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Saturday, March 16, 2024

Columbian Pesos - How Great Thou Art

When I say great, I mean HUGE...the numbers, not the notes. It took a few days to wrap our minds around the exchange and how prices are displayed. At this point, for a very rough exchange $1 Canadian is equal to about 3000 Co$ (pesos, but they use a dollar sign, quite frequently.) They can also be known as COP.

Next to the # is a tiny "mil",
meaning 1,000

Note that the bills get increasingly larger, as the value increases.

When you look at menus, you'll see prices like: $30,000 (a mid priced entree) or $9,000 (local beer). It can be quite overwhelming, especially when they tell you the total verbally...in Spanish. The actual currency notes are less challenging, as they sort of drop the final three zeros, so my North American brain can wrap itself around it. What's crazy, at least to me, is that they are unapologetic about the huge numbers. I'd be tempted to write 1m or 25m on a menu, price tag etc. Generally, this isn't the practice in Columbia, and they go whole hog.

The coins are a bit crazier. The largest coin I've seen is $1,000 and the smallest $50. There seems to be a range of sized for the $100 peso coins, which makes it that much more difficult, as relying on size goes right out the window.

It's the size of the numbers that is strange and takes some time to adapt. We had a receipt today for $247,000...crazy! And our hotel was over 1million COP for the week. Heart stopping, at first glance, at least. 

Eventually, you'll get the hang of it, but be prepared to just trust the change you're given for the first day or so.

Up next: Medellin...but, maybe I said that before.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Bogota - Artisans, a garden and a big ass hill

 Day two and three in Bogota.

On Sunday, the district of UsaquƩn hosts what they call a "Flea Market" or "el Mercado de las Pulgas". It isn't like any flea market I've ever heard of, as it's filled with local artisans and vendors. The closest thing to used goods was a vinyl kiosk and a young man who crafted interesting wall art with old records. There is a flood of leather goods, beaded jewellery, hats, toiletries, coffee, food - you get the point. I can't even begin to guess how many tents were there, but it numbered easily over 100. At times it got a bit overwhelming, returning the greetings of the vendors as they tried to tempt us with there wares. The colours, scents and sounds were a kaleidoscope.






We got away from the hustle and bustle of commercialism by stopping at a lovely cafe for a bit of a snack and a caffeine pick-me-up.


We headed back to the hotel to arrange for a cab and headed out to the Jardin Botanico for the afternoon. Okay, it probably wasn't the best choice for a Sunday, as everyone's family decided to do the same thing. The line was probably an hour long to get to the ticket booth, but, fortunately, South America has this wonderful concept about cutting Seniors a break, so Ron managed to skip a good part of the line to score us some tickets. Of course, we only remembered this exciting perk when we'd already been waiting for half an hour, as we saw a pair of older ladies march past everyone and go to the "priority" line. We splurged on tickets that included access to the Tropicario - basically a gigantic greenhouse featuring plants from the Amazon and and another section with desert plants. We got to see a wide range of amazing flowers and flora and we sweated our way through the wending path of the conservatory.








It was a bit of a relief to leave the building and find a light breeze playing through the gardens. They had a very nice rose garden, as well as a lot of indigenous plants. Add in a few water features and fountains and the price of admission was definitely worth it.



Can you spot Teddy, on the "T"?


We were delighted to discover that Ron's new phone has a pretty impressive zoom. The picture above the one with the purple water lilies is from the edge of the pond. The actual waterlily photo is on extreme zoom. Yay!

Once done, we diligently messaged our hotel to request a ride home. They sent us the license plate and code for the driver, but moments later, they messaged back saying there had been a change of driver and that he was about to arrive. Sadly, he'd already driven past where we were waiting, as the Botanical Garden entrance is quite large. A bit of madness and a quick jog up the road later, I found the taxi, but he'd already cancelled the request. He was annoyed at the point, having wasted 10 minutes or so without a fare. He agreed to take us back to the hotel anyway and added on a 2000 peso "multa" (fine) for us not being where he wanted us to be. He wound up lightening up during the drive and got us back tot he hotel safe and sound.

