Best Friend Week in Bogota!

Hi! Marianne asked me to do a guest blog recounting all the adventures that occurred during my week long visit in Columbia. I began working on the blog when I was still there and promised Marianne at least 10 times since then that I would finish it. So tonight is my "Real Deadline" since she will be coming back to the US tomorrow!!!

My time in beautiful Bogota is coming to an end. Now we are sitting in Marianne's Colombian family's living room after having eaten a wonderful meal and watching futbol. I will be flying out in a couple of hours. What a blessing it has been to be here with my best friend. I am so thankful for all we have shared and experienced during my time here.



I arrived to the aiport around 11:30 pm on April 16th. I was greeted with a lovley bouquet of daisies and a hand-made sign saying "Bievenitos Bogota." So fun! It was there that I met Marianne's favorite Colombian friend Maggie and her best friend, Amanda who also came to visit for Spring Break. We hopped in the taxi and I got my first taste of Colombian taxi drivers and my first view of the city. After catching up a little we went to bed in order to prepare for this weeks events.



Sunday we woke up and got ready for our first adventure. Marianne's Colombian Mom Galdis would be taking the four besties to a Hot Springs. After much driving and beautiful scenery, we learned that all the roads to the Hot Springs were closed due to flooding and rock slides. Gladis quickly came up with a Plan B....the Salt Mine. We spent the day exploring a humongous salt mine that has been turned into a church. One of the neat things about being at the Salt Mine is that this Sunday was Palm Sunday. We got to see a little procession where Colombians were singing and waving their palm branches. We finished the day with a late lunch at the Country Club and a friendly game of Tejo. Tejo is a Columbian version of corn hole except you get to make an explosion of gun powder if you hit the target. Marianne and I kicked butt (really it was only Marianne that kicked butt). So fun! Monday night Marianne showed me around her lovely neighborhood. We purchased lots of fresh fruit and veggies for super cheap. And we found some alligator and turtle shaped breads at the local bakery. I think it is so awesome to be able to walk and buy all the things you need for dinner. I always love that about foreign cities.



Tuesday was another adventure with Amanda and Maggie and Jamie, another one of Marianne's friends from ECA. This was my introduction to the Transmilanio, which is a local transportation system that connects all of Bogota. We arrived at the city center where there is a beautiful cathedreal. We enjoyed walking around and shopping at the local markets. One of my favorite things was hearing a beautiful opera singer perform "Ava Maria" in the Cathedreal. Breathtaking. We went to one of the girl's favorite cafes for a local lunch. We enjoyed various salads and sandwiches. Then we had coffee and teas. The waiters and waitresses created designs inside our coffee with creamer. Various leaves, trees, and flowers, and Marianne even got a pig :) Ha. Ha. Ha. That evening we went back to Marianne's neighborhood to the cutest cafe that you can rent movies and watch them in small theater/party type rooms while you enjoy coffee and desserts. We watched Across the Universe came home and made some world class guacamole and chips. It was a good night. Marianne has become a pro at making all things South American especially fried pita chips and tortilla chips.


The next morning Marianne told me we had to leave her house at 7:30 for an excursion to the "most relaxing, peaceful town" called Villa De Leyva. So we woke up at 6 something, but still managed not to leave until 9:30. We were all packed up and feeling ready for the day when we loaded our bus. Although we tried our best to convince a local, no one wanted let us sit beside each other even when she told them I was sick and needed the window. Bus drivers here are CRAZY. Our 4 hour trip turned into almost 8 hours due to severe flooding and mudslides. It seems we should have watched the news before leaving Bogota. We finally made it to the picturesque Villa de Leyva before dark and found our hotel where we were greeted with a very interesting staff that gave us some so/so massages and pedicures. That night we had a delicious dinner, listened to live music and got lost on the way home in the pouring rain with no taxi's in sight. That was a little bit terrifying. This "little relaxing town" turns all the street lights off around 10 pm. The next morning we enjoyed our breakfast at the hotel and headed out to see what kinds of adventures we could get ourselves into. We found a four wheeler tour which is actually a jeep tour that takes you to some of the city's tourism highlights. We choose to visit a local winery and the fertility statues.

At 1 pm we boarded up with Carlos and his dog cleto ready for our personal tour of the city. We were enjoying all the bumps and scenery along the way, giggling, taking pictures and wondering why we had decided to wear cute dresses that day. About two or three miles into the journey we realized that their were several cars backed up along the road. Upon further investigation we discovered that the road was quickly being covered by flood waters. Carlos exited the car to talk to some locals about the best route to the vineyard. He assured us that his jeep could make it across and asked if we wanted to continue. We agreed. About halfway over the river crossing we began to question our judgement as the jeep sputtered and spatted like a whale. We soon arrived safely at the vineyard and were only a little alarmed that we were the only tourist that had braved the flood waters. The vineyard owner greeted us and provided us with a personal tour. The grounds were beautiful and we decided to stay a bit to enjoy a wine and cheese sampler.

