there was a big celebration the night before that the city was a bit dirty. This was after all a holiday today, being the day they celebrate Cartagena's independence. Ok, so maybe that is why it was a bit messy. In any event as I said before it wasn't really all that impressive. The main cathedral was large but we didn't go into it. I am not sure if it was open.
After the city center we traveled far uphill to Monseratte which is a mountain that overlooks the city they have a church on top. We rode up to the location on a cog railway. The church has a stations of the cross in statues leading up to it. There were some very nice views of the city from various vantage points. The location is over 3000 meters in altitude. Also the start of Christmas decorations is upon Colombia right now as well so they had a very large nativity setup in front of the church that would be lit up at night. Inside the church they were having mass. We kind of moved through it quickly then back outside and eventually down again to the car but this time by cable car. What would a vacation of mine be without a cable car involved these days. Wasn't really much of an issue though as the car was crowded and it was not really easy to see the straight downs if they existed.
After Monseratte they took us to an ATM so we could get out more Pesos as we had used up what we had from the night before already then we ran through a touristy shopping arcade where Daniela bought some earrings she liked. We then stopped to get a fresh juice each from a stand. I had a very sweet mandarin juice and she had one from a local fruit I do not know the name of. We then drove the main guide to a place where he could get home. The driver stayed on with us and drove us outside of Bogota to a city called Nemocon where we took a tour of a salt mine. On the way to the salt mine we stopped and got a couple of sandwiches for lunch. We ate those in the car during the drive to save time. They were ham and turkey with cheese and were good. We also got fresh made juices. I got a mandarin juice that was quite good. The ride was at least an hour to Nemocon. At Nemocon it was straight into the mine and to tour that was just starting. The guide did speak English so he would tell me what he told everyone else in occasions where he had the chance. Daniela did translate some of it for me. It was really a neat tour. They basically harvest salt by water, which is how I expected they would do it. Particularly interesting were the salt pools that were so reflective that they made everything look much bigger. The water was very still which made the mirror effect even more convincing at times. The salt formations were also very neat. They had actually built a chapel into the mine as well though it is not truly active these days. It is however used for occasional ceremonies and even weddings. The mine is still active but the level we were on is only for tourists now. They said it was about 60 meters deep with the deepest level being 200 meters or so. I enjoyed it but something inside the mine completely stuffed up my nose and it got a little bit hard to breathe especially climbing back out. Bogota in general is about 2500 meters or so I think in altitude and I don't think the salt mine was any less. I am sure that didn't help me fully. I haven't had issues in altitude before but not being able to breath properly certainly can be an issue.
After the tour we stopped at a small pastry shop and Daniela bought a couple different things including a local bread roll (which I basically ate), dulce de leche, some sort of milk curd thing and a lemon dessert that also included milk I think. Everything was good though she saved some of it for later. Then it was the hour plus drive back to the hotel. We got cleaned up and then headed back out for a night on the town.
We had a taxi take us to the Parque 93 and walked a loop around it before settling on Habana 93 for our first stop. They were going to have live music and that seemed like a good option. We didn't really eat there but did have some dumplings stuffed with shredded beef as a snack. I had 2 different dark beers (all they had was dark beers). The first was a Club Colombia Dark and the second was an Apostal. I liked the Club Colombia better but both were good. Daniela had a couple of very weak mojitos. The live music was a Cuban band of 3 members. one played guitar, one double bass and the last bongos. They all took turns singing. Obviously everything was in Spanish. They were quite good. Daniela said almost all the songs they sang were very sad. I didn't recognize any of them.
