Tourists

The first week ("basic course") ended yesterday and tomorrow we head to a town about 90 minutes away for part two ("reinforcement course"). So, I took off my jewelry (per the suggestion of the hotel door man), put on my tennis shoes and charged my camera. We were tourists today. 

It all started at 10:00am when a small group of us and our course supervisor from Geneva, Daniel, got on the TransMilenio, a very decent (yet, oh so packed) bus that took us downtown (La Candelaria) for 89 cents each way. First stop: Museo de Oro (Gold Museum). The museum was really big, newly remodeled, modern and quite impressive. Entrance price: $1.57. 

Afterwards, we walked around and did a little shopping, some small, gold earrings left with me :)

Then, Daniel and I both wanted to go to the same area of town, called Centro Andino, so we split up from the rest of the group. But first, he wanted to go visit an old bookstore, that he read about in a magazine. We took a wrong turn and ended up near Hotel de la Opera, a beautiful, antique hotel, where Daniel had once attended a wedding. We decided to go up to their rooftop restaurant and have lunch. I'm so glad we did! The terrace overlooks many building roofs and all of a sudden you feel like you are in Spain or Italy. For me: a delicious shrimp cocktail and hearty minestrone soup. 

I'm not sure I should say this, but Bogota is not the most beautiful city. However, it has some amazing architecture when you least expect it. You also get to see Monserrate (mountain) in the background, on the side lines, which is a cool contrast.

We kept seeing hearts and love posters everywhere today, I didn't understand why, until we found out that the Day of Love and Friendship (aka Valentine's Day) is the 3rd Saturday of September in Colombia. Who knew? On that note, 1 year ago today, we were at Patricia and Chris's wedding. So, a VERY HAPPY anniversary to them is in order! Time flies. 

A few more pics: here.