Where Is Darren Now?

Ghent Belgium

2013-06-13T16:22:00.003-05:00

Diana and I spent a rainy and fun-filled full day in Brussels but wanted to check out another town before we left Belgium. We talked about going to Bruges, which is a popular town with tourists northwest of Brussels up near the North Sea. The only thing that I knew about Bruges was that there was an art movie a bunch of years ago called "In Bruges". I never saw it but it was just enough for me to be interested in going there. Diana had been there (of course) but she was up for going back so I could check it out.

It just so happens that there was a young student from Spain living in one of the other bedrooms of the house we stayed in (via airbnb) who we made quick friends with. He had been living in Brussels for about ten months and suggested that we go to the town of Ghent as it was possibly even cooler and not nearly so touristy compared to Bruges. It was that easy. The next morning we took the train about one hour northwest of Brussels to the exceptionally well-preserved medieval town of Ghent:

Ghent has about 600,000 people and for years was one of the largest and richest cities in Europe. Walking around the historic core is an architecture fan's dream. I can't find the dates but I think these two awesome houses are from like the 1500s:

Ghent is fairly quiet but quite nice. We went on a Friday so I'm guessing that it might get a bit more crowded on the weekends or during summer (if summer ever comes to northern Europe!?!?). We lucked out on the day we were there as it was rain-free, which I'm under the impression is a fairly rare event. Random Ghent street scene:

And what's a real medieval European town without a castle? Well, Ghent's got one of those too! I love this photo with the super-modern tram running in front of the Gravensteen Castle, which was built in 1180:

Diana and I wanted to take advantage of the relatively nice day by eating outside somewhere but we couldn't really find anything we wanted. Instead, we went to a local supermarket and bought some snacks, drinks, and the ingredients to make sandwiches. A few minutes later and very few steps away, we found our lunch spot. We chose these stairs overlooking one of Ghent's canals. Can you ask for a better picnic spot???

In Diana's quest to visit every church in Europe, we stopped by as bunch while we were in town. In one of them, we came across this religion-inspired fashion show, which definitely wins the award for unusual things you might find in a church. I'm guessing that it was put together by the daughter of someone who's well-connected and that the church's senior person is somewhat flexible.

Oh, and the best? ANOTHER head of John the Baptist! No self-respecting European church should be without their own sculpture of good-ole' John's head.

The amount of beautiful buildings and canals in Ghent is impressive but it almost seems too perfect - like it was designed by Disney or something. But I can say that it's definitely worth a day trip. On our way out of town, we stopped to take photos on a bridge that had great views of the city but we thought that we'd shoot a video instead. And for those folks who like to find mistakes, I say in the video that we're in Ghent, Brussels but it should have been Ghent, Belgium. :-) Enjoy!

Brussels

2013-06-10T16:24:00.001-05:00

This was another trip made possible by a meeting that Diana had. A quick two days back in Barcelona after our whirlwind Italy trip, we flew up to Brussels to spend time checking out Belgium before going on to Amsterdam for a couple of more days, something that I was really looking forward to.

Brussels (and Belgium as well) is one of those places that I never figured that I'd visit but I was excited to "add" another country to the growing list (I'm a simple guy, I guess). There had never been a reason before but, there we were, in the city that's sort of the Washington, DC of Europe. Like its United States' counterpart, there seems to be a lot of folks with money there. You know, people in suits, big SUVs everywhere, and really expensive places to get a drink. In the case of Brussels, it's caused by the fact that the European Parliament, which serves as the centralized government body for Europe, and NATO (among others) are based there. The it-probably-won't-be-winning-any-architectural-awards-anytime-soon European Parliament building:

What I can tell you about the city is that it rains. A lot. They say around 200 days per year (not just cloudy - but RAIN) and I can attest that it's wet there. We were walking through the Grote Markt (the Grand Place), the city's main square, on our only full day in town and it was coming down like we were taking a shower. In a lot of good ways, the city reminded my of Munich, especially in the main square and surrounding area. The Brussels Town Hall and Grote Markt:

We arrived on Wednesday evening and Diana's meeting was early on Thursday. After her meeting, we headed into the city center to walk around and achieve my goal of eating some of the food items that Belgium is known for (I'll write about that in another story). When it wasn't raining unbelievably, the city was quite lovely and seemingly a nice place to live but probably not as interesting as Munich or some of the other places that I've been.

This little street was full of buildings that housed restaurants serving tourist-style bowls of cooked mussels. Diana and I had dinner in one and the mussels were delish and quite a deal at 10 euros per serving. It's not often that you can get a decent meal for two in a super touristy, and quite-expensive area for under $30 (U.S.) but we managed it! Score one for Bussels!

Other than the food and the area around the Grote Markt, the other tourist hot spot is a small, peeing statue named Manaequin Pis. This little dude has been letting it all hang out in this spot for almost 400 years, which I guess is pretty surprisingly although the statue isn't "original" as it gets stolen from time to time - but still. Also, the day we were there he didn't have any clothes on but people apparently put outfits on him for different reasons. Oh, it's also worth mentioning that Mr. Pis looks a hell of a lot like my nephew.

I ended up enjoying our quick Brussels flyby even though what I'll probably most remember about it besides the peeing statue (and maybe the food) was that my feet were wet the entire time...and, no, these two things were not related...

Florence Italy

2013-06-06T13:28:00.001-05:00

I really didn't know what to expect from our visit to Florence. Diana was super excited about going back (I think she's been everywhere in Europe) and that the city was pretty amazing. In spite of my lack of expectations, the visit was kick-ass and way better than I could have imagined.

We arrived to our airbnb-rented room (more about that below) just north of the city about 8pm after having visited Pisa and Siena earlier in the day. Our host gave us the name of a local Tuscan restaurant to try. It ended up being a family-style place with no menus and a 100% local clientele. They weren't really equipped to handle non-Italian speakers but our kind waitress was exceptionally patient. Let me just say that the food was awesome and that I'd eat there all the time if we lived nearby. Olive Garden this was not!

Our only full day in Florence started with visit to the Uffizi art museum in the city's historic core. On the way there from the train, we passed by the starting line of a marathon that was just about to begin. We immediately thought of our friend Victor who has run in marathons all over the world.

Our visit to the Ufffizi, where we got to see work by relative-unknowns by the likes of Michelangelo and da Vinci, took about three hours or so. I didn't take any pictures of artwork inside the museum (it's mostly prohibited) but I did sneak a shot of the nearby famous medieval bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, from one of the museum's windows. It's the only bridge in Florence to not be destroyed by the retreating Nazi forces at the end of World War II.

From the museum, we headed over to and just made the twelve o'clock mass at the city's cathedral. Mom, are you watching???

After mass, we climbed up the tower to see the city from above. The weather cooperated for our entire time in Florence and it made the city even that much more appealing.

The downside being such a great city is that it's full, Full, FULL of tourists like us! Barcelona is similar in that it's always packed with tourists but, for some reason, I don't notice it as much. I was thinking that the tourists might be different types of folks but I really have no idea.

Random architectural scene in the streets of Florence. How many different designs, materials, and perhaps, eras are present in just this one photo?

We wandered all over town that day and eventually ended up at the Basilica of Santa Croce. This mostly-nondescript church is the home of the funerary monuments for many famous Italians such as Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo.

Here's Diana in front of the Galileo monument along with one of my pet peeves - people taking photos with their iPads...