When Habana 93 appeared to be closing early we moved on to the Bogota Beer Company which is a small local craft brew. We started off with a beer sampler which had all 4 varieties. They pilsner style was a bit bland but the rest in general I liked. They had an amber, a porter, a honey kolsch and Belgian style as well. The Belgian was their limited run and it was good with a very fruity almost lemony feel to it. I however settled on the amber and had a couple of those. Daniela had a couple more mojitos. These were stronger than the first set. The place was still crowded when we got there. We ordered an appetizer of German style sausages of which the chicken one was better than the pork but the rest of the stuff on the plate was average at best. Either way we talked through the night and it came on to closing time. They actually took our unfinished drinks and put them in plastic cups and sent us out of the restaurant. I have never had that happen before. A cab was already by the place so we had him take us back to the hotel. He would not drive until we drank our drinks down to a level they wouldn't spill. So we had to sit there for a few minutes more while we tried to get to an acceptable level for him. We then got back to the hotel and finished out the night.
The pictures from day 2 can be found here.
We started out with a drive across town towards the north where we stopped at a square that was supposed to be the original founding location of the city of Bogota. It turns out that the concept is in contention and there are at least 3 sites in the city that claim to be the founding location. In any event it wasn't really much to look at but there was some interesting graffiti on one building. After getting the history it was back into the car where we headed to a stop that took us in a roundabout method to the main square or Plaza de Armas. I have to admit that the square was not really all that great. I liked Lima's much better as it was cleaner and the buildings around it were more impressive. We did get to see some of the preserved colonial architecture on the way there as well as a visit to the Museo de Botero. Botero is a Colombian painter that made all of his paintings of people look like they were very fat. I particularly liked his version of the Mona Lisa. In any event there was art from several other famous people besides Botero including a couple by Renoir and Picasso. It was a nice little museum with the building itself being a traditional colonial style. They also had a museum of the mint in the same complex. They handed out coins minted at the museum as a souvenir.
The main square was a lot of graffiti and wasn't particularly that clean. The guide said it was because there was a big celebration the night before that the city was a bit dirty. This was after all a holiday today, being the day they celebrate Cartagena's independence. Ok, so maybe that is why it was a bit messy. In any event as I said before it wasn't really all that impressive. The main cathedral was large but we didn't go into it. I am not sure if it was open.
After the city center we traveled far uphill to Monseratte which is a mountain that overlooks the city they have a church on top. We rode up to the location on a cog railway. The church has a stations of the cross in statues leading up to it. There were some very nice views of the city from various vantage points. The location is over 3000 meters in altitude. Also the start of Christmas decorations is upon Colombia right now as well so they had a very large nativity setup in front of the church that would be lit up at night. Inside the church they were having mass. We kind of moved through it quickly then back outside and eventually down again to the car but this time by cable car. What would a vacation of mine be without a cable car involved these days. Wasn't really much of an issue though as the car was crowded and it was not really easy to see the straight downs if they existed.
After Monseratte they took us to an ATM so we could get out more Pesos as we had used up what we had from the night before already then we ran through a touristy shopping arcade where Daniela bought some earrings she liked. We then stopped to get a fresh juice each from a stand. I had a very sweet mandarin juice and she had one from a local fruit I do not know the name of. We then drove the main guide to a place where he could get home. The driver stayed on with us and drove us outside of Bogota to a city called Nemocon where we took a tour of a salt mine. On the way to the salt mine we stopped and got a couple of sandwiches for lunch. We ate those in the car during the drive to save time. They were ham and turkey with cheese and were good. We also got fresh made juices. I got a mandarin juice that was quite good. The ride was at least an hour to Nemocon. At Nemocon it was straight into the mine and to tour that was just starting. The guide did speak English so he would tell me what he told everyone else in occasions where he had the chance. Daniela did translate some of it for me. It was really a neat tour. They basically harvest salt by water, which is how I expected they would do it. Particularly interesting were the salt pools that were so reflective that they made everything look much bigger. The water was very still which made the mirror effect even more convincing at times. The salt formations were also very neat. They had actually built a chapel into the mine as well though it is not truly active these days. It is however used for occasional ceremonies and even weddings. The mine is still active but the level we were on is only for tourists now. They said it was about 60 meters deep with the deepest level being 200 meters or so. I enjoyed it but something inside the mine completely stuffed up my nose and it got a little bit hard to breathe especially climbing back out. Bogota in general is about 2500 meters or so I think in altitude and I don't think the salt mine was any less. I am sure that didn't help me fully. I haven't had issues in altitude before but not being able to breath properly certainly can be an issue.
