Colombia, Part 1


Back in August, I visited a friend in Japan for six days. Part of me wishes I could have stayed longer--I love the city of Tokyo and there is always more to explore. But after flying back to the US I had to get ready for my next trip: a month in Colombia! I didn't have to be back in San Diego for fall quarter classes until the end of September, so I wanted to make the most of my summer break. Who knows when I'll have another five weeks free.

Again, since I'm behind here, I'll keep the details short and add pictures. After a couple days in Ohio visiting family, I flew to Bogotá, where I couchsurfed for the weekend. After three days there, I flew to Cartagena, where I met Mike and Sam, who I had lived with with at OSU. We spent three nights in Cartagena, then flew to the island of San Andrés, followed by another trip to Bogotá. Sam, who had limited vacation, flew back to the US, but Mike and I went on to explore a few small towns near the capital.

The following weekend we meet two other college friends who came for a short trip. Together the three of us went from Bogotá to Taganga, a small town near Tayorna National Park. After the others went back to Bogota for the weekend and their flight back to the States, Mike and I spent two days in the park itself, then flew to Medellin. After a week in Medellin and the coffee region, I flew to Barranquilla, where I had booked an award flight back to California. In four weeks I took six internal flights and went to Bogotá three times; not the most efficient route, but it was fun to travel with old friends who were more time-constrained.

Below are pictures from Bogotá, Cartagena, and San Andrés:

Cathedral of Colombia in Bolivar Square, la Candelaria (old town) Bogotá

Paintings from the Botero Museum in the old town:

A Pablo Picasso

Botero, in the eponymous Boterismo style


Ajiaco, a chicken and potato soup with capers, corn, rice, and avocado

Breakfast at my couchsurfing host's apartment (with fresh squeezed OJ)

Sam, Mike and I went to a Millonarios soccer/football game in  Bogotá

View of downtown during our hike up Monserrate

View over San Andrés, a small island in the Caribbean. It is
much closer to Nicaragua, but part of Colombia.

beach in San Andrés

View from the hotel lounge in Cartagena

The Castillo de San Felipe, a Spanish fort

Mike and Sam manning the wall

View from the Convent of Santa Cruz

With Mike; I got a lot of comments on the Bolivia jersey

Church in the old town, over with 500 years of history and one of
the best preserved Spanish colonial towns in the Americas

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Training in DC and Prep for Georgia

Image
As mentioned a few posts ago, I took a new job back in the US starting in mid-January. I flew back from Japan to my hometown in Ohio at the end of December, arriving just in time for New Year's. My initial contract in Japan ended along with 2020, so it didn't make sense to start a new one for a week or two in January. This way I was also able to spend time with my parents and my sister and her husband (who live nearby) before moving to Washington, DC. In addition to family time, I had a lot of administrative tasks to take care of before the move; my new job is with the government, which involves a long, at times frustrating onboarding process. I had to fill out several HR packets, arrange temporary housing for my training in DC, decide on consequential things such as life insurance and thrift savings plan contributions, and choose my healthcare plan. By the way, why is healthcare so complicated here?! The electronic form listed over 200 healthcare options to chose from! After e...
Read more

Finishing Osaka, on to Tokyo

Image
I've covered some of the great food Andrew and I had in Japan, so now let me move on to whatever else it was that we were doing between meals.  Two posts ago I touched on Osaka, the second largest city in Japan and our fist stop in the country. Osaka is in the Kansai region of Japan, which also includes Kobe and Kyoto Osaka city proper has about 2.7 million people, but that is only a fraction of the true number.  Citing population based on city limits can be quite misleading.  Take my hometown of Columbus, and Cleveland, another city in Ohio, as examples.  The population of the city of Columbus is over 800,000, while Cleveland's is less than half that.  Take a look at the metro area, or the urban core plus surrounding suburbs and commuter towns, and the comparison is flipped: Cleveland is substantially larger than Columbus. Back to Osaka - while the city itself only has a couple million inhabitants, add in the urban sprawl and surrounding ...
Read more

My Dad and Uncle Visit Korea, Part 1

Image
Even before I left for Korea last November, my dad had mentioned that he might try and visit me.  In the past he has suggested trips only to say that it was just a hypothetical later on.  So when he finally booked a flight for a visit in the summer I was quite surprised.  Both he and my uncle flew in to Seoul on the 31 st of July and then also went to Japan together for four nights.  Here is a recap of their visit: My uncle (far right) and dad (second from right) were headed to Seoul! Korean public schools get over a month off for summer break in late June and August.  On the other hand, the private institutes (like the one I work for) often have much shorter breaks.  During the summer break from public school parents sign their kids up for extra classes at our school, so we actually are busier!  What a great vacation for the students – a full day of English classes!  My break was four days long (well six if you coun...
Read more