We hung out in the city until about 6pm when we took the bus back to where we were staying. It's worth mentioning some details as we were super lucky on this trip. See, Diana and I generally use airbnb when we travel to a place where we don't know someone that we can stay with. It tends to be way less expensive (than a hotel, for example) and, many times, it's a great way to get to know some locals who are interested in sharing their place with people from far-away lands. We've been using it for about two years, including for family to stay in during our wedding, and have never had a bad experience. It's definitely not for everyone but we recommend it. Oh yeah, it's also how we ended up meeting our awesome German roommate when we moved to Stuttgart last year!

While in Florence, we stayed in the lovely spare bedroom of Chiara and Francesco who are big travel fans like us. Francesco's brother was moving to the Canary Islands (not to Lanzarote - but one of the other islands) the next day so they were having a dinner for him. The invited us to join them and proceeded to win our favor (in reality, not too tough to do!) with a local organic Tuscan wine, an amazing homemade risotto, and incredible hospitality and friendship. It reminded me a lot of when we met Lena and Toni through couchsurfing a couple of years ago.

Anyway, dinner was SUPER WOW!!! Thanks to Francesco (standing) and Chiara (between me and Francesco) for your hospitality and beyond-airbnb friendship.

If you haven't picked up on it, our visit to Florence was really great for a bunch of reasons. I can definitely understand why so many tourists stop by the city while in Italy. Oh, and in case you're wondering if there are American restaurants in Italy like we have Italian restaurants in the United States, yes they do! The "American 1950s Diner" was about a mile from where we stayed. We didn't get to check it out but our hosts, who are big Americana and Canadana (just made that one up) fans, said that it was great. Next time you're at Olive Garden eating bread sticks with your family, think about your Italian counterparts slurping down milkshakes half a world away!

Thanks again to Chiara and Francesco for having us at your place. Diana and I can't wait to hang out again!

Pisa And Siena Italy

2013-06-03T15:20:00.000-05:00

If you didn't fill in the blanks from my story about going to Como and Lugano, Diana and I rented a car for our trip to Italy. Pau did the hook-up for us and got us this sweet Fiat 500 for a fairly low price:

Yeah, look again at that photo. There are two 500s. Those things are like the Toyota Corolla/Honda Civic of Italy. They're everywhere. It was a fun car to drive around but I can't imagine ever owning one. I'll leave it at that.

We stayed in Bergamo for three nights before taking off on a little bit of a road trip. Our plan was to head south for a few hours to see the tower in Pisa, head even farther south and check out the medieval town of Siena, and end up at our next digs in Florence. All in all, it would be like eight or more hours of driving but we figured that it'd be worth it as we wanted to be able to stay in Florence for the remainder of the trip. I'd love to say that the drive was uneventful but it rained hard. Actually, really hard for most of the trip. The car handled it well even if I got a bit tired. Oh, and it ended up more like ten hours of driving...

Some Germans doing a road trip and a coffee break the right way (as if they don't do everything the "right" way). These two vehicles are some serious hardware (especially that RV-camper thingy) but what I love most are the coffee cups on saucers sitting on the Land Rover's hood.

We got into Pisa about 1pm on a cold and blustery day. There's really nothing there, except the tower obviously, and it's a place I probably wouldn't have ever gone to if I wasn't already "in the area". If you know Old Town in San Diego, the whole thing is about that big. There's a church (of course) and a baptismal building (domed building to the left of the church) just across from the famous tower and all around the area are the required knick-knack stands selling everything you can imagine.

Interior shot of the surprisingly nice church at the leaning tower complex:

But, of course, the highlight is the leaning tower itself, which is smaller than you might expect but a lot cleaner. It really reminded me, though, of some crazy wedding cake or something.

Diana said that the last time she was there many years ago that the tower was supported by cables to help keep it upright. It seems that they've managed to stabilize the lean as the cables are no more. Think about that. How does one stabilize a building that's leaning so that it keeps leaning (and generating tourist dollars) but doesn't lean more thus threatening said source of money???

Whatever. Just like seeing the pyramids in Egypt, it was cool to see the tower in person. I still wouldn't recommend making a trip to Italy to see it but, if you're in the hood...

Diana and I walked around the not-too-exciting town for about 45 minutes or so stopping to check out a small church located on the side of the river that runs through town.

You may or may not know, but I take lots of photos of street art, aka graffiti. I particularly like stencil art of which I probably have about 500 different photo samples. What grabbed my attention on this trip was all the political graffiti I saw. In case you didn't know, places like Spain, Greece, and Italy aren't doing too well financially right now and I guess that young people are expressing their frustrations through their art. These two samples are a good taste of what I found:

After 1 hour and 59 minutes, according to our parking pass, we jumped in the car and drove another couple of hours farther south to the town of Siena, which is located just about one hour south of Florence. Like Bergamo, Mont Sant-Michel, and Carcassone, the town of Siena's built on top of rock outcropping and is surrounded by a fortified wall. What I didn't expect was that you could take escalators up from the lower parking lots.

If you've been on the Palm Springs tram in California, you know that when you arrive at the top of the mountain you find completely different scenery. This was the same. We left a normal parking area, took the escalators up, and exited on the curvy streets of a medieval village:

Siena's lovely but, again, not something to plan a whole trip to Italy for. I think it most reminded me of Toledo in Spain but with a church decorated with white and greenish-black marble at its center:

There is a main plaza too but what's cool about this one is that twice a year they do a crazy horse race event where the horses run around the outside edge of the plaza. We didn't get to see it but the photos of the event make it seem very surreal and something that I wished we could have gotten to check out. Oh well, you'll just have to imagine the whole plaza stuffed with people and horses with riders running full out around the gray cobblestones that surround the plaza:

Okay, but the best is saved for last. Just as in Barcelona you can find lots of Sant Jordi (Saint George) imagery, for some reason, the whole town of Siena was full of sculptures of wolves with children nursing from them. I immediately recognized this image from back when my mom asked me during my entire childhood and beyond if I had been raised by wolves. It wasn't until seeing these statues and writing this story that I ever connected it with the Romulus and Remus story. Turns out that Romulus supposedly founded Rome and his brother, Remus, founded Siena. What a small world.

Oh, and one final note, or, actually, a bit of *a rant*. If I read again on facebook from someone in the United States complaining about gas costing like 25 cents more, take a trip over to the other side of the pond where it costs just under $90 U.S. to fill Fiat 500 and you'll feel better right away! *Rant over.* Carry on...

Lake Como Italy And Lugano Switzerland

2013-05-30T14:19:00.000-05:00

Imagine if you were wealthy and you could have a house anywhere you'd like. Maybe you could have multiple houses in different places. Where would you go? Well, peeps like George Clooney and Madonna at some point decided that they liked the area known as Como enough to buy houses there. Como, Italy is less than an hour north of Milan and is almost on the border with Switzerland. Diana had been there before but I was curious why they'd chosen to have houses there so we went to check it out.

Como's a small town located on Lake Como. The old center was a walled city at one point and some of the towers and fortifications can still be seen around town.

The weather on the day we went was really crappy, complete with driving rain and even some hail. Still, there's something about walking around a medieval village when it's cold and rainy. I think it's much easier to imagine what it was like "back in the day" when sewage ran down the middle of the streets and people were dying of the black death...