We went to Ko Asian Kitchen for dinner, as we'd had a "street food" lunch, whilst waiting in line at the garden. Ron's Chorriperro was okay, but I opted for a hamburger...not the right choice, at all. We were quite desperate for something fresh and stomach friendly, so Ron wound up with a dumpling soup of a special menu and I had a Poke bowl. We both had a Club beer and enjoyed the fresh meal enormously. We wandered back to the hotel, well after 8pm, feeling satisfied and safe. Weird that, isn't Bogota dangerous?

The next day we tackled Monserrate, a hill that overlooks a good swathe of the city. There are two choices to get to the top; a funicular or on foot. Of course, we couldn't pass up the challenge to make the almost 800 metre (2600 foot) ascension. I haven't mentioned it yet, but Bogota's elevation (2633 metres/8,675 feet) is actually higher than Cuenca's (2450m/8070ft), which basically means that there's even less oxygen available to feed your lungs as you ascend. Did we care that we were still getting over colds? Did we worry that we really haven't done anything extremely strenuous for a while? Yes, but we decided to take on the challenge anyway. It took us an hour to get to the top.(It's estimated that the average climb is somewhere around 45 minutes to an hour, so for old, broken folks, we did pretty well.)

Only 1/3 of the way up

Zoom in of el Centro


The hill in the mid-ground has a church 

 If you click on the above image, you might be able to see a statue of Jesus. Cue our amazing zoom:

I'd be remiss if I didn't add some photos of the animals we saw on the way.




How can I resist a sweet little flitting hummingbird? It's impossible. The climb down made my legs shake. The stairs are uneven and the rock pathway is the same, but we felt quite accomplished once we were down. 

Near the start - deceptively well spaced and level-ish

 

You must know what's coming...we messaged our hotel to get a ride back. We were quickly provided with a license plate number and code, only to have the order cancelled by the driver. Apparently, Mount Monserrate is outside of the standard taxi service area. The front desk clerk was a bit beside herself, as she couldn't get anyone to help us. We decided to do the unthinkable and randomly hailed down a cab. (Danger! Unsafe! We're all gonna die!) A young driver stopped for us and after much discussion over the address of our hotel, he had us on our way. His little putt-putt must have only had three cylinders, as the climbs up the hills were slow and a bit noisy. He was actually quite talkative, with an accent that was hard to understand, but he got us "home" safely and didn't add a stipend onto the fare. Turns out, we didn't have much to worry about.

For our final night (yes, we went out in the dark) in Bogota, we opted for a quick pizza at a place called La Impostora. It's a new joint, that only serves personal sized rectangular pizzas, as well as grilled sandwiches. It's a neat concept and the pizza was pretty good. (Ron's was excellent (the Juana with serrano ham, goat cheese, fig sauce), mine needed a bit more blue cheese (pepperoni with blue cheese.) I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there are fairly safe areas in Bogota. Like everything common sense applies, but we felt perfectly secure wandering around Chapinero.




That wrapped up our first stint in Bogota, but we'll be back in a week. The weirdest thing about the city is that it rained almost every night, once we were safely ensconced back in our hotel. (The day we went to Monserrate, it rained like mad in the afternoon, too, but we were safely tucked away in our suite, trying to get a rest after our big climb.)

Next up: Medellin!



Columbia - A New Day

Honestly, it seems like forever since we've been somewhere truly new to us. (The lost years of the pandemic have stretched everything out.) So here we are in Columbia, finally. Ron always wanted to "visit" (ie: parse out a possible new place to move to) and I was always hesitant, just to avoid another move. (Yes, I'm that lazy/reluctant to move again.) 

We arrived in Bogota fairly early on a Friday. Unfortunately, we were both suffering from the tail end of a nasty cold, so the trip from Cuenca wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been. We opted to stay in a district called Chapinero; a fairly well to do area with lots of restaurants, tree lined boulevards and heaps of dog owners.

View from our hotel suite
I'm sure everyone out there has heard that Columbia is "not safe". Keeping that in mind, we made arrangements to have a "trusted" taxi company pick us up. It's kind of a convoluted system. The provider gives you the license plate of the taxi and a code to provide to the driver. Now this is all well and good, if you have any type of connectivity, but if you're relying on free airport WiFi, this can be disastrous. Case in point El Dorado International airport, one of the busiest transportation hubs in South America, offers 30 minutes of free WiFi. Needless to say this is not sufficient to clear customs, baggage claim and get to the outside where your taxi is waiting. Be that as it may, we finally found our driver - there had been a small mix-up between Spanish L and Spanish M...don't ask me how, they sound quite different. He was very kind and swept us away to our hotel with ease. Side note* most of the drivers are mildly insane, especially the motorcyclists. Lanes are mere suggestions, merging involves having the most nerve, perseverance and willingness to have some mild bumper damage. (At least it seemed that way to me.)

