Days 34 & 35

Day 34 – Tuesday, May 15^th – Mom, Sofia and I had planned to meet my aunt Elvira in a super cool shopping mall called Hacienda Santa Barbara that is on 116^th & 9^th. We were going to meet at 11:45am, but at 10:30am I got a call from our Representative asking if we could meet at Zuetana (our old hotel)  because she wanted to introduce Maria Teresa to me and another family that has been here for eight weeks already, since Maria Teresa will be filling in for our representative while she is on vacation in New York. I told her I could make it by about 11:30 by myself while my mom took Sofia to meet up with my aunt. I took a taxi to Zuetana and arrived a little late. It was great to see the staff and my friends that are staying there. Our rep told us that our papers are on the Judge’s desk just waiting to be signed. Once that happens, things should move along a lot quicker. 

Once I was done visiting, I walked to the main street and hailed a taxi to meet up at the historic shopping mall. Once I got there, I heard that my aunt was about an hour late because there was a bombing close to where she lives and she wasn’t able to find a taxi. Apparently the bomb was meant for an ex-governor, and unfortunately there were three casualties.  I’m amazed that even though things like this happen, I still feel very safe here.  Maybe part of it is that I haven’t watched TV in about a month (with the exception of a movie dubbed in Spanish), so I’m not constantly reminded of the negative. Another part of it, is that I am always aware of what’s going on around me (on my guard) and I don’t walk around outside after 6pm when it gets dark. As Perry always says: “Safety First!”.

Day 35 – Wednesday, May 16^th -  My cousin, Maria Claudia, picked us up to go to La Calera for lunch. On the way we stopped to pick up my aunt Beatriz. We drove up the rim of the mountain to a place called El Tambor. If you’re in Colombia, you can’t miss this one. The views are phenomenal on the way up and the food is typical Colombiano. We sat outside and when our order came, it was a huge basket of finger sized bites of arepas (like my mom makes), patecones (fried  plantain), yuka (similar to potato), steak. pork, papas criollas (little round yellow potatoes that are crispy on the outside and the inside is steamy and melts-in-your-mouth) and a few other things that I’m not sure what they were or what they are called. But it was good.

Rather than returning to Bogota, we continued on the mountain road to Sopo’. There is a Swiss company located in that town and there is a store that sells everything from that brand, as well as some awesome desserts (postres).  We each got a few things from the store, including desserts and coffee, and we sat on the patio outside. It was refreshing with the sun shining, but at almost 4:00pm we could feel a drastic change in temperature. We decided to head back to Bogota through the traffic.  Once again, another great day in Colombia!