...just kidding. But it is charming and filled with little cafes and shops like this one:

Like 100% of the cities and towns in Europe, Como's got a church at the center. Like 98% of the churches, it's nice, it's peaceful, and it's full of old art depicting people with spears through them or dismembered heads. But, even with my preconceptions of what I'd find in "another church", I happened across this diorama of hell, which I fell in love with. The detail, the imagery, the colors, the whole thing is beautifully well done and all in the space of a large fish tank:

Before we left town and against my better judgement, Diana got me on another boat for a one-hour tour of the lake. Remember how I said that the day was stormy? Yeah, the lake had white caps and there I was on a boat. Again. The reality was that it wasn't too bad and I got some nice pictures of the fresh falling snow on the hill tops (yes, it was cold out too).

From Como, we got back into the car and decided to drive up to Lugano, Switzerland, which is a lake-side town about 30 minutes northwest of Como. Crossing the border between Italy and Switzerland wasn't like crossing from Tijuana into San Diego but it's more involved than crossing between Spain and France for example - you actually have to stop at a checkpoint but they basically wave you through without saying a word.

If you haven't been to Switzerland, it's probably exactly as you imagine it. Expensive. Clean. Well organized. Lovely green mountains topped by snowy peaks:

When we got to Lugano, we parked the car and Diana immediately jumped out and ran over to this bus-stop advertisement with a picture of roasting corn on the cob. See, Diana's a big fan of corn on the cob and eats it whenever she gets the chance.

Towards the center of Lugano, Switzerland, from across Lake Lugano. Not too bad, right?

We hung out for about an hour and then drove around a little bit more before heading back to Italy. We decided to go check out some of the smaller towns outside of Como and stopped at Cernobbio. They were having a classic car rally sponsored by BMW so there were lots of flowers and decorations placed by BMW as well as lots of "well-off" folks walking around. I loved this building-sized map and distance list on the side of this house. The brownish-gold spot at the bottom center of the map is Como and below the map is a list of nearby places along with the distances:

Diana and I went to happy hour and got drinks at a place right next to the lake. It's worth mentioning how nice and cool the folks were at the place we went (sorry, I don't remember the name). They brought us a couple plates of snacks and made a special drink for Diana then charged us almost nothing. Combine that with the beautiful setting and it was a very cool way to end our visit. I think I can understand the appeal of the area. Next time, maybe we'll hang with Clooney!

Selfie at Lake Como, Italy:

Milan And Bergamo Italy

2013-05-28T08:19:00.001-05:00

Diana and I got to spend a whirlwind few days in Italy because of Diana's work. Our trip began in Milan the first morning after our arrival from Barcelona. After Diana's meeting and business lunch at the Politecnic University Of Milan (and, yes, lunch involved pizza), we spent a few hours exploring the center of Milan starting with a visit to the city's beautiful and highly-detailed cathedral (or Duomo in Italian):

One of the highlights of visiting the cathedral is being able to climb the stairs to the roof to check out the city's skyline. On the way up, you get to see the church details up close and the view's nice too.

About all I knew about Milan was that it's known for being a design hub and that it's often thrown in with the likes of Paris, New York, and Tokyo (no link, I went there before starting this blog but here's a link for all my Japan stories). I didn't really know what to expect in terms of the architecture but it ended up being surprisingly nice. Every city's got its must-see sights and Milan's no different. In addition to the cathedral, the glass-and-steel covered streets of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele is another.

I probably could have posted about 20 different photos of beautiful buildings but the photos don't do them justice. I'll throw this one in as the huge statues out front are definitely unique and very cool:

Our first day ended with a fabulous Italian dinner (of course) at a restaurant in the nearby suburb of Bergamo, which served as our base for the first part of our trip. The next morning we headed over to the University of Bergamo where Diana led a seminar. It's always awesome when trips have a "sponsor". Diana leading the discussion:

After Diana's rockstar performance, we spent a couple of hours exploring the medieval-walled-town-on-a-hill Bergamo. I really ended up liking Bergamo as it's a lovely small town but still close enough to the big city of Milan (like 45 minutes) to be convenient.

Although the Italian surroundings were different, in a lot of ways it reminded me of other medieval towns that I've been to like Carcassonne (probably my favorite), Mont Saint Michel (in France), and Toledo (in Spain). The views of the "lower city" (downtown area) of Bergamo from the much-more-exclusive "high city":

Our second night in Italy ended uneventfully back at our rented apartment as we were both tired and had a busy next few days planned.

A quick note about the food in Italy. Yes, it's good. Yes, there's lots of pasta. And, finally, yes, almost every meal involves pizza or pasta or both. A friend in Barcelona said that I'd gain a few pounds in Italy and he may have been right. I'm not checking though.

2013 Barça La Liga Champions Parade

2013-05-20T17:18:00.001-05:00

This year hasn't been a particularly good one for Barça. They recently ~~got their asses handed to them by~~ lost to Munich dropping them from Champions' League competition. But it hasn't all been doom and gloom over at Camp Nou. Barça still managed to win (at least) one championship trophy, in this case in La Liga competition. La Liga is Spain's top soccer league, comparable to the NBA or other national sports league in the United States. To celebrate the victory, Barcelona held a parade last week.

The parade route near Carrer de Arago and La Rambla Catalunya:

Diana and I walked down to the parade route with Gema's dog Linda and met up with Pau and his cousin. It was kinda fun to be out with everyone waiting for the team bus to pass by. I spotted Barça's number one fan while we were waiting:

We only had to wait about 20 minutes or so for the bus to go by. It's funny but, as it approached, the bus seemed to be going verrrrry slowly but when I tried to take photos, it seems to have sped up to light speed or something. Oh, and folks waving their damn flags caused some problems too! La Liga trophy and Shakira's husband:

I only really got two half-way decent photos of the team while they passed by. In this one, Messi was kind enough to stand just above his large photo so he could be more easily identified:

I think the highlight of the parade is when a woman was walking by with a hand full of Barça flags and Diana asked her where she got them. She responded something like they were giving them out and then she handed us one. Woohoo! My first Barça-branded item! Pau and I representin':

And how could I not post a photo of Diana and I with lovely Linda? She's (Linda) is a bit of a scaredy ~~cat~~ dog so getting her to pose with us was somewhat of a challenge.

On a side note...I've never been much of a fan of pro sports but it's relatively easy to get sucked in to being a Barça fan as pretty much everyone and their mom's one. Anyway...I'd like to wish Barça better luck next year. You won't be able to keep up your reputation if you're only bringing home one championship per year!

Diada De Sant Jordi 2013

2013-05-15T13:47:00.001-05:00

I wrote a couple of years ago about Barcelona's Saint George day, or as it's called here, Diada de Sant Jordi. If you don't remember, it's sort of like Catalunya's Valentine's day where guys buy their girls roses and, in a vain effort to make their men a little smarter, the girls buy their guys books.

A stand covering their bases selling both books and roses on La Rambla in Barcelona this year:

The short version of the tradition says that there once was a dragon that was eating the village's children (doesn't sound too tasty to me but then again, have you seen dogs go crazy for canned dog food?). George, being a studly chap, took charge and killed (or slayed) the dragon freeing the village from the austerity measures being imposed by the evil ~~ECB~~ ~~Germans~~ dragon.

