A Weekend in Bogota
This past weekend we were in Cartagena (more to come on that later), so I’m a bit late in delivering you the news of the weekend before this past one. That weekend (weekend before last) comically and unintentionally spiraled into a rather eventful and entertaining 24 hours, and as we were busy living it, I knew I had to do a quick blog post about it.
On Friday night, we started our weekend off by joining McLean’s classmate Adolfo and his girlfriend Pamela for dinner at a typical Colombian restaurant. A mere 10 minute walk from our apartment, we were gawking at how we could have possibly missed the place since it towered FIVE stories from the ground with an eclectic mix of strange arrangements (like a clock and, if I remember correctly, a cow) protruding from the front of the building. The vibes were a tad odd in the place (as you can imagine based upon the exterior of the building), but not in an off-putting way- something like grunge mixed with creepy mixed with lighthearted. We got there at 7pm when there was a small handful of people milling around, eating and drinking, but as the night continued the place became much more vibrant and full of locals. We knew the night would take a turn when a BOTTLE of whiskey was ordered and since I’m not about that life, over the course of the next few hours, it was impressively shared by my 3 companions. Our friends kindly took over the ordering for us, resulting in a seemingly endless parade of traditional Colombian dishes including breads, corns, and meats that kept appearing at our table as our friends sat there proudly explaining each one to us and proclaiming “es MUY rico” about each new dish. At one point, they even ordered a small band to come to our table and chat with us and play a little song for us, which ended in us getting donned in a Colombian sash and paper king and queen crowns. Naturally, our friend Adolfo took a video of us during this escapade, and while he proudly showed us, I wanted to plant my hand on my forehead because we both had those stupid grins on our face- a clear indication that neither of us had any idea what was going on. We all had some good laughs at that. As if all of that wasn’t enough, our friends then had a photographer come over and snap a picture of the 4 of us, which was promptly printed and delivered to us in a little plastic satchel, and our friends learned the English word' “souvenier.”
And of course, much to my pleasure, we couldn’t go to a traditional Colombian place, with local Colombians, without some dancing. One of my favorite things about Colombia and Latin America in general is that everyone, literally everyone, dances. And the best part: they dance whenever they want and wherever they want. Sitting at our dinner table, amongst other diners, sometimes others would just stand up, dance around their table for a bit, then sit back down and continue eating and drinking, as if nothing happened. Sometimes they would drink and eat and dance at the same time. It wasn’t uncommon to see people dancing while seated, shaking their shoulders, singing to the music, bobbing their head. Music pulses through people’s veins here right alongside their blood. McLean got a mini dance lesson from our friend Pamela, while I danced a very amateur salsa with Adolfo. The night was one to remember, for sure. We are already looking forward to our next double date with that fantastic couple.
Several days prior to knowing we would be having dinner with friends Friday night, we had booked an all-day hiking tour set to start early Saturday morning. So after a night out on the town, we got up nice and early Saturday morning and headed out of the city with a guide and a driver. Our guide was a young man, very enthusiastic and excited (about life in general, but mostly about coffee) who regaled us with his life story, a plethora of local “pro-tips,” and speciality coffee knowledge on our way out of the city. We passed through the south of the city where as “gringos” we don’t venture unless accompanied by a local guide, and continued into the mountains. We drove for about 2 hours, and on the last few kilometers of the trip, while winding up a small country road we came around a turn and were suddenly stopped. There were already several cars stopped (both inside and outside of the road signs and tape which didn’t make a lot of sense to me) and several people standing around looking perplexed, but nobody who appeared to actually be in charge. Our guide got out and wandered around, quickly coming back to report that no cars and/or foot traffic could continue for at least another 4 hours because of supposed road work ahead. Though only 3 km (a little over a mile) away from our final destination, we were forced to turn around and head back into the city, with the promise of returning at another date of our choosing.
Having just ingested an incredibly large amount of whiskey the night before, McLean was not incredibly upset by this change of plans, and instead we went to lunch with our guide near our apartment, and had a vivacious and interesting discussion about topics ranging from the biggest problems in Colombian politics to the best musician to come out of Colombia and Latin America. We got home right as a thunderstorm shook the city, so we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and thinking back to the very entertaining and random previous 24 hours.
