Part of the tipping point in my decision was a series of bus and truck strikes, which closed school for a couple days. We had "virtual learning" instead which was a bit of a challenge to me as a teacher, but was a huge relief to me as a mom. The girls got up when they wanted to, we didn't have to worry about hours of commuting, and they both got plenty of work done, since their teachers posted lots of tasks on their online classrooms.
It was a nice change, but then we were back to our regular, intense schedule. We made it through to October break though. The last Friday before break was an international jeans day and international bake sale. The girls got patriotic, which was a perfect match for the outfit that Jeff had put together for an 80s themed surprise birthday party we were going to that night.
Then Vivi got a picture of me and Jeff in his full costume.
It was a fun party, but we didn't stay too late, since Mom and Dad were flying in that night, and we had a special activity planned for the next day.
Mom loves markets, and one of the biggest and most famous markets in Bogotá is called Paloquemao. Some friends had recommended a guide to take us through the market along with a bit of a food tour. It sounded like the perfect Saturday morning outing for us.
Getting there was a bit of a challenge though. We got our fantastic van driver, Nelson, to take us all, but there was a part near the end where there was almost complete gridlock in a complicated intersection. I tried to take a picture, but it was impossible to capture the insanity.
Nelson stayed calm through the whole thing, and we got there eventually. Our guide, Loon, met us outside the mall near the market. His backstory is interesting. He was born in Malaysia, of Chinese descent, but then spent the later part of his life in Australia, so he has an Australian accent. He's been in Bogotá for the past eight years.
We crossed the street and entered the market in the flower area. Colombia is one of the world's biggest flower growing countries, and that was definitely on display. The main flowers they grow are roses, but there were lots of other kinds too.
They were calling out that the price was 1000 pesos, which is about 30 cents for a bunch of flowers. The quantities and the way they were presented was incredible.
Even the rose "garbage" was quite something.
The next stop was breakfast, right across the street.
Caldo is a soup which is a typical Colombian breakfast. We got the traditional one with ribs which Jeff and Vivian dug into.
There was also a fish one, which was this place's speciality.
I really liked the fish one, which didn't taste fishy at all, just rich and savory. We also got a tamale, which none of us are big fans of, mostly because it's generally quite bland.
The restaurant itself was very nice though.
They made sure we had a table, and we also got mandarin juice which Elena sucked down.
After filling up, we went deeper into the market. It was interesting to see the different things they sold. We were in a meat focused section, but there were also several stalls selling kitchenware. Our guide said this was a good place to get harder to find kitchen items.
We also spotted an interesting vegetable that is a cross between a cucumber and a bell pepper. Apparently, it tastes more like a cucumber, but it's big enough to stuff with things like rice.
The girls were a bit alarmed when we walked by a chicken stall. I guess they haven't seen chickens in their full glory before.
We got to the end of that section and found a table at a little empanada stand. Loon started us off with a drink called avena for the kids. Avena literally means oatmeal, and the drink is kind of like an oatmeal shake with condensed milk and cinnamon. Vivian had no interest in it, but Elena loved it.
We were waiting on a fresh batch of empanadas. We got a couple different kinds.
The ones in the front are the traditional Colombian empanadas. The outside is made of corn flour, and the inside is ground beef and mashed potatoes. Loon brought us to this empanada stand though, because he said they do a particularly good job of seasoning the filling. The ones in the back that area bit rounder have an outside made of yuca paste and are filled with rice and boiled egg. You can squeeze some lime juice on them or season them with some of the provided sauces.
I went for the guac, but Jeff was brave and experimented with the pink one which is a combination of ketchup and mayonnaise. The empanadas were so filling though, that we couldn't finish them all.
We walked back through the market, and Mom stopped to buy some chicken livers. I asked Elena if she wanted me to take her picture with the chickens. She said sure, I got out my camera and didn't keep an eye on her, and she promptly went to pose with her hand on the chicken. Jeff, Vivian and I all shouted NO! in unison.
While Mom finished buying chicken livers, I took Elena to wash her hands. Sigh. Luckily, our next purchasing stop was at a vegetable stand. Mom had noticed some nice big artichokes, and so she bought some to make for dinner.
We still had to keep an eye on Elena though, because the next stand over had a big bag of peas you could tell she wanted to put her hand in, and she loves carrots, so she kept trying to shoplift the big carrots they had for sale, even though I explained to her that we had the exact same kind of big carrots back at home.
We walked through the herbs and spices section with a stop at a stall that specializes in spicy stuff.
In the back of the fish and seafood section, we stopped at an arepa place. You could watch them preparing different kinds.
There were the thicker traditional ones as well as the thinner, sweet corn choclos. We got some thick ones with cheese and some choclos straight up. We waited at a table for some fresh off the griddle.
There was a bottle of honey on the table, and Loon recommended putting it on the arepas. Yum!
On the walk back out through the fish part I got some pictures. Including a picture of the type of freshwater "fish" that had been in my breakfast soup. The just chopped it like that and throw a chunk in. The markings look more like a shark than a fish to me.
The different kinds of shrimp looked delicious.
It basically looked like you could get any kind of fish you were after here.
The final food stop was a dish that can best be described as pig fried rice. It involves roasting an entire pig stuffed with rice.
They serve the rice mixed with cooked pork and garnished with pig skin. The hot sauce on the side gives it an extra kick. It was super yummy, but I didn't get a picture of the plate, because I was watching Jeff chase Elena who was chasing pigeons in the parking lot.
We finished our market tour walking through the fruit section which was fun and colorful.
Then we met up again with Nelson who took us along with Loon to the Candelaria for dessert. We walked down a pedestrian street until we got to a pastry shop.
We admired their Halloween themed desserts, but went for more traditional choices for ourselves.
The girls asked for ice cream.
We got a few pastries and then carried them to a coffee shop near the Gold Museum.
It turned out to be the perfect spot, because Mom wanted to do some souvenir shopping, so she got that done while we waited for our coffees to be ready. The coffee was very good, and they did a great job with the foam decoration.
By that point, we were all so full that we couldn't finish the desserts, but we packed them back up to take home. It was a really fun way to spend a Saturday.
That night, Mom cooked up the artichokes for dinner. She and I enjoyed them while Dad watched the first Herbie movie, Love Bug, with the girls. We loved hearing their laughter, and we decided it was almost better than watching the movie ourselves.
The next day was "football day", so we opted for a quieter day at home and a few friends came over. We had ordered some new headphones for the girls which my parents brought with them. They have bluetooth and Elena has been dancing up a storm, since she can listen to her music with no strings attached.
Vivian also loves her new wireless headphones, but she's been a little more low key about it. She even took some time to chill and watch football with Jeff and Dad.
It was a nice relaxing balance to our busy Saturday. Overall, the weekend was a great start to another visit from Mom and Dad.
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