Sant Jordi is honored as the patron saint of both Barcelona and of Catalyuna. He's so popular now that, in addition to having lots of images and statues of himself all over Europe AND getting a day named after him, he's also got a bread named in his honor. Pa de Sant Jordi (Saint George bread) is a very-slightly-sweet roll with the four bars of the flag of Catalunya on it. These were in a bakery where Diana and I had coffee that morning:

I had forgotten about how pretty much every organization in town sets up a table to sell roses to raise money for something or other. These are just two of the stands that are at the end of the street where we're living:

Diana and I met up with Carol and Juan to walk down La Rambla and check out this year's festivities along with probably all 1.6 million residents of Barcelona:

It really does seem like the whole city is out and about during the day. Everywhere is packed with folks out walking, looking at books, and checking out the crowds. Juan, Diana, Carol, and everyone from Barcelona just down from Plaza Catalunya and the Portal de l'Angel:

The four of us walked down La Rambla and through the Gothic area of the city before grabbing lunch together on the roof deck of the Hotel Espana. Me taking a photo of Diana taking a photo of Juan and Carol at one of the day's special events:

I wasn't a very good guy because I hadn't bought Diana any roses yet so I picked up these on La Rambla during our trip home. Diana's a good sport and pretended that it was sufficient for her. Thanks Diana!

Happy Diada Sant Jordi! May all your dragons be slayed, your roses fresh, and your books...hmmmm...!

Castellers At The Sagrada Familia

2013-05-11T06:26:00.001-05:00

Now that we're back in Spain, I've started going to castellers again. If you don't remember, castellers are teams that build human towers. I've often said that being a casteller is when you're both the monkey and the monkey bars. It's a lot of fun to be part of a group that's so tight knit even if I do have a pretty severe language barrier (I don't speak Catalan). But, regardless, I go to practice every Tuesday and Friday night and often on Sundays we have exhibitions somewhere in the city.

This past Sunday we had an exhibition in front of the Sagrada Familia church. It was part of the neighborhood around the church's neighborhood celebration. These neighborhood festivals (or, "diadas" in Catalan) are common in Spain and they often involve music, food, booths set up to sell stuff, and, in the case of Catalunya, castellers exhibits.

The Castellers del Poble Sec in front of the Sagrada Familia during the Diada de la Sagrada Familia:

I really can't think of anything that's more "Catalan" than the castellers and probably no other structure that represents Barcelona more than the Sagrada Familia. I got goose bumps watching the other groups of castellers building towers in such an amazing location.

Super-good artsy photo taken by Diana (all the photos except the last one were taken by her - Thanks Diana!) of the Castellers del Poble Sec in front of the Sagrada Familia's Nativity Facade:

In this photo, you can see a Chinese couple that must have gotten married earlier in the day out taking photos. They had some damn good luck (just like Diana and I did) to have wedding photos like these:

And, yes, a final photo of the girl from Chiquinquira and the casteller from Philadelphia in front of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia:

If you haven't been to Barcelona and you ever get a chance to come, try to find a castellers' exhibition to check out. It's pretty amazing to watch and a definite cultural must-see/do. Many of the groups have at least a couple of practices during the week that you can go to (all welcome visitors) and on many Sundays at noon, there are exhibitions in plazas all over the area. And the best thing, it's all free!

Catalan Pyrenees

2013-05-07T16:48:00.000-05:00

When Diana told me that her cousin Carol, who's also originally from Bogota, and her husband (from Spain) invited us to go with them to their mountain house in the Pyrenees, I couldn't wait. The two weeks seemed to take forever but the big Friday evening came and we made the two-plus-hour drive from Barcelona with them up towards the intersection of the French, Spanish, and Andorran border. If you're familiar with the southern California mountains, think of a drive like going to Baldy and not like Summit (in other words, nice and easy!).

We got there about 9pm, which was just in time for a finger-lickin'-good dinner over at their friends' place. I have more than a few stand-out memories from dinner that night (amazing food, cool folks, the husband used to live near Washington, DC) but what I probably will remember for a long time was...the water.

Yes, the water.

I asked for a glass of water and they told me "to try the tap water". Let me just say that, after living in Germany, the tap water's got to be pretty damn good if it's gonna' compete. Well, the water that flowed out of the golden ~~goose~~ faucet was the best damn water I've ever had even when compared to the best bottled waters. They told me that it comes almost straight from the mountain behind the house, but it wasn't until the next morning when I woke up and saw this amazing scene from our friends' place that I understood:

Carol and Juan's place is located in a large valley area called the Cerdanya that's ringed by Spain, France, and Andorra. Their scenic little village sits down on the valley floor with snow-covered mountain peaks staring down.

(Um, can I just mention how f'n lucky I am to get to do some of this stuff? Look at these photos!)

Anyway, we went for a walk around the 'hood in the morning and I saw this guy turning the soil in front of his house. He must have been like 80 years old but he was workin' it. The scene with the old house, the old guy, the small farm, the valley out below, and the snowy peaks up above was amazing.

Like I said, the valley is shared mostly between France and Spain but a part of it touches the small country of Andorra. Although there's three different countries, you'd never know it as all you see is Catalan flags flying everywhere. Even when we went into Font Romeu, France, to do some food shopping (it's the closest town), there were 99% Catalan flags flying and almost no French flags. You can sort of see one at the left end of the building below (of course there was no wind when I was taking the photos):

The Catalan Pyrenees really comes alive during the winter, from what I've been told, as folks from the three countries go skiing on the weekends. During the summer, it's fairly quiet and kinda' nice to be able to explore a bunch of old and new tiny villages. On Saturday afternoon, we visited Bellver, which is on the Spanish side, and walked up and down the cobble streets and ate some of the best and cheapest ice cream that I've ever had while in Spain.

Note the Catalan-independence flag hanging off the third level of this building in the town of Bellver, Spain:

After another amazing dinner and wine-drinking session, we woke up Sunday morning and went to Puigcerda (pooj-sair-DA), which is also in Spain and is build up around a large lake in its center. Amazing view of the mountains beyond the lake and some of the town of Puigcerda:

On Sundays the town has a farmers market where there's all kinds of food, beverages, and "stuff" to buy. I like these types of things because it's a great place to people watch and I loved how there were the sounds of French, Spanish, and Catalan everywhere. (Yeah, that's another snowy mountain past the end of the street.)

The highlight of the market (for me) was this woman who was selling homemade vermouth. I got hooked on vermouth by our good friend Vladimir who used to take us to a local Poble Sec place for Sunday-morning vermouth drinking. Juan buying a couple of plastic jugs of homemade vermouth:

Probably the only disappointment of the whole trip, if you can call it that, was that we didn't have time to go to Andorra for a quick visit. It would have been another country for me to add to my growing travel map but, oh well, there's always next time!

A big-ole' thank you and hugs to Carol, Juan, Ana Maria, and Juan Camillo for taking us for an amazing Catalan Pyrenees adventure and opening their home to us (and a nice family shot):

I can't wait to go back up to that area again, hopefully next time for some snowboarding at the close-enough-to-throw-a-rock-at El Molino resort! Another reason to get that driver's license!

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown

2013-04-22T12:01:00.000-05:00

Writing this blog over the last three years or so has been fun (I can't believe it's been that long!). As you may already know, it's pretty much just a place to write about my experiences and the blog format is a convenient way to share it with family and friends. What I never expected was to get attention from folks that I didn't already know. But I've been fortunate to get to know a bunch of different people through it and even make some good friends.

Most times I hear from people they're looking for information regarding something that I've written about or to request permission to use a photo or two. It's nice to hear from folks who found me through a google search and even better when they say they like my writing and/or photos enough to use them for some other purpose.

It was through something like this when I was recently contacted by a producer of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown. The new CNN travel-food-adventure show airs on Sunday and he's already gone to Myanmar (on my list of places to visit) and Los Angeles (already lived there). The upcoming show is about Colombia and why they contacted me.