After the tour we stopped at a small pastry shop and Daniela bought a couple different things including a local bread roll (which I basically ate), dulce de leche, some sort of milk curd thing and a lemon dessert that also included milk I think. Everything was good though she saved some of it for later. Then it was the hour plus drive back to the hotel. We got cleaned up and then headed back out for a night on the town.
We had a taxi take us to the Parque 93 and walked a loop around it before settling on Habana 93 for our first stop. They were going to have live music and that seemed like a good option. We didn't really eat there but did have some dumplings stuffed with shredded beef as a snack. I had 2 different dark beers (all they had was dark beers). The first was a Club Colombia Dark and the second was an Apostal. I liked the Club Colombia better but both were good. Daniela had a couple of very weak mojitos. The live music was a Cuban band of 3 members. one played guitar, one double bass and the last bongos. They all took turns singing. Obviously everything was in Spanish. They were quite good. Daniela said almost all the songs they sang were very sad. I didn't recognize any of them.
When Habana 93 appeared to be closing early we moved on to the Bogota Beer Company which is a small local craft brew. We started off with a beer sampler which had all 4 varieties. They pilsner style was a bit bland but the rest in general I liked. They had an amber, a porter, a honey kolsch and Belgian style as well. The Belgian was their limited run and it was good with a very fruity almost lemony feel to it. I however settled on the amber and had a couple of those. Daniela had a couple more mojitos. These were stronger than the first set. The place was still crowded when we got there. We ordered an appetizer of German style sausages of which the chicken one was better than the pork but the rest of the stuff on the plate was average at best. Either way we talked through the night and it came on to closing time. They actually took our unfinished drinks and put them in plastic cups and sent us out of the restaurant. I have never had that happen before. A cab was already by the place so we had him take us back to the hotel. He would not drive until we drank our drinks down to a level they wouldn't spill. So we had to sit there for a few minutes more while we tried to get to an acceptable level for him. We then got back to the hotel and finished out the night.
The pictures from day 2 can be found here.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Colombia Day 1
Flightline picked me up at 1:45am which turned out to be a bit excessive as terminal B for American Airlines was not even open yet. Apparently they also had a power outage just before I got there and all the check-in stations were shut down. The power came on just a few minutes after I got there but it took them a while to get things running. When they did I checked in then had a short wait for the security check to open then went through security and got a coffee before waiting at the gate until 5:00am which was boarding time.
The plane boarded with little incident and the flight was basically easy with me nodding off for most of it. This plane was a 757. They had no food or snack, just drinks to serve. It was less than 3 hours in the air to Miami. We arrived early and I had enough to make a pit stop before getting to my gate. I had to use a tram though technically both gates were in the D terminal. It was a very short wait for boarding to Bogota and that also was without incident.
The flight was at 10am and was 3:30 long so more than the flight to Miami. I nodded off through a lot of that one too. I believe this was the first 767 I have ever flown on. They served a breakfast where I had a ham sandwich along with yogurt, a croissant and melon. There were a few bumps on this flight, especially the closer I got to Colombia. Bogota was mostly cloud covered. It took a fair amount of time to get off the plane. Immigration was fairly quick and painless if I got a few more questions than I expected. From there it was get the bag which was only a couple minutes to wait for and on through customs who just took my slip then an xray scan of my bags before exiting.
