March 19-23- Bogota, Colombia

Diana, Mirella, Elif, Lucas, Paula, Yoli, and myself arrived in Bogota Friday afternoon, and were welcomed by Diana's father and best friend Julia. From the moment you meet Diana's father you can understand where Diana gets her warmth and kindness from. Senor Galan is an extremely loving and inviting person, and instantly made us feel at home. We arrived to the Galan's lovely home and were greeted by the rest of Diana's amazing family, her mom, grandma, and younger brother Gustavo. Let me just say that if I was Gustavo's age, 19, his girlfriend would have to watch out!

We arrived to the Galan house exhausted and starving, and were welcomed by the famous dish, Ajiaco, prepared by Dora, the Galans' cook. Ajiaco is a Colombian soup specifically from Bogota, and is made of shredded chicken, corn, capers, cream, and avocado. Oh, and is DELICIOUS. We then passed out until dinner time, and went out to eat with Julia for a late dinner consisting of a platter of meat, platanos, calamari, and fries.

Saturday we woke up to Diana's mom's delicious breakfast of arepas and tamales, and then walked around Diana's neighborhood, Usaquen. It's such a beautiful neighborhood, calm and peaceful, with flowers and parks everywhere. We had lunch at Diana's favorite spot, and now ours too, Crepes and Waffles. It's a famous Colombian chain, and is amazing. I had a spinach, cheese and mushroom crepe, and shared a rum raisin ice-cream sundae with Diana and her brother ;)

Saturday night we went to a bar/restuarant called Gaira, for appetizers and drinks. We had one amazing dish called Abojarrados, which is fried sweet plaintains wrapped around cheese and bocadillo (guava). As the night went on the drinks kept coming, everyone in Gaira was up and dancing to the awesome live Cumbia band. We danced right up until the bar closed around 3am. I like Bogota.

We slept in on Sunday, and went to central Bogota with Julia and Diana's dad. I never knew Botero was from Colombia, but we went to his museum which was pretty unique. Botero had an obsession with "volumized" women, and everything he painted or sculpted were of naked fat women. Fat women on the beach, fat women in the bath, fat women in the bed, a fat Mona Lisa, fat women anywhere and everywhere. We then walked around Plaza de Narino and saw the casa de presidente and cantelaria cathedral.

On Monday we took a tourist train to Zibaquira. There are no passenger trains in Bogota, only this one tourist train which is like the really old, antique trains. Besides the fact that the train almost broke down and we were close to being stuck in the middle of nowhere, it was a pretty fun 2 hour trip, with live music playing onboard. After reaching Zibaquira we went to the Cathedral de Sal, which is an underground Cathedral constructed in a salt mine. All the crosses and figurines were made of salt, and I've never seen anything like it. We ate lunch in a small town, Cajica, and I ate pandeja paisa, which is rice, beans, platanos, avocados, and chorizo, and was goooood. We barely made our train back to Bogota, and I was the last one on literally running to jump on the train as it started moving. After our rebellious adventure we attempted to pass out on the train ride back, until I was suddenly awakened by an accordion playing in my ear.

Since Monday was our last night in Bogota we took Diana's family out to dinner, Crepes and Waffles of course, and gave them our gift which was a beautiful green tablecloth from Williams & Sonoma. They were so happy and grateful, and I really feel like I have a home in Colombia now :) They did so much for us and were happy to do it, and they reminded me so much of my family in India.

Tuesday morning we woke up early and were off to Cartagena!