Casahotel Edificio Paulina Bogota

... in airports/on planes. So as a result i was a little antisocial at the hostel, but did manage to make friends with one guy who had recently arrived in Colombia and so was able to tell him all about the gems i had found over the past three weeks.<br><br>And the following morning i was up at 4am, thoughroughly enjoying my long hot shower, getting to the airport at 5am, making friends with the girl working the immigration desk, and otherwise seeking out some ...

... finding lunch and were rewarded with a family run restaurant serving the menu Corriente of vegetable soup, meat/white rice/fried banana slice/pasta combination and guava juice for 5500 pesos, or roughly $2.50 and served as we sat down! This left us a little time to explore Cajica before our departure at 3:15pm. During this time we met a very warm gentleman whose gifted daughter produced the art sold in his shop. She was about 8 years old and had been painting for about 7 months ...

... Shakira, when most people think of Colombia, they think of armies, weapons, cocaine, Pablo Escobar, FARC. Essentially danger and warlords. Here is a description of Colombia's torrid history.<br><br>Armed insurgencies have been a part of Colombian life since the 1960s. The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia &#8211; Ejército del Pueblo (FARC) and Ejército de Liberación Nacional(ELN) are the two major insurgency groups, with the FARC ...

... and have a lot to share with you (those of you back home). I look a little different and now speak passable Spanish (Louie will be proud), but i am quintessentially the same person i was before i left. so... i can't wait to see you all in less than 5 days. Wish me luck on my last journey. I will send my last blog entry the day i leave, then no more. it has been real. it has been fun... i wait to say it has been real fun after i survive Bogotá. chau chicos.

... twenty bucks...and the cashier took my fingerprints! I sure won't misbehave now. Inside our nice white van, the international refugee all stars head to the hotel, located in the upscale northern part of Bogota. The Andino Royal is located on Calle 85 which is in the center of La Zona Rosa..or La Zona T, named thusly since there is a small collection of hip eateries and shops laid out on two streets that meet in a T shape. The hotel was pretty nice...and the staff was ...

... straight rum I was drinking to keep me alert has taken its toll today. The one sour point has of my Bogotá experience has been with the arrival of another couchsurfer to the house. Now ordinarily, of course, this would be a good thing and I've had no problems with him. Apparently, though, he was very rude to the mother almost as soon as they met, even speaking to her in a raised voice. I'm not sure exactly what it was about but ...

Set off to route further south this morning. We were on a main road so in general the roads were very good, that said we came across some 20 instances where there had been landslides. We do not know if these where recent or old, although a couple were obviously recent as people were digging them clear. Some of the landslides consisted of stuff landing on the road and others consisted of the road falling into the valley. A bit alarming to say the least. The road went up and down as we were ...

... and the other we went to a great club called El Chacha (check it out http://elchacha.com/pagina/index.html) its thirty something floors up with amazing views over the city. Everything was going so well for us in Bogota I really was sad leaving. Maybe it was because our departure from South America was looming over us but it was the first time i felt is leaving a place or a country.

... to get around. Anyway, we decided not to test them, and did get some vests at a shop (about $12). Candelaria has a number of interesting little cafes and cafe/art galleries, and overall had a bit of a Village feel to it, but I can't say I loved the place. However it seemed no more dangerous than the downtown area of any other big city. On the 1st Jesse's girlfriend Pascale arrived, and the 3 of us hit the road south on Monday the 3rd.

... br><br><br>Day 2: Absolutely Nothing<br>The next morning I awoke and went out on the street to seek breakfast. When I emerged from our second-floor hotel, I found a city almost totally unlike the one I had arrived in the day before. The streets were nearly empty, the majority of restaurants and storefronts covered with thick metal doors. It was Sunday, holy day, and the city was dead.<br><br>Eventually, I managed to find some grub, and then headed back to the hotel ...