Daniela was waiting and she looked very beautiful. She pinched me about 20 times or so to make sure I was real. We got our livery to the hotel and I dropped off my stuff then quickly got cleaned up before we decided to go out walking the area around the hotel. We are staying at Hotel los Heroes for our couple days in Bogota. There was supposed to be a commercial center about 8 blocks away. Unfortunately while we were walking and talking we went right past it and continued till we realized we had overshot our destination. So we turned back and headed towards where we should have turned in for it. By then we were getting hungry so we found a beef restaurant named Sagal that was actually open. It being Sunday we had only found fast food places open to this point. We decided we would eat there. We sat outside as it was fairly nice out. We ordered a couple of glasses of red wine, some chorizo as an appetizer, a T-bone steak to share and Daniela got a salad. The steak was really good although it was huge and even between us we left a bit of it behind. The steak also came with potatoes which I got mashed. They were ok. Overall if we held out a few more minutes we might have found a better place I think. I know that because we found Parque 93 which was surrounded by all sorts of restaurants. We walked around the park area and took a short visit to the swingsets before getting ice cream at a Waffles & Crepes shop. We split a small cup and got a combination of yogurt with chocolate crunchies in it and coffee coffee flavors. They were both good. The ice cream they served all had bolder versions of their flavors. We sampled a couple different types before deciding what to get.
After the ice cream we walked around a little bit longer before turning back towards the hotel where we found that we really had walked a lot further than we thought we did. It took us quite a while to get back to the hotel. Neither of us had gotten any real sleep on the night before so we were tired and that was going to be it for the night.
The pictures from today are located here.
The plane boarded with little incident and the flight was basically easy with me nodding off for most of it. This plane was a 757. They had no food or snack, just drinks to serve. It was less than 3 hours in the air to Miami. We arrived early and I had enough to make a pit stop before getting to my gate. I had to use a tram though technically both gates were in the D terminal. It was a very short wait for boarding to Bogota and that also was without incident.
The flight was at 10am and was 3:30 long so more than the flight to Miami. I nodded off through a lot of that one too. I believe this was the first 767 I have ever flown on. They served a breakfast where I had a ham sandwich along with yogurt, a croissant and melon. There were a few bumps on this flight, especially the closer I got to Colombia. Bogota was mostly cloud covered. It took a fair amount of time to get off the plane. Immigration was fairly quick and painless if I got a few more questions than I expected. From there it was get the bag which was only a couple minutes to wait for and on through customs who just took my slip then an xray scan of my bags before exiting.
Daniela was waiting and she looked very beautiful. She pinched me about 20 times or so to make sure I was real. We got our livery to the hotel and I dropped off my stuff then quickly got cleaned up before we decided to go out walking the area around the hotel. We are staying at Hotel los Heroes for our couple days in Bogota. There was supposed to be a commercial center about 8 blocks away. Unfortunately while we were walking and talking we went right past it and continued till we realized we had overshot our destination. So we turned back and headed towards where we should have turned in for it. By then we were getting hungry so we found a beef restaurant named Sagal that was actually open. It being Sunday we had only found fast food places open to this point. We decided we would eat there. We sat outside as it was fairly nice out. We ordered a couple of glasses of red wine, some chorizo as an appetizer, a T-bone steak to share and Daniela got a salad. The steak was really good although it was huge and even between us we left a bit of it behind. The steak also came with potatoes which I got mashed. They were ok. Overall if we held out a few more minutes we might have found a better place I think. I know that because we found Parque 93 which was surrounded by all sorts of restaurants. We walked around the park area and took a short visit to the swingsets before getting ice cream at a Waffles & Crepes shop. We split a small cup and got a combination of yogurt with chocolate crunchies in it and coffee coffee flavors. They were both good. The ice cream they served all had bolder versions of their flavors. We sampled a couple different types before deciding what to get.
After the ice cream we walked around a little bit longer before turning back towards the hotel where we found that we really had walked a lot further than we thought we did. It took us quite a while to get back to the hotel. Neither of us had gotten any real sleep on the night before so we were tired and that was going to be it for the night.
The pictures from today are located here.
Departing for Colombia
I am currently at Logan Airport waiting for a 5:30am flight to Miami where I will transfer to a fflight to Bogota.
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