Day 19

Today we decided to try an english church. It was quite interesting, to say the least. But it was nice to sing in english! :)

Hmm...Well nothing significant that afternoon....

That night, we decided to go out with the youth from spanish church we usually go to. We went out to eat and then played air hockey and other games at the mall, filling our evening with lots of laughter. Several speak english, so we all really enjoyed it. Some pictures....

.:.For V.M.B, your blonde ;).:.

.:.why do girls go to the bathroom in groups?.:.

.:.L and M, to very sweet girls (and they speak english!).:.

.:.about half the group.:.

.:.the group, excluding someone who was taking the picture.:.

.:.this one includes the one previously taking the picture, M taking the pic this time!.:.

Thank you, Ilarco youth, for such a fun evening! :)

Day 18 - Friday

This morning we stayed home and cleaned the house while R studied for her test. In the afternoon Auntie and Uncle went to the dentist -- Uncle is getting his wisdom teeth removed. Auntie needed some things from the groce,ry store and decided to send NRJ all by themselves....

We headed out confidently (ok, not really). N was carrying the list which had all the spanish words we would possibly need. We thought. Anyways, so we are walking by this huge fence and the paper somehow magically floated out of her hand, through the fence. So she goes and talks to the security guard, in an effort to retrieve the paper. Unfortunatly, the only revelant spanish word that came to mind was "papel". The security guards eventually let us get it, laughing when they realized what we were trying to say.

We get to the store and proceeded to get the items on the list without any more incidents. Well, almost. Cheese was on the list, and we had to get someone cut it for us. That wasn't the problem, trying to find the cheapest cheese was. We didn't know how say "cheapest", so we tried asking for the price on several different cheeses. Out of desperation, we just selected the lowest price.

So we head to the checkout and leave the store. As soon as we walk out, we realized we didn't pay for some tortillas. So back in we go to pay for them. We get confused with the bills and turn to the lady and say, in english, "This one???" lol poor lady...

Well I think thats it for today.... :)

Day 17

This morning, Auntie took us to an outdoor market - kinda like a flea market in the US but more thirdworldish :) They sold everything there! There were butcher shops, veggie stands, fruit stands, stands with all the other kinds of foods that don't fit into those categories, and miscellaneous "stores" that sold pretty much everything you could think of, from dog food to light bulbs.

Beside that market was another market--flower this time. So many different types of flowers, ranging in prices of $10-$1, depending on the flower. We bought 4 dozen roses for $3, and another bouquet for $1.

.:.Meat Market.:.

.:.Fruits and Veggies.:.

.:.Fish Market.:.

.:.More Veggies.:.

.:.Shelling peas, he was really fast!.:.

.:.Fruits.:.

.:.More fruits.:.

.:.The market.:.

.:. Avocados.:.

.:.Watching a bike race.:.

.:.Carrying a load of potatoes.:.

.:.Beans.:.

.:.Pink Roses.:.

.:.Flower Market.:.

.:.Flowers.:.

.:.More of the flower market.:.

.:.Roses.:.

'

.:.Avena and Almojabana.:.

.:.On our way home we passed by a store full of men's ties.:.

Day 16

Today we were told that we couldn't go downtown as some indigenous people are protesting so we hung around home in the morning and R studied. In the afternoon we headed out to the mall to see what Colombian malls are like. The conclusion: very similar to malls in the US --just more expensive :P

Afterwards we stopped at a corner shop and R&J got ice cream N and Auntie got mango smoothies.

.:.The Mall.:.

.:.Window Washers.:.

.:.In the mall. Would you believe that eagle is stuffed?.:.

.:.In Wranglers.:.

.:.Yum! Raspberry/Vanilla and Strawberry/Vanilla ice cream.:.

.:.Mango Smoothie.:.

.:.On our way home - Apparently this taxi broke down and rather than moving it to the side of the road he just decided to stay put.:.

Day 15 - Tuesday

Happy Colombia Independence Day from us here in Bogota! :)

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. The sky was blue, with hardly any clouds in sight. Plus there was a wonderfully cool breeze!

This afternoon we were invited to a church members house to celebrate. We had more traditional food and lots of fun.

After a fun filled afternoon we came home and were getting ready to play pit when the fireworks began over a nearby mountain. We were able to catch the last half of the show and then proceeded to have an eventful game of pit.

.:.Almost the whole group, more people came after this picture.:.

.:.The food.:.

.:.Mi Familia.:.

.:.Getting ready to play a game.:.

.:.Playing a game.:.

.:.More food and people.:.

.:.Group Picture.:.

Sorry, no pictures of the fireworks. By the time we thought to get a camera the fireworks were over :(

Day 14

Today was extra special! Auntie decided to take us to Monserrate, a mountain on the outskirts of Bogota. Apparently this place is quite an attraction to tourists--many people were speaking English, Russian or German, and who knows what else...

In order to reach the top of the mountain, we took a rail car up. It was quite scary, if this failed to work.....well, we wouldn't be posting right now.

The view from the top of the mountain was absolutely breathtaking! We could see all of Bogota. We wandered all over the mountain, through a Catholic church and the many touristy shops.

We tried some more native food today - soft cheese with arequipe sauce (caramelized sweetened condensed milk) and peaches as well as fried banana with bocadillo (guava jam) and cheese.

For our ride down we took a cable car.

.:.rail car.:.

.:.The ride up.:.

.:.Tunnel.:.

.:.Bogota.:.

.:.Bogota.:.

.:.Inside the church at the top of the mountain.:.

.:.The church at the top of the mountain.:.

.:.In front of the church.:.

.:.Bogota.:.

.:.Another view of Bogota.:.

.:.NRJ with Bogota in the background.:.

.:.Shopkeeper's daughter, sweet little girl!.:.

.:.Fried banana with bocadillo and cheese.:.

.:.Food stands, they had alot that looked just like this. Mainly all meat.:.

.:.Peaches with cheese.:.

.:.Arequipe with cheese.:.

.:.Sleepy dog.:.

.:.View from the cable car on the way down.:.

.:.These cable cars use very little electricity as they balance each other out.:.

.:.Cable car back down.:.

Thank you, Auntie and Uncle!

After we got home, Auntie decided we needed to make a run to Carrefour, the local "Wal-Mart." R decided to stay home to get some studying done so N&J decided to tag along with Auntie.

.:.Like it was said before, everything comes in bags here! Salsa.:.

.:.Mustard.:.

.:.Milk (nope, it isn't refrigerated).:.

.:.And neither are the eggs.:.

Well, that's it for today! :)