Colombia

July, 2007   Bogota

My friend Juan invited our family during winter vacation.

We were in same school.

Our daughters were in the same class at the daycare center.

Bogota is the capital of Columbia, one of biggest city in Latin America and the third-highest(2,640 meter) capital in the world.

Avianca airline: 540$ per person for round trip.

Our schedule

Bogota(1 week) Santa Marta (5 days) Cartagena (5 days) Friend's farms (5 days) 

We rent the one bedroom apartment in the bogota.

It cost 150$ for one month.

There were many homeless people in Bogota so security problem looked so serious. even some beggar slept  in front of apartment gate.

People hardly can speak english.

We ate a fresh juice(or coffee), bread and egg as breakfast. It's 8-9 $

This is winter in colombia, too.

However, most house don't have heating system.

Some have small portable heaters. 

In addition, houses stands very close.

I missed sunlight a lot in bogota.

My face was very pale, I am an Asian though.

The first day, we were the dinner guest in Juan's parent house.

They have 2 housemaid and 1 baby sitter. Still labor costs are so cheap in Columbia.

 

This soup offered as main menu. It made from three kinds of potatoes and served with corn and chicken.

Bogota street
The air pollution in Bogota looked like so serious.
1 hour after I walked the street, my throat hurt a lot and breath gas smell.

This is my friend Julieta's boutique.
Her clothes frequently were shown in many Columbia magazines.

Here is a popular restaurant "Tabula" to family and young people.
people can watch the kitchen while the cook make delicious food.

Botero Museum.
The Botero Museum has 123 works of Frnando Botero and 87 artworks by other artists.
They have a nice restaurant and a coffee shop inside.

My friend have 2 farms
One is on the mountain, the other is in southern beach.

My daughter learned horse-riding in the farm.

the second farm

Cartagena
Cartagena ahve colonial wall and fortress(UNESCO World Heritage Site)
It is a popular tourist destination in Carribean region.
I recommend this city for family trip. There were lots of thing we can see, shopping and eat.

street dancers in Cartagena

American love starbuck, Columbian love Juan valdez.
That is pretty much similar style with starbucks.
We can see many stores in the downtown.  They have their logo merchandise such as cups,T-shirts and hats. The price is similar, too.

Santa Marta
This city is an important maritime port and hub for tourism, history and culture. it was founded in 1525 by spanish conqueror. Santa Marta was one of the first cities to be founded in Colombia.

This is the hotel that we stayed 4 days.
Everything was so calm and peaceful, only coconuts were felling down to the ground.
Our group felt we rent whole area include ocean.
It looks very shabby but clean and modern facilities in bathroom.

Nobody appear there except our group.

 For kids
Parents don't need to bring many food. There many vendors  for fruits, fresh juice and snack on the
street. Not so different kind of snack with America. However, Kidnapping is so serious in colombia.
You always have to be with  your children.