Out into the Wider World Again

 March 18, 2022

Colombia by Antonio Caro Lopera, 2003

I’m very pleased to be writing in my blog again. I’ve just returned from twelve days in Colombia, my first overseas trip since the pandemic began two years ago. All of the trips that I had originally scheduled for 2020 and 2021 had to be postponed. As a result, in the days leading up to the early March departure for Colombia, there was always a question at the back of my mind: “Will this trip be cancelled too?” However, I had to prepare and it was clear that I was out of practice. Even though I was taking an OAT adventure tour, all of the planning and all of the details that required my attention seemed overwhelming. It was only when I actually boarded the flight to Bogota that excitement overcame the nervousness I’d been experiencing. 

 

I arrived a day before my OAT tour began so that I would have a full day to explore the city on my own. I didn’t really have any expectations about Colombia. In fact, the country wasn’t even on my travel agenda until my Morocco trip, scheduled for January/February 2022, had to be postponed once again. At that point, I realized that I was desperate to go anywhere in the world that I hadn’t been before. 

 

OAT’s affordable Colombia trip, “Colombia’s Colonial Jewels and Coffee Triangle,” seemed to fit the bill. It was relatively short (11 days), in the same time zone, and seemed to be a good way to ease back into international travel. Of course, some of my friends were alarmed when I told them my destination. My safety was their main concern. It’s understandable, given how so often Colombia has been portrayed as a country ravaged by drug cartels, violence and fighting between guerillas and paramilitary groups. But I knew that OAT wouldn’t take us into areas of the country that remained dangerous. So I ignored the skeptics and chose instead to watch the recently released animated musical, Encanto. The lively Lin-Manuel Miranda songs, the exuberant energy of the characters, the glorious colors of the costumes and flowers, and the lush greenery of the countryside put me into the right frame of mind. 

 

I must admit, however, that my first impressions of Bogota, Colombia’s capital, were not promising. As the plane descended, thick cloud cover obscured the mountains surrounding the city. During the nearly hour-long ride from El Dorado airport to my hotel, drizzle turned to pouring rain. Rush hour traffic (it was 5pm) clogged the narrow roads. We proceeded at a snail’s pace up and down winding streets. My chatty driver occasionally pointed out sights but there was little I could see through rain streaked windows. On a more encouraging note, I was able to understand much of what she said and I even attempted to carry on a conversation in Spanish. 

 

I was happy to find that the NH Royal Park Teleport hotel, located in the upscale Usaquen neighborhood, was modern and comfortable. After dinner in the hotel restaurant (I was too tired to try any Colombian specialties), I was happy to get back to my spacious room and shed my mask, which I’d been wearing non-stop since the morning. Settling down to sleep, I was filled with a sense of accomplishment: I’d gotten myself out of Virginia, I was here in Colombia, and tomorrow, my adventure would begin. 

 

The next morning, from my sixth floor windows, I looked out towards the mountains in the early morning light. (photo) The weather app on my phone showed rain for every single day of the coming week, so I was pleased to see that although clouds were hovering over the mountains, no rain was falling – yet. 

 

I hurried down to breakfast – a satisfying buffet with tropical fruit, breads, cheeses, meats, salads, cereals, yogurt, a dozen fresh fruit juices, and an omelet station – and reviewed my plan for the day while sipping Colombian coffee. I’d neglected to bring along a paper map of Bogota and now that everyone seems to rely on their phones for directions, there was no paper map available at the hotel. This left me feeling disoriented as I tried to follow the route my Uber driver took through the city. (Although not officially sanctioned, Uber exists in Colombia.)

 

I started my day’s exploration downtown at the National Museum, where I found exhibits that ranged from the country’s pre-Colombian past through the years as Spanish colony and up to modern art and the tumultuous history of more recent times. I was impressed with the displays and the accompanying text, which was often in English as well as Spanish.

Naranja by Fernando Botero, 1977

Museum going always makes me hungry so I stopped into the museum’s Juan Valdez coffee shop. Once I’d fortified myself with a capuchino and a guava pastel, I set out to explore the nearby Macarena neighborhood on foot. It was noontime and the streets were filled with students and workers on their lunch break. 

Bogota is a very hilly city at an altitude of 8000 feet and I soon found myself puffing and panting as I navigated the steep streets. I even had to stop to catch my breath a few times. I passed by the Santamaria bull ring, many shops and residential buildings, and several small storefronts selling snacks to passersby. 

 

Santamaria bull ring 

I even found a street designated the National Museum Gastronomic Area. It was lined on both sides with restaurants and coffee shops whose brightly painted façades looked very inviting. Unfortunately, I hadn’t yet recovered my appetite after the coffee break. 

 

Eventually, I Uber’d back to the hotel and had a late lunch at a popular pan-Asian restaurant called Wok in the adjacent Santa Ana shopping center. I worked my way through not quite half of a mammoth serving of a tasty rice and vegetable dish, marveling at how much food Colombians consume. In fact, as our OAT trip leader later confirmed, Colombians consume copious amounts of food at all meals. 

 

With my belly full, it was time to relax until dinner. That evening, when I entered the hotel restaurant, I immediately spotted a table with three women about my age and, sure enough, they were also going on the OAT trip. They invited me to join them and right away, I knew that I’d enjoy traveling in their company. 

 

Early the next morning, we’d have an introductory meeting with our tour leader and fellow travelers so I settled down to get a good night’s sleep. In my next post, I’ll report on further adventures in Bogota with my tour group.