Pictures – Week 18
Monday, July 5th, 2010Here are pictures from Medellin and the route to Ecuador:
http://picasaweb.google.com/102902177234791651515/Week18Columbia#
Beautiful country!
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The Good Life in Columbia
Monday, July 5th, 2010The highlight of our last week in Columbia is visiting Carlos, my former coworker from Macromedia. After spending 4 years in the United States, Carlos now lives in Medellin with his lovely family: his wife, Sylvia, and daughters, Juanita (7) and Valentina (4). After returning to Columbia, Carlos started his own strategic IT consulting business and is very successful. Carlos is a wonderful host and takes us site seeing and to a fantastic dinner on our first night. Unfortunately, his daughters are sick, so his family is not able to join us.
On Saturday, he picks us up bright and early at 8am for an entire day of site seeing. We drive in his luxury BMW to a town where he grew up, then to Penon de Guatape, a huge rock protruding above a manmade reservoir. We climb at what feels like 30 flights of stairs to the top of the rock, so that we can enjoy a 360 degree view of the beautiful reservoir and surrounding hills. Hungry, we go to a nice restaurant for an almuerzo tipoco: grilled meat, rice, beans, plantains, yum! After lunch, we take a leisurely boat ride to “Fantasy Island”, which is not quite the same as the TV show, but nevertheless, a nice remote island. Even with sick kids, Carlos invites us to his house for dinner because Paul is eager to cook for everyone. We spend a wonderful evening with his family. Quinn and Juanita play together. Connor enjoys the Wii. Paul cooks and I have “adult” time with Carlos and Sylvia. We leave with thoughtful gifts in hand: Columbian grown coffee and cookies. A memorable day for all of us!
During one day on our own, we go to a museum with a Botero exhibit. The plaza in front of the museum has Botero’s sculptures, all simply named like “cat” or “head”, and all are fat. His paintings are beautiful – again, all of fat people and animals painted on large canvases. We are interested to know why Botero is so fascinated with fat things…
We are now on our way to Ecuador to meet Patrick, who arrives on the 7th. We take long drives through the countryside which is stunning: steep mountains, lush valleys, green foliage and coffee plants everywhere. One of the things that I love about Columbia is tinto, a small cup of coffee which is available everywhere: street vendors, restaurants, hotels, offices, etc. Columbians seem to drink tinto 4-6 times per day. At offices, a woman is dedicated to serving tinto to the employees all day. Sometimes, tinto is served already mixed with sugar, sometimes not, but never with milk and always delicious. Columbia is wonderful – filled with people and sites that we will always remember fondly.
Pictures – Week 17
Monday, June 28th, 2010
Here are some fun pictures of mud volcano dipping and our adventures in San Gil. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/102902177234791651515/Week17Columbia_1#
We Are Adventurers!
Monday, June 28th, 2010After a beautiful drive along the coast, we arrive to Santa Marta, a colonial town with a nice bay. We find a charming hotel with a pool, internet and lounge. We explore the town by ... [Continue reading this entry]
Volcano Dipping
Thursday, June 24th, 2010On our way to Santa Marta, a coastal town on the Caribbean, we stop a Volcan de Lodo El Totumo for a mud bath. We take a detour off of the coastal highway and arrive ... [Continue reading this entry]
Pictures – Week 16
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
Here are pictures from our last week in Panama City and Cartagena, Columbia:
http://picasaweb.google.com/102902177234791651515/Week16PanamaAndColumbia#
Cheers!
The Minivan Arrived!
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
We got the minivan! This whole process has been a pain in the ass, but we now feel oddly triumphant, as well as relieved. I will not go on another tirade, but in case you ever decide to ... [Continue reading this entry]
Adios Panama, Bienvenidos Columbia!
Friday, June 18th, 2010We are now in Cartagena, Columbia, waiting for our car to arrive. We spent our last week in Panama doing typical American things: going to the shopping malls, movies, gym, swimming pool, Blockbusters, Hard Rock ... [Continue reading this entry]
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