When I first heard from them back in the beginning of December, I was, of course, hoping to get to hang out with Anthony on one of his adventures but it didn't happen (maybe next time, right?). The producers wanted to ask me about some of my experiences living and traveling in Colombia. They were particularly interested in the Air Colombia trip when we went to Puerto Inirida a couple of years ago. Since then, I've watched the first two episodes and have seen Bourdain posing in front of the same Air Colombia DC3 that we took.

More recently, CNN's contacted me about using some of my photos on their website (and hopefully during the show too). I sent them a bunch including ones about coffee carts, the Colombia coffee zone, and the Medellin Metrocable. I've always been happy with a lot of my photos and getting to post them on the blog but hearing that they liked them made me particularly proud!

So, if you get a chance at 9pm on Sunday (Note: time is Eastern Standard Time), watch his experience doing what I got to do and, if I'm lucky, to see some of my photos. You can also watch later online (here).

I should also mention that I've been told by my cousin and also by a friend that they think of me whenever they watch a Bourdain show. Who knows, maybe one day I'll have my own show like his. Do you think CNN would go for a show about a regular guy who's gotten to travel a whole bunch???

Hotel España

2013-04-20T08:25:00.001-05:00

I don't think that I've ever written specifically about a hotel before especially one that I haven't stayed at but this one's worth its own story. Diana invited and treated me and few friends to lunch and a tour at the Hotel España in Barcelona last Friday afternoon.

Why would anyone want to tour a hotel you might ask? Well, this one just happens to be a pretty amazing example of the city's famed Modernist architecture (think Gaudi).

In classic Spain style, our lunch started around 2:30pm or so in the hotel's worthy-of-being-a-museum restaurant, La Fonda:

After a yummy meal and, more importantly, a couple of bottles of wine (remember: Spanish-style lunch!!!), we started our guided tour of the hotel, which you have to pay for but it's worth the couple of euros. The tour starts in the reception area and continues in the adjoining Arnau Bar. One of the highlights of the tour and of the hotel is this stone fireplace, which for some crazy reason was once painted! Why someone would paint something like this is beyond me but I guess preservation wasn't always as cool as it is now.

Vincent checking out the fireplace:

The hotel's in one of Barcelona's more "diverse" (and cooler) neighborhoods, which just so happens to be about a four-minute walk from where we used to live. If you go out the front door of the hotel and make a left, the same direction we used live, you go through the Raval neighborhood, which has (one of?) Barcelona's red-light district, where you can "make a friend"and buy "something to make you feel better/different/whatever".

According to our guide, the hotel used to be more of a backpacker-type place, which probably fits what the now "up-and-coming" neighborhood is today (why do they always say up-and-coming when they probably mean "still-a-bit sketchy"?). The reality is the hotel is right near La Rambla and the Liceu Theater (which I can't believe that I've never written about). I miss living in nearby Poble Sec because of all the awesome and cheap restaurants and the fact that the metro's right there.

Anyway, the hotel was built in the mid-1800s and was most recently renovated a couple of years ago. It's definitely not pack-packer style now. Just look at the stairwell below to see the detail this place has. There's relief-style wall decoration, marble stairs, wrought-iron railings, and display-case-type windows that expose what's left of the mosaic floor. The Sistine Chapel it's not, but it is surprisingly nice for a hotel.

The design is a bit unusual in that the rooms open into a central space that looks like something out of the 70s. Not in an avocado-colored-oven-and-fridge way. Just that the style/decoration's not what we'd see today. The openness is incorporated in the underwater theme they've got going on down in the Sirens' restaurant below. The gold lamps are supposed to be bubbles rising from the sea floor.

One interesting note is that those six-sided gold boxes house ventilation fans for the space below. Apparently, they're non-functional now and locked up because, as our guide mentioned, "little kids might get [have gotten] into them"...

The Sirens-restaurant's theme is like being underwater or, maybe, in a fish bowl (sort of like Casa Batllo, I guess). The underwater theme (and the hotel's modernist design) was created during the early 1900s renovation done by local Catalan architect Luis Domenech i Montaner. He also did the also-amazing-modernist-style Casa Fuster on nearby Passeig de Gracia, which is also now a hotel.

Below the giant, naked-chick wall art is a series of white, round ceramic disks that each have a symbol from the different regions of Spain. Some of the disks have the No8Do symbol that's representative of Sevilla but, if you look hard enough, you'll find one that seems to have been created by a dyslexic craftsman.

The tour lasted about an hour and included going up to see the hotel's rooftop bar and pool. We ran out of time or we would have gotten drinks and hung out. The only bummer about the tour is that there's no "behind-the-scenes" included. I think it would have been interesting to see the kitchen in the adjoining building that used to be a bakery or perhaps seeing the basement or something. Oh well. No biggie.

Thanks to Diana for treating us to lunch and the tour as well as to our friends Victor, Vincent, and Vladimir for joining us. Wait, I just realized that our names make up some sort of odd full house - DDVVV! Let's do it again soon. Maybe a picnic inside the Sagrada Familia?

Easter

2013-04-12T06:29:00.000-05:00

There are certain holidays and holiday traditions that are down-right confusing. Take for example Caga Tio or Caganers in Spain during the Christmas season. How do these things get started? Yeah, I know, I could look on Wikipedia or something for the history but, on the surface, they're strange. Another one that gets me is the tradition surrounding Easter eggs in the United States. Actually, the whole Easter deal is a little strange but don't get me started.

Each year just before Easter, parents buy their kids some eggs, hard boil them, and then the kids color them using water-based dyes. Everyone does it and no one knows why, including me. Of course, egg imagery (fertility?), decorating them (celebrating death and rebirth?), and the whole spring-solstice timing (again, seasonal rebirth?) tells me that it's an old Pagan tradition of some kind but who knows...and who cares. It's fun.

My sister's kids doing their best to have permanently-green fingers:

So, from there, the tradition holds that the Easter Bunny, which is a huge, human-sized rabbit, comes while the kids are sleeping like a springtime Santa, and hides the eggs around the house for the kids to "hunt" on Easter morning. Funny aside, if you find a "missing" egg a few months later (yes, it happens), it's just an empty shell. Where does the inside part go???

My brother rockin' out dyeing eggs with his kids:

Sorry that I don't have any photos of the kids looking for their eggs on Easter morning because I like to sleep in and have some coffee before I get going.

I can't remember the last time I was in Philadelphia for Easter but it's probably been 20 years. For my entire life we've gone over to my Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob's house for a big, whole-family, dinner. Every year dinner's the same and is some combination of ham, hot macaroni salad, baked beans, corn, and some other stuff I can't remember right now. Outside of the ham, I'm not sure that any of those foods have any significance but Easter dinner's easily third after Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for deliciousness.

Aunt Linda prepping her family-famous macaroni salad:

What's left of our Easter dinner after the first wave of eaters came through:

I'm thinking of starting my own formerly-Pagan holiday tradition. Maybe something in fall as the weather's usually good and there's lots of yummy seasonal food. It'll definitely involve pumpkins or even egg nog and possibly burning witches or something. The kids will love it!

What's Colombian Food Like? (Part 2)

2013-04-07T16:48:00.003-05:00

For some reason while thinking about writing this story yesterday, my friend Armando in Germany popped into my head and I could hear his voice saying "Your blog's mostly about food, right?" I'd like to think not but, in his honor, and as a way to thank Diana's mom and dad for all the great food we ate together in Colombia, here's Part 2 of my ode to Colombian food! (And, if you're interested, you can read the first one I wrote a little while ago.)

