Colombia, el primer día

P and I left Chicago for Miami at 8:10p on Monday night. We arrived in Miami just after midnight EST. Our ten hour layover turned into an eleven hour layover as we experienced a minor delay. We weren't able to sleep a whole lot. Our options were the disgusting floor or a row of armed benches. Add in the constant noise from the cleaning crew and the freezing cold air conditioning, and we were two tired hombres.

The flight to Bogotá was uneventful. We were two of the very few english speaking chaps on the flight. We arrived at 2:30p EST on Tuesday. Customs was the single most intimidating experience of the entire trip. I took several years of Spanish throughout middle and high schools. I properly forgot all that I learned when confronted with a Colombian official. After some tense moments and a stamp in our passports, we made our way to the baggage scanners. Luckily, Jorge Rico y su amigo were there to pick us up... in a black Dodge Dart. Jorge Rico also has a Dodge Dart. His is green. He had loaned his car to his wife so she could run some errands. Colombia has newly enacted traffic restrictions. Depending on your license plate number, you can only drive on certain days of the week. Jorge Rico explained that in his family, they have two cars. His wife wasn't able to drive her car that day, so he had to arrange for someone to help him pick P and I up from el aeropuerto.

That brings me to traffic in Colombia. Steve and Laura have commented on the traffic situation before on their blog. From what I can tell, very few roads have lines marking the lanes. Even when they do have lines, very few people seem to acknowledge them. Cars whip in and out (sans turn signals). Motorcycle riders zip in between cars constantly. Motorcycle riders have to wear a special vest and helmet, each with the same number. I guess that's because there are accidents all the time. The authorities need to have the same number on the head and body just in case the two aren't attached after the accident. Eek!

We arrived at Betty's Place, completely unscathed. Gloria (the live-in maid) met us at the door and ushered us to our room. This was the view from our window.

The American Embassy says that each place that houses American tourists must have barbed wire surrounding the premises. In our case, that wire is also electrified. The large barrel you see collects water for use in the house. More on the water situation in my "Day 3" post. We could also see (but did not capture in this picture) a tiny bit of the Andean mountains from our window. Each room at Betty's place has its own bathroom. Our room also had a TV, DVD player, and a white noise maker/alarm clock. Much more beautiful is the small courtyard just off the living room.


We went back downstairs and met Steve, Laura and Carmen in the living room. Quick note: the clothes you see us in in these pictures are the same ones we had on when we first arrived at the airport in Chicago.


We had a nice, quiet evening of meeting the other residents of the house, eating and drinking. In the pictures below, note the giant plate of empanadas con aji. Aji was served with every meal we had in Colombia, and is a spicy, chunky salsa. You will also see Colombian cerveza, a bowl of guacamole (look at the giant aguacate [avocado] pit!), and fresh jugo (juice). Several types of jugo were available in all of the restaurantes we visited, and Betty's Place made it fresh with every meal. Yum!



We went to bed relatively early. We had a lot planned for Day 2 of our trip. More on that in my next post!