While we waited for our room to be ready, we wandered around the neighbourhood and grabbed some food. (We had very excellent hamburgers.) 


Because of our colds and the early morning departure from Cuenca, we were pretty exhausted by the time we got into our room. As these things go, we were tired enough that we couldn't nap, sadly. That evening we bumbled around and grabbed some sushi to have in our suite, not wanting to be out after dark. (Remember, Bogota is "dangerous".) We crashed and burned early, hoping to wake up refreshed and reinvigorated.

We decided to head out to the downtown core, known as La Candelaria, where there are several museums and the historic district. Fair warning: getting around Bogota can be challenging. It's not recommended to take public transit. We thought we might brave it, but the system is so complex and the city so large that we gave up before we even started. Fortunately, taking cabs is quite affordable. Our hotel arranged for a taxi and off we went, after being advised to message the hotel when we wanted to return, so we could use a "safe" taxi.


Golden replica of the raft of sacrifice

 

Our driver dropped us off a few blocks from Plaza Bolivar, near a pedestrian area and we headed blithely off into the mean streets of downtown Bogota. Our first stop was El Museo de Oro. (The Gold Museum.) They house a huge display of gold and other antiquities that gave rise to the idea of El Dorado...the lost city of gold. Lake Guatavita was the site that housed a good portion of the collection before it was disinterred (disaquinated?) and brought to the museum. On the top floor, there's an immersive experience that was really quite moving and jaw dropping. 


 

Once we'd had our fill of gold, we decided to find the Museo Botero. Fernando Botero's work is probably the most recognizable of all Columbian artists. He combined the style of the Renaissance with his own modern take and the result was a body of work with very round, Rubenesque subjects. Even his instruments are fat. The museum also houses work from other artists and we found a charming Salvador Dali sculpture. Because I was still a bit stunned by my dumb cold, I didn't take many pictures.


Museumed out, we went to find lunch. We had a delightful vegetarian almuerzo and tried to find the Emerald Museum, but, alas it eluded us and I was ready to head back. We messaged our hotel, to try and get a taxi. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but no one answered us. Perhaps there was some sort of family crisis. After waiting for 15 minutes or so, we went to a decent hotel and asked the front desk to order us a cab. If I post more blogs, you're going to notice a theme. It's super easy to get from your hotel to your destination, but getting back can be a challenge, if you want to use "safe" taxis. We got back to our hotel without incident, but we aren't sure whether we got mildly ripped off or not. We really should clarify the whole taxi meter, situation with someone in the know. Several cabbies added money on from what the meter read. Nothing egregious, but only one cabbie charged us exactly what was on the meter. (More about that in another blog.)





When we arrived back at the hotel, we had a bit of a rest and then decided to head out for dinner at a restaurant called La Taqueria. As you might guess, it's a taco place. The fish tacos and prawn tacos were exceptional. We didn't take photos, we basically inhaled the food and enjoyed every second of it. Overall, it was a solid end to a busy day in a big city. Needless to say, we survived the day, unmolested. The people are generally kind and helpful and they're almost always surprised that we understand Spanish. I'm starting to suspect that the warnings about the dangers of Bogota might be over-exaggerated, at least depending on the time of day and the neighbourhood.

Next up, el Mercado de las Pulgas and el Jardin Botanico.



Thursday, February 15, 2024

What's New in Cuenca

I think I might have mentioned in my last post that Cuenca received a bit of a glow up, post-pandemic. Unlike my neck of the woods, Cuenca seems to have come out stronger, better and more advanced. This might be an unfair comparison, as Moncton already had a lot of the benefits of a modern, developed economy - meaning that food delivery was a regular thing, as were credit cards and contactless payment etc.  When we left Cuenca cash was king and credit cards weren't widely accepted except in the major chains of grocery and department stores and larger hotels. 