As we were enjoying our day, it started pouring and thundering. A employee of the winery approached our table. No greeting; no "Are you enjoying your wine?" no "do you have any questions?" He very seriously approached our table and said "The situation in Columbia is very grave." I think I gasped, and stuttered "what do you mean the situation is grave? Are we in danger? Should we leave right now? Is my life at risk?" Before he could answer that the Columbians were mostly concerned about the loss of farmland, crops, and people's livelihood, I was thrown into a panic. From that moment on Marianne and I could only focus on getting back to Bogota. As far as we were concerned our mini vacation was over. Carlos our tour guide reassured us that every thing was going to be just fine. The laid back attitude and demeanor of Columbians became a little more alarming to me that time. Carlos outfitted us with some massive yellow ponchos (the kind you get at Disney World) and we were off again. He decided it wouldn't be safe to go to the fertility garden and insisted on taking us to a monastery.

I don't think that we payed much attention to the Montessori, but Carlos insured that we had a thorough tour. I remember that the inner courtyard was lovely, with beautiful flowers particularly orchids. In about an hour we we're on our way home " the long way." There were many river crossings where I questioned whether we would make it back, but after a couple of hours, we arrived completely soaked and muddy.

We convinced Carlos to drop us off at our hotel quick, give us 5 minutes to gather our belongings and return to give us a ride to the bus station. We had high hopes of catching the last bus to Bogota and ending the madness. We ran into the bus station only to learn that there were no tickets available. We convinced Carlos to go ask for us and he managed to buy us some tickets for the 4:00 bus even though it was already past 4:00. We joined the ranks of backpackers and began what would be come a long and stressful evening. 5 o'clock came, 6 o'clock and then 7. Around 7:15 I was approached by a young Columbian guys asking if we were English. He was in a tizzy running around to all the people waiting for the bus wanting to inform us that "We need to go to the police, the woman who sold us these tickets lies, and there is no bus coming!" As he gathered his army to approach the police I sat down to cry. Marianne convinced me that all we needed was to get a little snack. So we did. And we continued to wait. The bus ended up arriving around 8:30. Unfortunately at that time Marianne had decided to contact some of the local missionaries to ask for advice. They advised us not to get on the bus due to the dangerous conditions. At this point our imaginations were going wild. Marianne burst into tears :(

We ended up finding a very lovely hotel with a lovely hot tub and breakfast the next morning. We were able to get a safe bus back to the city early the next morning :)

We arrived back in Bogota on early evening on Thursday. Poor Marianne got so excited about getting off that bus and back to her home that she forgot her camera. Friday, Marianne's fun, fun friend Edgar took us on another adventure. His friend Angela joined us. We got to experience another jeep adventure. He took us to a local park called Sopo where we were able to hike and experience beautiful views. After that we had a lovely picnic at our next destination Guatavita.

Wikapeda says...Laguna de Guatavita was reputedly one of the sacred lakes of the Muisca, and a ritual conducted there is widely thought to be the basis for the legend of El Dorado. The legend says the lake is where the Muisca celebrated a ritual in which the Zipa (named "El Dorado" by the Conquistadores) was covered in gold dust, then venturing out into the water on a ceremonial raft made of rushes, he dived into the waters washing off the gold. Afterward, trinkets', jewellery and other precious offerings were thrown into the waters by worshipers. A few artifacts of gold and silver found at bottom hold proof to this claim; however, to date, the trips to the bottom of the lake have yielded no more than these.

It was a difficult hike and of course it rained some of the way, but the view was stunning. We visited a local coffee shop on the way home and I had some lovely tea with lemongrass. We got to talk with the owners who are living in Bogota to do ministry in the city and frequently host "The Jesus Film" and other outreach ministries at their shop. Talking with them was really encouraging. Edgar took us to a really beautiful overlook, were we could see the city of Bogota all lit up at night. It was the perfect ending to our days adventure.

Saturday, Marianne took me downtown Bogota to a Gold Museum, Art Museum and to Bella Vista. Bella Vista is a huge Mountain that also overlooks the city. They have built a beautiful Cathedral at the top. I was not a fan of the cable car or the street car that look us to the top but the view was very beautiful. That evening we met friends for dinner at a wonderful restaurant that had all of my favorite things (edamame, curry, jasmine flowering tea, and creme brulee). I eat until my heart's content. We finished the evening at Bogota Beer Company with several friends and some very lovely missionaries from the U.K.

I begged Marianne to take me to a local church for Easter Sunday. We went to the Alfanzo's church. It's a mega -church with various sites. We arrived 45 minutes early to wait in a line to see which site we would be assigned to. First we went into a site that was just video streaming of the service. The Alfanzo's were disappointed. However when the church staff learned that we needed english translated they escorted us to the main service. We received headsets where we enjoyed a passionate translation of the sermon. Our translator worked so hard to make our experience wonderful. I loved the church, how excited they were about worshiping and praising God, experiencing worship in a different culture, sing to God in Spanish, and experiencing Columbian's passion for Christ.

Gladis made us a lovely lunch and we watched futbol, which brings us to the beginning of the blog I began almost 3 months ago.

I am so very thankful for God's provision and protection during our trips. Several people lost their lives in floods, car accidents, and mudslides that occurred due to severe weather. Reports indicated that flooding had not been that severe for over 20 years. Being with Marianne for a week was a true treasure. I loved that I was able to meet her friends, her host family, see her home, and experience the culture she has been in for a year. She was such an amazing tour guide and made sure that I experienced EVERYTHING! I loved knowing and seeing first hand her heart for the Columbian people and her passion for Christ. I loved talking with her about what she has learned this year and her plans for the future and sharing with her about my first year or marriage. My heart was ignited again with passion for serving others, traveling, and experiencing the everyday joy our God has gifted us with. I am so grateful.