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Games, Games, Games and Some Weird, but Cool Plants

In light of the Under-20 year old World Cup being held in Colombia next month (or maybe the month after, heck I don't know), I have noticed that Colombians are very fond of painting the sides of buildings with their favorite games. From soccer, to Jeff Gordon??? (I promise I will take a picture of it someday if you don't believe me) to just about anything you can ever imagine in your wildest dreams.

Here are my favorites:

My favorite game. Some people might even call it America's great pastime. Or is that baseball? Nothing like juggling revolvers and hand grenades. I got my money on the girl with the grenades...

My other favorite game.

Typical Bogota taxi. Little dinky Hyundais that fly around the city like bumble bee colored Kamikazes. Fasten your seat belts!  I should when a prize or something for this picture. This taxi driver is actually driving within his/her lane!!! A rare sight.

 Crazy but cool trees. I like them.



All is well in Bogota. Enjoying the weather that Colombians for some reason hate.

Saludos desde Bogotá

Graffiti, Old Cars and Hot Tamales

Greetings from Bogotá, the city of eternal 65 degree, overcast weather! While I hear it's getting hot in Indiana, we remain frozen in time at a comfortable , I-can't-complain-about-this-ever temperature mix somewhere between a rainy Spring day and the childhood joy of jumping in a pile of freshly raked leafs.

I've never seen a city like this before that is literally built on the side of a mountain. The mountains look stunning and overpowering from any point in the city.

My view (looking east) every morning before hopping on the Transmilenio. No picture or words and do the mountains justice. But that won't stop me from trying. :)

One of the coolest things in this city is the amazing examples of graffiti. It's incredible.

The other day, I went to the mall to grab a bite to eat and was pleasantly surprised by this: antique cars!

1928 Ford Speedster

 1931 Chevy Sport Coupe

 1946 Ford Woody Wagon.  Didn't these come standard with Tommy guns?

 1954 Ford Skyliner

1955 Chevy Bel Air

'55 Ford Customline

 '57 Bel Air

1966 Mustang!

 My favorite: 1928 Ford A Pick Up

Another 1928 Ford A Pick Up

'50 Chevy Convertible

 1953 Chevy Pick Up

 1955 Crown Vic

 1964 Mercedes Benz 220S

Another Ford A Pick Up.

Tamal. Typical breakfast food here. Chicken, sometimes pork as well, rice and some more stuff wrapped in plantain leafs. Delicious. Usually served with hot chocolate. Colombians drink a lot of hot chocolate. 

Colombian money! Yep, it looks like Monopoly money! And no, I have no clue who any of the people are, except for the guy on the 1000 peso bill. That is the guy I wrote about whose assassination provoked La Violencia. 

That's all for now! Everything is great in Colombia!

Saludos desde Bogotá!

Cartagena de Indias!!

 Hmmmm, for some reason I never felt like I could successfully blend in. It must be my shirt.

Just came back from a weekend adventure to the Caribbean pseudo-jungle beach resort city of Cartagena de Indias. It is a crazy city with a crazy history. It boasts some of the best beaches you'll find in the Caribbean, the friendliest people around, best sea food you'll ever have, and a great escape from the bustling, perpetually overcast metropolis of Bogota and its over 10 million people. 

Known as the surely well-disputed "Capital of the Caribbean" and undisputed title of "The best Walled City," Cartagena de Indias (or just Cartagena for short), is the fifth largest city in Colombia with a population of around 1,000,000. The city was founded in 1533 by Pedro de Heredia who named the new colony after his hometown: Cartagena, Spain (located in the province of Murcia, located on the Mediterranean).

Incidentally, Cartagena is located a mere 200 hundred kilometers (124 miles) from the application eating donkey in my last post.  
 
The city gone through numerous battles and pirate attacks over the years. Which is why the historic city (the original city) was surrounded by a huge fortified wall mounted with cannons  (at some points more than 30 feet tall).

One interesting note is that an American (U.S.) colonist named Edward Vernon led an invasion in 1741 in an attempt to conquer the city. He came with over 186 ships and 23,600 men and was defeated by the city's defenses and 6 Spanish ships and 6,000 men. The effort somehow impressed George Washington's brother (Lawrence) so much that they named Mount Vernon after him. (I must be missing something!)

The historic city is fully restored and gorgeous. It feels like traveling back in time to the 1500s. (Except for the cars).

The bongo player either is overly enthusiastic about drumming or he has no idea what his shirt says.

Botero put a fat woman in the Plaza Santo Domingo.

A view of the historic city off in the distance from our hotel.


Our hotel was located in Boca Grande. It is the modern beach resort district of the city. It's absolutely gorgeous and completely safe. You just need a cattle prod to fend off the street venders who will sell you anything from hotel rooms to hats to a bucket of live crabs. The only Spanish you need to know to get by in Cartagena is "No, gracias!"

A view of Boca Grande from our hotel room.

Our pool, if we wanted to avoid being pressured into buying live sea animals.

Another picture of Bocagrande.

Bocagrande at night.

A spectacular view of the turquoise waters of the Caribbean from Bocagrande.

One day, we took a cab ride over to the Castle of San Felipe. Ironically, San Felipe didn't ever live there. It was just named after him (Prince Felipe (Phillup IV) of Spain) The castle is actually a military fort. Acutally the largest in Colombia. It was built in 1657.

La Popa! - The holy mountain for people in Cartagena. Kind of like Monserrate in Bogota.

A guy with a baby sloth. (Sloth in Spanish = Perezoso (lazy), A baby Lazy)

Big shoes.



SEAFOOD!!

The restaurant was a two story hut with a full bar, fisherman and hammocks. 

 
The view from our table.

Strawberry juice with milk and limonaid (freshly squeezed)

The best sea food dish I have EVER had. Lobster, mussels, shrimp, calamar, in a parmesan cheese sauce and rice.

Grilled snapper with patacon (plantain) and coconut rice.

Agua de coco! They just grab coconuts off the trees and cut them open and sell them to you as drinks :)


Then we decided to hop a dinky motor boat and go to the Islas del Rosario (Rosario Islands), which are little tiny exotic islands off the coast of Colombia. Don't worry, the crazy Afro Colombians gave us life jackets and took pretty good care of us. Deidi had already been there before.

"La bendición" - The Blessing, our high speed ride.

Well, the ride was bumpy. But I learned that I don't get sea sick easily.

After an hour, we finally arrived! (We went to Playa Blanca, a small island)

 Maps, showing our trip (the bottom left corner of the second map is Panamá)

Approaching the island!

We went by several other island on the way. This one had a constant spiral of giant birds. 

Playa Blanca!

Overall, I recommend Cartagena to anyone! It's a fun, unique and beautiful city that is used to a lot of tourism. Now I am back in Bogota on the job hunt, wishing I was still in Cartagena.

Saludos desde Bogotá.