You can barely see it, but there's a full moon on the horizon.
On our arrival, we found that the availability of ATMs had increased markedly, smaller restaurants were accepting credit cards and the food quality had improved in so many ways. It was a pleasant surprise. Prices have definitely gone up in some areas: $2.50 almuerzos are much harder to find, lunch for 2 under $10 is more difficult to come across etc. There are some gems, however. A friend found a restaurant called Curu which is actually a culinary institute. You get a five course meal for $5. Yes, you read that right. Keep in mind that the people working there are in the process of learning everything about the restaurant industry and the institute's focus is on high end presentation. This means smaller servings, but we walked away with happy stomachs, so there was really no complaint.

Amuse bouche: beet gelatin with herbs

Wheat Soup
(On the wheat soup, you'll have to imagine the bowl filled with a hearty, thick soup, richly flavoured and wholly satisfying...I forgot to take a picture with the bowl full.) The round item is a perfectly cooked and slightly charred baby potato, with saffron powder and berry coulis. The soup is what made the meal filling. There were some comments about it reminding tasters of barley soup, if you're looking for a texture reference, but the soup base was thicker than a bouillon.
Palate Cleanser: salad fresca
Cucumber, grape tomatoes, micro beet greens, golden berries/physalis, and a maracuya dressing. The bitter, tang and sweetness was a beautiful combination.
Entree: slowly stewed chicken served
with a side of rice

The rich gravy and tender chicken were really delicious, it's just too bad that the plates weren't heated to keep the serving warm while we waited for the rice to get passed down the table.
Dessert: poached pear in red wine
reduction, with hand crafted vanilla ice-cream
sprinkled with bee pollen

I didn't know you could get pears so small, but it was perfectly executed and the serving size was right on point

There's many more examples of well executed food, but we won't take away anyone's adventurousness, by going into further detail, at least at this point. Be bold and explore!

Carnival

(Or Carnaval, as it's know here)

Little did we realise that we were heading into Carnaval during our trip. We'd overcome the issues with our residency and embraced the rest of our vacation as tourists. We wandered the streets, visited old haunts and met with old friends. Then came the towers of espuma, piles of water pistols and boxes of corn starch on almost every corner. Carnaval was coming. 

The smallest cans of foam available

It's mostly harmless, nothing that you get hit with is going to hurt you. Sure, your eyes might sting, or your mouth might taste like soap and you might get a bit wet, but other than that, it's okay, for the most part.

Video provide by our good friend Carl Marquart, taken during the big Carnaval parade

Generally, most people are respectful and won't engage with you, unless you want to play. We were mostly unmolested and it's fun to watch participants, absolutely coated in foam, dripping with water and streaked with corn starch, running around, laughing and have a great time with their friends and family. It can even be fun to participate. If you're prepared for a dousing. I'd actually encourage it.

Fair warming though, some people play dirty. Car drive by's hitting you with foam, groups of people surrounding a defenceless person and unloading large tins of foam or buckets of water on them. Again, it's not harmful, but, if you aren't part of the game, it can be off-putting or even aggravating. It gets a bit worse in the evening when alcohol becomes a factor. Otherwise, a good time is had by all.

Jardin Botanico

At the south end of the city, along the Yanuncay river, the powers that be have opened up a beautiful little botanical garden, filled with ponds, streams, beautiful flowers and beds of local crops. Because of the flowers, the garden is rife with hummingbirds and bees. It's a calm oasis, well worth a visit. We went on a Sunday, when the garden was "closed", but either because of Carnaval or just the nature of all things Ecuadorian, we were able to wander around the gardens, even though the Orchid pavilion and other buildings were closed. 

There are lots of raised walkways, so you can get a better view of the thoughtfully laid out gardens. There are also benches snuggled under the wide canopy of trees along the river and art installations throughout.



On our way there, we stopped at a playground and let Teddy have the run of the park. He very much enjoyed climbing (a bear-y happy practice) and the slide.


The Cuenca Symphony

Finally, as I feel I may have overwhelmed you with information, I'll only mention one more thing: the Cuenca Symphony. It's enjoying a resurgence since being mostly disbanded during the pandemic. We've been to several performances, all of which have been highly enjoyable. If you get the chance, we highly recommend it. Oh, did I mention that it's free?



So, it feels like things are vibrant and exciting here. The streets are busy, people seem to be happy and thriving, despite there still being big city problems with unhoused people and some vagrancy. It doesn't detract from all the city has to offer. We're glad we get to experience it again.