Seven Girls in Colombia: Day 4 - Bogota - Rain, Botero and lots of laughs

Today was our first day in Bogota and we decided to go check out Parque 93 and the Candelaria area. After a walk around Parque 93 and a cup of Juan Valdez coffee we took taxies out to the Candelaria area. As we were driving it started to rain so hard we couldn’t even see through the window to see the motor cycles and cars darting around us. We finally arrived at the Museum de Botero just in time for the rain to really start pounding down and the thunder booming. After we walked around the museum we decided to go check out the town and see the State Capital and the first Church where mass was conducted in Bogotá. We explored the city a little and then ducked into a restaurant for quick lunch and then venture back out in to the rain. We saw more of the architecture around the city, tried a local delicacy called Chocolate Complete which was Hot Chocolate, cheese and bread and even witnessed an amazing sight … A McDonalds Deliveryman. Kat literally chased the deliveryman down the street to get a picture which the local security guards thought was hilarious. The Hot Chocolate sounded pretty gross to me but the other girls really liked it. I volunteered to pick out the pastries and ended up trying four new delicious desserts. After our tour of Candelaria was over we took taxies to a bar Lauren read about in a New York Times Article. Kat, Jen, Katie and I ended up in a cab with an address written on a piece of paper that literally didn’t exist. The paper said Calle 276 but Bogota only goes to Calle 230. Luckily, Kat remembered that my B’s look like 6’s and we headed to 27B. On our way we ended up in a lot of traffic. I thought this would be a good time for we to share my Spanish knowledge with the group and tell them the word for traffic, embottelmente. Both the girls and the driver literally laughed out loud and said no it is not it is traffico. When we got home tonight though we looked it up and I was half vindicated when we found out that embotellamiento means traffic jam. I am still fighting fighting for full vindication but according to Katie my pronunciation is off. I guess I really should have listened to my parents and applied myself more in Spanish class. However when we got to the bar it was closed. Not ones to be discouraged we found a near by destination that served delicious mojitos and even had a two for one special on Monday. After our drinks we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Lauren picked out a local steak house that was recommended by a classmate. The food was delicious and they gave me a crown and a sash and called me the queen of the house. So of course I loved it. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and talked before heading to bed.