Hotel Centro Plaza Bogota

... contains around 50,000 pieces and is pretty incredible. The most famous piece being Muisca´s golden raft, that represents the El Dorado ceremony which depicts an incumbent chief standing on a raft offering gold to the lake, surrounded by the principal chieftains, all of them adorned with gold and feathers. It was an amazing piece which was quite small but so intricate. It also makes you think about all the time the Spanish spent looking for the illusive El ...

... Besitzer ziemlich faul sind und erst um 10 Uhr morgens oder später aufmachen.

Im Projekt ist alles ok=) Neulich hatten wir ne kleine Feier zu Amor y Amistad und ich hatte glücklicherweise grade da meinen Foto dabei. Ich fühl mich echt wohl da! Und wir sind auch viel draußen, vor allem wenn die Sonne scheint – was grade fast jeden Tag der Fall ist - und meine Arme und mein Gesicht sind schon total braun, nur der Rest leider ...

... Kunsthandwerk…! Und alles eigentlich relativ billig! Ich glaube ich muss mir noch nen Koffer kaufen für all die Sachen die ich hier noch kaufen werde! :D Und man kann hier auch super Geschenke kaufen! ;)

Miri, die auch aus Dtl ist, hat heute Geburtstag und wir wollten gestern ein bisschen reinfeiern, in einer Disko, die eine vom ICYE-Colombia vorgeschlagen hat. Wir wollten uns alle um 9 an der Transmileniostation in der Nähe der Disko treffen und dann zusammen hingehn ...

... and legitimate crop-substition for the growers. Peter Tosh's "Legalize It" comes to mind. Apparently, we have learned nothing from Prohibition. Once again, I digress.

Despite myriad problems, the Alvaro Uribe-government, with a huge helping hand from the US, has eliminated the AUC, reduced FARC to the fringes of the jungles at the borders with Venezuela and Ecuador and made Colombia a far-safer place. Kidnappings are significantly ...

... and continue through C. America. I haven't figured out what to do with my life, though I certainly wasn't expecting to. I am looking forward to being around libraries again. I also want to eat at Taco Bell (feel free to laugh), and find a huge salad bar. Also, I'm looking forward to good beer again, although there is a microbrewery with six locations here in Bogota. Bogota is pretty nice and a good temperature, I believe it's about 8,500 ft. above sea ...

... historic figurines, jewelry and masks. Most importantly, I venture to the basement and find my own gold...a Colombian coffee bar. Two minutes later, I am full with an awesome espresso and the popeye song begins to play in my head - as the concentrated caffeine finds its way into my suddenly bulging biceps. ~I'm strong to the finish, 'cause I drinks black spinach...I'm Ari the traveler man~ Escaping the museum, we walk into the thick of La Candelaria in the direction of Plaza ...

... its altitude (2,640m) or (8,661 ft) above sea level, makes it the third-highest major city in the world, after La Paz and Quito. With its many universities and libraries, Bogotá has become known as "The Athens of South America". Bogotá was the center of the Muiscas civilization before the Spanish explorers colonized the area, and it was founded in August 6, 1538 by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and the city soon became one of the centers of Spanish colonial power and civilization in South ...

... of a self guided walk through the landscaped gardens of the hacienda, worth it on its own, through 21 different positions. Each of these shows a different type of sugar press or factory method for extracting the sugar. Although all the information was in Spanish it was fairly easy to follow except for the main museum building which went into great detail about the production and so was impossible to follow. The last exhibits showed the aqueduct and water mill used to crush the cane in ...

... Colombia part of the LP South American book has never even been to Colombia! We left the next day with Bogata airport as our final destination via a quick 3 hour look around Bogota. Probably not long enough as the highlight was the buying of sweaters for $7 a piece. We left ourselves good hour to get to the airport but were unaware that 80km of roads had been shut to cars to celebrate some national bike day. I was freaking out at the thought of dropping close to $500 each on ...