Note that these food photos aren't in any particular order...

First up is a photo that I used in the story about visiting Tierra Caliente near Bogota a couple of months ago. Diana's friend Angelica's in-laws own a small second home out there and they served us up this Sancocho stew (on the right), which has yucca, plantain (non-sweet banana), and corn all grown in their garden along with (cow) meat, pork, potato, and cilantro. The other plate has rice, avocado (also grown in their garden), and gallo (rooster) leg and thigh meat. The small bowl is filled with home-made aji (Colombian salsa), which was delish! Oh, and this was just my serving of lunch!

For desert that day, they served Jalea de Guayaba (guava sauce) along with a serving of soft, homemade (farmer) cheese. It's a strange (for me) combination even if I've had it before many times but it makes for a great dessert.

Probably my favorite Colombian food, other the Bandeja Paisa, is Ajiaco (ahh-hee-ahh-koh), which is a potato-based soup that has corn, chicken, and avocados in it. Ajiaco is a local-Bogota specialty and this version, which Diana's mom made, also has cream poured in it and is topped with capers. Just looking at this photo makes my mouth water!

While we were out in Chiquinquira with my dad, we stopped at a nearby Piqueteadero restaurant, which we had gone to before with Diana's folks. Piquetear basically means "chopped" and all the food is served chopped into small pieces that are often eaten with a toothpick. It's always some combination of carne asada, sausages including Morcilla (Spanish blood sausage), potatoes, arepas, and sometimes some other ingredients mixed in. It's not the healthiest of meals, I'm told, but who cares! It's definitely one of the best meals in Colombia.

Thank you but aren't you going to order something for yourself???

Diana's mom makes a homemade picada that uses only ingredients from the neighborhood markets. She often fries up chorizo, which is doubly evil. I think she'd cook this every day if I wanted since she knows that I love it but I'm sure that I'd weigh 400 pounds within six months and my blood would look something like poutine...

When we drive out to the farm in Chiquinquira, we sometimes stop for breakfast in a small town called Ubate and eat in the main plaza. They have a bunch of independently-owned stall restaurants each with picnic-style tables and chairs. To a foreigner (like me), they're a bit sketchy looking and they make you wonder if it's okay to eat there. But, just like in most places in the world, the street food's often the best.

One of the stands sells a corn-based Mute stew that's to die for. We took my dad there when he was in town and he was a bit apprehensive due to the setting but I think he enjoyed the flavor. This Mute is made with "cold country" corn (not that I'd know the difference but it's supposedly not as good as "warm country" corn - whatever) and is made with cow's foot (yes, cow's foot - damn good!), peas, carrots, and potatoes. It's definitely one of my favorite Colombian foods. When we go, I usually order TWO bowls!

I have to admit that, when we go out to a restaurant, I usually order a Bandeja Paisa since it's so addictive. But one day Diana pushed me to order something different so I asked the waiter what he recommended and he said the Costilla de Cerdo (pork ribs). This one was awesome! It had pork-rib meat that was super tender and it was covered with Hogado sauce, which is sorta' like a Mexican-style chunky salsa that's served warm, along with rice, peas, corn, yucca, avocado, and platano.

(Diana just looked over my shoulder at the photo below and asked me how I could show her photos of this delicious food around dinner time. Funny!)

That's it for my overview of Colombian food as I left Bogota last week. Again, just like last time, a big thank you to Diana's entire family for taking care of my every need while I was there (even ones I didn't know I had). Diana's mom and dad were awesome and made it super difficult to leave.

Fidu - I'll miss your company, your amazing food, and your eternal patience with my laughable Spanish. Juaco - I'll miss our walks around the neighborhood and our daily coffee klatch. To Diana's 152 brothers and sisters, you guys are awesome even if I haven't learned all your names yet! (That's a joke by the way.) Thanks for looking after me and making sure that I'm happy!

I'll leave this post and my most recent trip to Colombia with this photo of us buying Aromaticas in the street a couple of months ago. Aromaticas are a fruit-based drink that have different spices added. They're sorta' like a sweet version of mulled spice wine but without the wine, if that makes sense. I remember this day being particularly nice and that we had a fun time.

Ciao Fidu, Juaco, y toda la familia! Muchas, muchas gracias y nos vemos pronto! Les voy a extrañar!

Lightning Bugs!

2013-03-21T22:50:00.001-05:00

Last weekend I went with Diana's mom up to the farm in Chiquinquira for a few days. Since Diana's over in Germany and Spain for a while taking care of some work stuff, it was a great opportunity for the two of us to get to know each other better (and especially not on a crowded bus during some trip to a doctor's appointment). We had a lot of chances to talk and I learned a lot about her and her history. It was fun!

During the days, there's lots to do around the farm but the highlight's always when everyone stops what they're doing and we go down to milk the cows. After my dad's visit, he mentioned to me one day how going to milk the cows was like something out of the 1800's since it involves a donkey pulling a cart and hand-milking. In fact, I know he's right because Diana's family has been doing this same basic process in the same place for well over 100 years.

After the sun sets and we've eaten dinner, there's not a lot to do. Diana's parents usually end up watching one of the two channels that they can get on the old television and Diana and I will read or just hang out. One of the things that I enjoy is looking at the stars because there's so little light pollution. Every time I look up, I'm amazed at how clearly I can see the milky way, stars, and even some planets. One night, after Diana's mom had gone to bed, I put on a warm jacket and went out to check out the stars. What I saw once I was outside surprised me and made me flash back to summers when I was growing up in Philadelphia.

Lightning bugs! Fireflies! What ever you call them - there were tons! I hadn't seen lightning bugs since I was a kid and had no idea that they were in other parts of the world. I spent the next probably 30 minutes chasing them around the farm trying to catch some. I can remember that we used to get a jar and fill it with our bounty but, this time, I'da been happy catching even just one! I'm not sure if it's because I'm old and can't see but it was waaaay harder to catch them at the farm. I'd like to think that it was because there is (almost) no ambient light making it very hard to see them while their lights were off. Yeah, that would be greaaaat!

After feeling embarrassed at my lack of lightning-bug-hunting skills, I went and grabbed my camera to take some photos. It would have to be easier than catching them, right? After all, there were hundreds blinking on and off. Well, let's just say that I wasn't much better taking photos of lightning bugs than I was at catching them. This photo shows three greenish glowing specs towards the left-side (and this was the best shot I got out of probably 200...):

Later, looking over the photos, it reminded me a lot of trying to take pictures of the river dolphins in Puerto Inirida, Colombia, a couple of years ago. In that case, instead of lots of photos of almost nothing but black, the photos were almost nothing but water. Fortunately, digital photos cost nothing to take and nothing to develop!

It wasn't until I sat down to write this story that I learned lighting bugs are a type of beetle and are found pretty much everywhere in the world where it's warm, humid, and there's water around. The light is their version of a Mercedes or a McMansion; it's used by the males to help them pick up chicks. Having lived in California, Mexico, Spain, Japan, and Germany and not having seen them in any of those places, I just kinda' figured that they were an east-coast United States thing. Wrong! Yep, still learning something new every day!

