Below is the first Colombian dish we ate: Changua. This delightful looking soup is made from a spiced milk broth. There were pieces of biscuit, thick slices of cheese, and even a hard boiled egg inside! I enjoyed this warm and nourishing soup after having walked in the chilly drizzle to get to the little restaurant. It even reminded me of the homemade soups I had read about in old books, a quickly but lovingly made meal to rejuvenate a wounded knight or a starving wanderer.
It seemed to be the thing to do to get your picture taken with the alpacas (lamas?) in Plaza Bolivar. As you can see, the whole area was swamped with pigeons as well!
One of my favorite flowers, native to Venezuela: the bird of paradise flower. Amanda's friend, Rose, had these in a vase in her home. Rose led us from her apartment to the outdoor art markets.
I had spotted this on the taxi ride to Rose's place: a garden mosaic! Each flower bunch is rooted behind the tarp wall. I have never seen anything quite like it before. This seemed to be unique to the owner, I didn't see anything else like it in Colombia.
See if you can figure it out- how is she floating in air? I like the older man I happened to catch on camera, cocking his head to the side just as I did when I first viewed this magic trick. After a closer look at a few different angles I figured it out, but I'll let you make your own investigation ;-)
City of 8 million, viewed at 10,000 feet. Bogota itself is already 8,660 ft though! Amanda and I found ourselves catching our breath as we walked up hills and she got a very bloody nose one morning, both signs of mild elevation sickness.
I found myself thinking about what a potentially perilous situation we were in. What if something malfunctioned? It would be a speedy and frighteningly severe decent to the ground below!
One of our first views of the vast city of Bogota as we walked up the hill from the cable cars.
There is a chapel high at the highest point of Monserrate. This gateway isn't actually part of the church, but it heralds the stairway to it.
This hillside view gives an idea of how steep this mountaintop is. Amanda and I were short of breath with the combination of the slope and mild altitude sickness.
This is one of my favorite pictures from Monserrate. It shows the steepness of the slope, the expanse of the city below, and the strange cloud formations that began to develop as we walked about.
The passion of Christ was depicted in several statue arrangements such as the ones below. The flowers at the base of the statues was not littered by the trees, but placed there by devoted worshipers. It happened to be the weekend of Easter Sunday while we were in Bogota, so it seemed more than appropriate to ponder these most precious, yet solemn moments in the life of Christ.
While watching a Youtube documentary on hummingbirds, I unwittingly discovered the name of this flower: Angel's Trumpet. It's nectar is sipped by the Swordbill hummingbird, whose bill is longer than its body! I didn't see any hummingbirds feeding on the flowers in this tree, but the flowers were impressively large.
Here's the Youtube video: Humming Beautiful Birds
The garden which housed the statues was quiet and lovely to walk through. It was carefully maintained. I remember the walkways being clear of weeds, the bushes were kept in check, and there were no leaves or dead flowers on the ground.
I was surprised that Colombia had so many unique trees and flowers. I had expected that Venezuela and Colombia would be similar in this way, but happily I was proven wrong! I enjoyed gazing at the colors and arrangements of these new plants.
I was glad I ventured to the back of the restaurant so I could get a better look at these old photos of how Monserrate looked 50 years ago. I think it seems much more imposing than at its present state.
I believe the picture on the top right is of the old teleferico building at the base of the mountain. I think the picture in the top middle is of the old church in the Plaza Bolivar, as well as the bottom left picture. The bottom middle picture is of Monserrate Mountain, and the bottom left I believe is Plaza Bolivar again.
Finally inside the teleferico, but barely room to breathe!
This is the back of the teleferico building, a welcome sight after a crammed and mildly frightening ride down the mountain!
Amanda, Rachel (yes, I actually ran into another Rachel!) and I walked away from Monserrate and encountered these little vendor stands. They were in many areas of Bogota, and could go on for a block, offering all kinds of different trinkets and treats. The ones below were mostly selling donuts, cookies and other sweets.
All of the churches I saw in Bogota were old and beautiful, and this white one was no exception.
Bogota is covered with graffiti, but mostly of the sort that is artistic. I even learned from Rose (Amanda's resident friend) that Colombia commissions some graffiti artists to create murals in order to prevent gangs from marking their tags. Unfortunately, whipping out your camera in the allies is a great way to get mugged, so I didn't risk taking many photos of the graffiti. What you see below is a very small collection. Bogota walls and traffic tunnels are covered with artistic graffiti.
Our hostel was conveniently located near several of the main attractions in Cartagena: the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas (Castle of San Felipe...). It was a fortress, not a castle, but very impressive nonetheless. We were able to walk there. Along the way I was able to capture one of the egret-type birds that I kept seeing near rivers and ponds in the city.
Here is the fortress
As we walked up the ramps of the fortress, our view of the city grew. We had planned to go around sunset, and we weren't disappointed with the view. I wasn't able to get too many great pictures of it, but it was very neat to see the sun as it sculpted it's way around the skyscrapers and created silhouettes.
When I first started seeing this deep caverns, I assumed the fortress had been a prison, but I was assured that it was a kind of outpost, not a prison. I wouldn't have wanted to enter these caverns in the dark though, soldier or not!
I enjoyed the picture below simply for its creepy and surreal effect. Of course in reality it's just an out of focus photo ;-)
This section of the fortress looked more like a barn than a fortress, and as such was more welcoming.
I loved this tunnel, though it was a bit creepy when you first stepped into it, not being able to see the end from the front. The cobblestones weren't even, so it was a bit of a climb, but still the fastest way to get from the front of the fortress to the back.
