Our actual apartment won't be ready for at least another week, so Jeff's office helped book us into a great apartment hotel with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a nice living area.
Someone from his office picked us up at the airport and made sure we were all set getting checked in. His office sponsor also set us up with great starter groceries. I had packed a couple boxes of shells and cheese, and our provided groceries included Bimbo bread, mayo in a bag, and a ham/cheese combo pack, so we were all set for our first dinner in Colombia.
The weather in Bogotá is perfect, not too hot, not too cold, so we've been spending a lot of time on our balcony.
Our first morning, our substitute social sponsor (our official one is in the States right now) met us at our hotel and took us on a tour of our new neighborhood. We started by walking by our apartment building which is just a couple blocks down from our hotel. The street looks lovely.
Of course, we're dying to get inside, but GSO said we're not allowed in while they're getting it ready, for safety reasons. I get it, but we can't wait to see the inside. We settled for a peak inside what will be our local grocery store. The main chain here is called Carulla. We walked in to a beautiful produce display.
We were pretty impressed until our guide took us to a market that has an entire floor of fruits and an entire floor of vegetables. In true Vivi fashion, she was mostly interested in their moving sidewalk.
But both girls ended up "helping" with the shopping.
As we were walking back to our starting point from the fruit and veggie mart I looked down the street and asked Jeff to take a picture.
This is our part of Bogotá, lots of parks, low rise restaurants, medium rise apartments, and mountains in the background. Bogotá itself is at 8,500 feet, and it is cradled by surrounding mountains that are even higher. The altitude and proximity to the equator give it a year round temperature that averages in the 60s. The sun has also been rising around 6am and setting around 6pm, so we are back in our Thailand bedtime groove, which is great after having to argue with the girls that just because the sun was up at 9pm didn't mean that they could be too.
There are SO many restaurants in our neighborhood that we'll never be able to try them all. We were tickled to find a Taco Bell next to a row of hamburger restaurants.
We ended up having lunch in a nicer restaurant area. Vivian picked the restaurant based on the fact that they served steak. She is so her father's daughter.
Although, at lunch Jeff actually opted for a bowl of ajiaco, a Colombian soup made with chicken and potatoes.
Elena and I shared empanadas with smiley faces on them :-) After lunch, we took a quick look inside our local mall.
It's quite small compared to Thai malls, but it has a movie theater, a nice food court, and some good shops, so it will be great to have it within walking distance.
We've actually been noticing that lots of things are smaller in Colombia. For example, most of the toilets are low enough for Elena to get on and off without help, and the benches that they have around are quite short too.
After all that walking, we needed a bit of a rest, but only for a little, because we were meeting some of our new neighbors for a play date at the park in front of our hotel. It's a nice little park. I got this picture in the morning before people started showing up.
The girls had fun at the playground, although they came home with shoes full of sand. We've mostly seen the "basketball" court used for soccer games. There were games all day on Saturday.
For dinner on our first full day we were invited to our substitute social sponsor's house for spaghetti. She has four daughters, and she invited another family with two kids, so we had a lot of fun. It was dark when we walked home, but there was a strong police presence on the streets, so we felt safe. There is definitely crime in this area, but, just like with any big city, if you stay aware and make good choices, you should be fine.
The next day, we had an ambitious walking agenda. Both Parque 93 and Parque de Chicó had been recommended to us as fun places to take the girls. Parque 93 was a pretty straight shot from our hotel, so we headed there first. The street we walked on was mostly commercial, and we even walked by some pretty big buildings, but there was still lots of green, and occasionally you could look down side streets and see even more green.
There were tons of restaurants around Parque 93, but the playground itself was quite small and mostly designed for younger kids. The girls had some fun though.
Jeff was reading the signage as the girls were playing, and he realized that this swing was meant for ages 4 and below. By that point, the girls had tried out pretty much everything the playground had to offer, so we decided to head for Parque de Chicó. That walk took us towards the mountains and uphill, but it was lovely.
We found a path in the middle of the road, which had more shade. The sun is no joke here, even though the weather is nice and cool.
At the top of the hill we found a monastery.
There doesn't seem to be much signage around, so we have frequently had to look at Google Maps to figure out what's around us. Google also successfully led us to an entrance to the park, and a lovely walk through gardens.
That wasn't the main playground part though, so we had to walk down and around to a grassy shaded hill dotted with all kinds of playground equipment.
Of course, the girls took off in opposite directions, so I stayed with Elena and Jeff went with Vivian.
Eventually, they met up at a playground set in the middle.
They probably could have played longer, but after all that walking we were hungry and tired, so we headed back towards our hotel and stopped along the way at a Crepes and Waffles for lunch. Crepes and Waffles is a chain that seems to be all over the place in Bogotá. They have sweet and savory crepes. I got a ham and cheese one that was very good. Vivian, of course, went for Nutella and strawberries.
Elena got a Nutella and banana crepe, but spent plenty of time nursing her mango juice as well.
We had found some sweet baby mangoes at the fruit market, and Elena even helped pick a few out.
But when I cut one up and offered it to her, she rejected it. It does have more of a latex flavor than the Thai mangoes, so she may not end up eating them here like she did in Thailand. The juice, on the other hand, is a big hit.
We took it easy in the afternoon after all our adventuring. We even figured out how to order Papa John's pizza for dinner, which the girls were thrilled with. Vivian has a rash on her legs that all the walking seems to have aggravated. I got in touch with the med unit, and they said we can come in on Monday. In the meantime, we're trying to do a little less walking, so for Saturday, we just went on a short walk to explore our local mall some more. We decided to start at the top and work our way down. The food court is at the top. They had several choices, including Papa John's which had Vivi jumping up and down. In the back of the food court, we found a kids' pay for play area with ride on toys and some climbing areas. We managed to get away with just letting Elena sit in things while Jeff shook them.
The girls tried out most of the machines.
Vivian is too tall for the play areas. It seems to be designed more for Elena's age. We saw a Peppa Pig birthday party set up in the area. We may go back and let Elena try out the pay play area another time. The walk around the mall was a bit rough on Viv. When we got out of the mall and walked over to the pedestrian area with lots of restaurants, I saw a great way to cheer her up.
We got her and Elena a cookie to share. The girls and I sat on a bench, while Jeff walked around and investigated all the restaurants. He settled on one for lunch, and once it opened, we all went in and sat down. It was a bar that mostly served grilled meat. Jeff and Vivian were happy. They had chicken quesadillas on the menu, so I got them as an experiment for me and Elena. They were NOT quesadillas as would be recognized at any Mexican restaurant in the States. So, mental note, do not order quesadillas in a bar in Bogotá. Jeff got the mixed grill platter, and Elena ended up eating his sausage which she recognized as a hot dog. While we were eating, some people came by dressed as orange traffic cones with a loudspeaker. We weren't sure what they were demonstrating about, but it was too interesting not to snap a picture.
I found out later that they are protesting people who park illegally, and they go speak to people who have stopped where they shouldn't, like the man in the car here.
We love sitting outside, and even with Vivian's rash, it feels like our time in Bogotá is off to a great start.
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