A not-so-clear photo showing a lighting bug up close:

Photo Credit

What a blast! I couldn't believe that there were lightning bugs in Colombia! This country has everything (except a good marketing department, of course)! The next morning, I couldn't wait to tell Diana's mom all about it. She listened patiently like she always does but, at the same time, kinda' had that "are-you-crazy" look on her face. I totally understand but how could I resist being right back to when I was a kid running around the neighborhood on warm summer nights collecting bugs?

Today's Office: 16 March 2013

2013-03-16T13:18:00.002-05:00

Don't you hate when you're working and someone's staring over your shoulder?

On The Value Of Time

2013-03-11T18:51:00.000-05:00

I haven't been writing as much on this trip to Colombia. Mostly it's due to just not having as many adventures to write about. It's not that we've been lazy (well, maybe sometimes) but rather that we've had to be available for Diana's parents and their medical needs. What the trip lacks in the adventure department has been made up for ten times over by good, old-fashioned, family time (including having my dad come visit last month), which I wouldn't trade.

When we were in Germany and talking about going to Bogota, the decision for me was very easy. Of course we should go. It almost wasn't even a question that needed to be asked. Back about four years ago or so, when my mom was sick with cancer, I watched in awe at how my dad took care of her through it all. He made sure that she got to all her appointments, that she had taken all her meds, and, towards the end, even hand fed and bathed her. It was hard for him much of the time but mostly because he never felt like he was doing a good enough job. He did. More than anyone could have asked. It was inspirational.

My dad took care of my mom almost to her last day. It was only when she needed to be put on a morphine drip for her pain that her 24-hour care had to be done for a day or two at a hospice. Later, while thinking back on everything that my dad did for my mom, I committed to myself that if and when my dad ever needed someone to care for him like he cared for her, I'd be there in a minute to do it. Whatever the cost. So, when the "opportunity" came up for us to help out Diana's folks, like I said, there wasn't even a second thought. We could always go back afterward and pick up where we left off.

One of the things that I've learned, over and over again, in the last few years has been that family, friends, and time are all we got. Everything else, and, by that, every thing is replaceable and not really that important. I've learned that I would trade, and in some ways have traded, the "stuff" for more time. More time to learn. More time for experiences. More time to grow. More time to spend with those I care about. I guess that's what's important.

What's For Breakfast? Colombian Drinking Chocolate

2013-02-28T21:01:00.001-05:00

I've always been a fan of chocolate. Like, in a big way. Growing up, I can remember my mom making me (cold) chocolate milk or hot chocolate depending on the time of the year or what I was in the mood for. When I'm in Philadelphia, I often go over to my sister's house where she serves up a mean pre-bed chocolate milk for the kids.

Later, when I lived and traveled in Mexico, especially in Oaxaca, I always loved getting some hot chocolate along with my breakfast. What I especially enjoy is that they usually have cinnamon and spicy chili peppers mixed in. There's nothing like that old-fashioned-Mexican combination of dark chocolate, cinnamon, chili peppers, and raw sugar!

Even later, I found and fell in love with Churros and Chocolate in Spain and hot chocolate in France. In these cases, the drink has been refined and improved but there's still something to the simplicity of the Latin-American version.

Drawing of a traditional Mexican drinking-chocolate ceremony:

Photo Credit

Colombia also has a tradition of drinking chocolate. As in Mexico, the chocolate is sold as a solid, as opposed to the syrup or powder that's commonly used in the United States. Four servings of Colombian drinking chocolate in bar form:

In lots of cases, like in Mexico, flavors such as cinnamon (or even vanilla) are added - but I haven't found a chili-pepper version yet even though the stores are loaded with different types. While Americans like Hershey's, Quik, or Swiss Miss, for Mexicans it's Ibarra (my favorite) or Abuelita and for Colombians it seems to be Corona. The drinking chocolate aisle at the local supermarket:

In the United States, we tend to like our drinking chocolate made with milk but in Colombia and Mexico it's almost always just hot water and chocolate. One section of chocolate is added for each cup of water and heated until the water just about boils. (For some reason, aluminum cookware, like the pot shown below, is all the rage in Colombia.)

At that point, the chocolate is almost completely melted and a Molinillo (mole-len-knee-oh) is placed between the palms and rapidly spun back and forth to stir and froth the mix. From what I understand, tradition has it that the chocolate is best served a bit foamy and the molinillo's design and the pre-boiling timing is key to achieving the right amount of foam. The molinillo in this photo is fairly simple but I've seen very complicated/ornate ones both here and in Mexico. I've also been led to believe (and may have witnessed) that molinillos make a great weapon...

I've always thought of both hot and cold chocolate as an anytime beverage. When I was in university, I'd buy two pretzels and a pint of chocolate milk for a mid-morning snack (oh, the days of eating unlimited carbs!). In Spain, hot chocolate, often served with churros, is an evening or even late-night, post-night-out-drinking snack. Here in Colombia, once again like in Mexico, it's definitely all about breakfast. Most days I opt for a bucket of coffee and some eggs but, every once in a while, especially when we're in Bogota and there are almojabonas (a slightly-cheesy-flavored corn-flower-based bun usually served for breakfast) or, if we're at the farm, arepas (cheese-filled corn-flower-based baked item - sense a theme here?).

Probably the most unusual thing is that Colombians will place a piece of cheese into their hot chocolate, drink the chocolate, and then eat the warm-and-softened cheese at the end like the gum in the bottom of a Screwball. Even though I'm not a fan, I'd never criticize it since I'm the same guy who'll eat avocado dusted with sugar (Hawaii, anyone?), put salt and chili pepper on a fruit salad (viva Mexico!), or eat wasabi on almost anything...

A simple, but very lovely Colombian breakfast spread:

Writing this story makes me want to have some hot chocolate for tomorrow morning's breakfast. I think I'll go "mention" in front of Diana's dad how much I looooooooove the almojabanas from that local bakery he goes to so that might get some in the morning. Hahahahahahahahahahha! So evil!

Dad Visits Colombia!!! (Part 2)

2013-02-16T22:42:00.000-05:00

This is part two of my dad's visit to Colombia. To read part one, click here.

After the cows were milked and, perhaps, a quick nap, the five of us (me, my dad, Diana, and her folks) went into Chiquinquira town. It was mostly a quick trip around a couple of pedestrian-only streets, a couple of churches, and a few shops. My dad had wanted to check out a local supermarket while he was in Colombia to see what they were like. We went to a small supermarket that's in one of the plazas and he bought some local drinking chocolate to take back to the United States.

While we were walking, an extremely well-behaved dog started following my dad, including waiting like 20 minutes for us while we were in the supermarket. We couldn't believe it. Before going back home, we stopped at a bakery and got some bread and snacks including a treat for my dad's new dog (no, he didn't take it home with him but I'm sure it'll wait for him until my dad returns one day).

The next morning Diana's parents needed to go back into town to take care of some farm business. My dad went with us and while they were in their meeting, we checked out the central market. He might be a little hard to spot because of his camouflaged outfit but that's my dad towards the right side of the photo in the yellow shirt blending in with the Colombian bananas and other fruit:

To celebrate Diana's birthday, we drove "down the hill" towards Villa de Leyva to have lunch in Sutamarchan. Sutamarchan is basically a tiny village at an intersection of two roads where an industry of small piqueteadero restaurants have popped up. Piqueteada means chopped and they all serve some combination of (chopped-up) local sausages called longaniza, blood sausages, chicharone (fried pig skin), yucca, mazorca (a type of corn), plantains (a non-sweet banana), and some other items on big-ole' platters. It's probably not the healthiest of foods - there's certainly no RDA guidelines - but it's damn good.

