Favorite Moments - Bogota, Colombia

 

Life has been a whirlwind of activities and somehow the summer and most of autumn slipped away without any blog posts. Travel and adventures have been plentiful during this time, so there is much to share!

Though I am woefully late on writing about Colombia, I have been itching to give you a taste of what the country is all about.

Oh Colombia, how you won me over with your kind and generous spirit. Each day brought a new-found appreciation for this region of the world and the friendly genuine people we encountered.  With so many memorable moments, I will attempt to do the trip justice. Here are my favorite moments from the first destination, Bogota.

Bogota By Bike

 

Perched 8,600 feet above sea level on a plateau in the Andes Mountains, the sprawling capital city of Colombia is home to approximately 7 million people. With many neighborhoods to choose from, we decided to make our home in the historic neighborhood of La Candelaria.  

Arriving on the red-eye flight from Houston in the wee hours of the morning, we were able to hit the ground running and tackle a full day of exploration. To help get our bearings on the many heartbeats of Bogota, we decided that seeing the sites from the seat of a bike was the only way to go. Located just blocks from our hotel, we joined a dozen other folks at Bogota Bike Tours and met Samuel, our guide for the next five hours.

 

And what a ride it was! The tour was full of political stories, historical highlights, architectural treasures, and topped off with three things that you never go without in Colombia; fruit, coffee, and the overwhelming kindness of strangers.

 

The high point of the tour was while sampling local fruit at the Las Nieves Market, our guide Samuel approached the two of us and motioned for us to follow him into a rather unremarkable café located across the street.  He led us through the small dining area and out a door near the kitchen at the back of the café. To our surprise, we stepped into a bright airy bricked room that happened to be Tejo Hall.

Tejo is a traditional sport in Colombia. The game consists of throwing a heavy disk into a clay pit that is lined with strategically placed pouches of gunpowder. The hall was empty that time of day except for an elderly man eating soup reading at a plastic table near the door, so we were able to wander around without interruption. Samuel rounded up some disks for us and instructed us on how to play.  My newly developed Tejo skills need to be honed, but Merk managed to hit the mark with ease! 

 

 

As we made our way back to our bikes, I couldn’t help, but feel grateful to Samuel for showing us a glimpse of Colombian culture that we might have missed on our own.

Family Style Dining

 

Elated from our high-altitude biking adventure, we set out that evening to sample a few bars and have dinner. Our choice for dinner was Tapas Macarena in the neighborhood, La Macarena. We feasted on spicy potatoes, fresh calamari, bread, cheese, chorizo, and washed it down with tasty handpicked Belgium beer. The tiny 20 seat restaurant was warm and welcoming and clearly the other patrons were regulars.

 

Towards the end of our meal, a family walked in and started talking to the table next to us. Next thing we know, we spy a little hand reaching onto our table trying to sneak a piece of bread from the basket. We looked down into the sparkling eyes of a little curly haired boy dressed in footed pajamas. At that same moment, his dad, who was seated nearby, noticed what was happening and swooped in to intercept his son’s quick hands. Laughing, we brushed off his apologies and struck up a conversation with the dad, who turned out to the owner of Tapas Macarena. He was eager to hear about our experiences in Colombia and was thankful that our research had brought us to his restaurant. We sat for quite some time discussing a range of topics while watching the little one make several successful attempts for more bread before it was declared bedtime for the little guy.

As we said goodbye to our new-found friends, we were so happy our travels had taken us on this road today and were truly touched by the genuine hospitality and kindness we encountered on our first day in Bogota. Little did we know that it was just the beginning!