Me and dad in front of the La Fogata piquetadero in Sutamarchan:

After lunch, we made the trip back to Bogota and all slept like babies that night. Sunday was, sadly, dad's last full-day in Colombia. Before he arrived, there was only one thing he wanted to see (besides a supermarket) while here - Tequendama Falls. Diana and I were just there a couple of weeks ago with her best friend from growing up but we were happy to go back.

We saved Tequendama for our last day because we would have to drive across the entire city of Bogota to get there and we figured that Sunday would have the least amount of traffic. Well, we were partly right. It took us just under two hours :-o to make the trip that, distance-wise, would take about 40 minutes or less if there was a freeway/autobahn and/or no traffic.

We lucked out because it had been raining (quite heavily) in the days before so the waterfall was flowing heavily. The weather was partly cooperative in that it wasn't raining but it was a bit cloudy. What was extra cool was there was mist rising from the falls:

Oh, and the corn-on-the-cob Diana's eating? She's addicted to it. When we pulled up, the first word out of her mouth was mazorca (roasted corn on the cob) because a woman right next to where we were parked was selling it. Diana's never met a mazorca she'd didn't like!

Family self-portrait at El Salto Tequendama, Bogota, Colombia:

After visiting the falls, we continued driving down the hill for about 30 minutes so ~~my dad~~ I could check out the tropical scenery. We stopped at this road-side stand to buy some fruit and snacks to take back to Bogota. I love how rich this photo is with all the fruit and colors, but wait, is that a motorcycle and dog on the roof???

Why, yes it is! I walked across the street to get a better perspective of the fruit stand, the second floor, the and mountain behind it. It was more like an illusion as there's a small dirt road off to the left leading up to the "second level", which is a bit farther back than the first level. Still, a lovely scene - I could so live in place like this. Oh, and those damn tropical mini (finger) bananas are addictive!

We got back to Bogota just in time for dinner with the extended family and to celebrate Diana's birthday with a "ponque" (punk-kay), which, I believe, is a Spanglish for "pound cake". Feliz cumpleaños morenita!

It was great to have my dad come visit. I enjoyed it immensely and I think he did too. Actually, I think that he was surprised at how much he did. I'm hoping that he'll come back with us one day soon. After all, Diana's family seems to approve of him - their Go/No-Go criteria is how their dog Rises feels about you. I think we all can guess the answer:

__________________
Epilogue

Our hero's journey wasn't without its bumps. When we got to the Bogota airport for my dad's flight home, after about an hour in the check-in line(!!!), we found out that it had been delayed by 50 minutes. Since his connection was just over an hour, it looked likely that he might not make it (since he had to pass through immigration and customs first) but the airline sent him on to Florida anyway. My dad was a bit frustrated but what can you do? He ended up making it to his connecting gate in Florida before the doors were closed but the flight had been oversold so he would spend the night.

The airline really took care of him. He spent the night at a ("very nice") local Holiday Inn and had a ("delicious") free dinner where he ate with some other stranded passengers. Their war stories were far worse than what my dad was experiencing so his mood picked up. In the morning, he took a $130 (free-to-him) taxi ride to an airport in another city for his flight home, which was uneventful.

I feared calling my dad that day because I was afraid the delays might have ruined the whole trip for him. Quite the contrary when I finally did talk with him. He was so incredibly positive about the entire experience and how he learned and enjoyed so much. The trip to Colombia was great. The family was super nice. Where we stayed and what we did were great. The people were friendly. Even the more-than-24-hour journey home ended up being a great experience in the end. Odysseus had indeed made it home. I think he even said something about his next international trip! The question is where do we go next???

Dad Visits Colombia!!! (Part 1)

2013-02-13T15:31:00.000-05:00

Wonders never cease!

I would have never in a million years thought that my dad would come to Colombia. It never even occurred to ask like I did probably 20-or-so times while we were in Germany. See, my dad's not a big traveler and never has been. He prefers his trips to be on the order of maybe four or five days (like to Wildwood, for example), which rules out the majority of international travel. He ends up traveling, for the most part, "only" to come visit me (where ever I am in the world). He and my mom visited me once when I lived in Ensenada, Mexico, (a big wow at the time) and he came to Barcelona twice, once for vacation and a second time with my family for the wedding. So he does get around a bit just not too often.

So imagine my surprise when my dad asked me innocently back in late December how long we'd be in Bogota. I told him that I didn't know. After the conversation, I turned to Diana and said that I think my dad wants to come to Colombia. Knowing my dad, she almost fell out of her chair but we immediately set into motion the planning just in case he decided to come down from Philadelphia.

Well, this past week, my dad arrived into Bogota's El Dorado airport! Woo-hoo! I'm not sure but I think that Diana's family was even more excited for his visit than I was. Of course, our first order of business was a big welcome lunch of Bandeja Paisa at a local Colombian-specialty restaurant with Diana's mom and dad:

Since Diana's parents couldn't make it to the wedding, it was the first time that our parents had a chance to meet. To make sure that he properly set expectations, my dad immediately let everyone know that he's a fun guy (or fungi as he says) and likes to play games:

His first night in town was spent hanging out at the family house for a few hours before we headed over to Diana's brother's apartment, which we'd be using as our home base while he was in Bogota. (A big thanks to Diana's brother, niece, and nephew for uprooting themselves and allowing us to use their place! Muchas gracias!!!)

We decided that it'd be best to spend the first full day exploring downtown Bogota including Plaza Bolivar and the cathedral (if you look closely, just to the left of the cathedral is la Casa del Florero, where Colombia's independence movement began):

as well as nearby Montserrate. Note the La Moreneta statue in the background. The church where Diana and I were married has almost the exact same statue. Oh, and the Catalan flag (on the right) is a nice touch too!

My dad and Diana checking out the view of downtown Bogota (elevation ~8500 feet) from the top of Montserrate (elevation ~10,000 feet):

Our day in the city center was cut a little short due to some rain and it being Bogota's annual day without cars. We were afraid that the Transmillenio buses would be super Trans-millena! Millena means full. :-) So it was back to the apartment for a Diana home-cooked meal and an early night.

The second full day was spent going out to Chiquinquira to visit the farm and possibly milk some cows. On the way, we stopped just outside Bogota in Zippaquira at the Cathedral de Sal (Salt Cathedral). You can read my old story but, basically, it's a church that's been built in the previously-mined spaces of an active salt mine. The sense of scale and being under ground make it an unusual but well-worthwhile stop. That cross in the background is like 50 feet tall!

If you know my dad, you'll know that he loves to use bathrooms everywhere he goes. I think he's marking his territory or something. So, here's my dad in the Baño de Sal (salt bathroom):

We had a quick lunch in the main plaza of the small town of Ubate (oo-bah-TAY). There are maybe ten small restaurants there where you can get a bunch of different meals and our normal M.O. is to stop there for breakfast. Most opted for the Mute (moo-tay), which is a local stew. What this photo doesn't show is the "rustic-ness" of the restaurant including pots, which look like they were stolen from the local prison, on its wood-fired stove.

We arrived at the farm just in time for the afternoon milking and lucked out that the rain held off. Dad checking out the action:

Looking back on my dad's visit, I think he enjoyed Chiquinquira most. It's a bit "rustic" but I'm guessing the relaxed setting, beautiful scenery, and charming town won him over. Diana, Diana's mom, and my dad outstanding in their field:

A couple of hours later, we headed into town to walk around. It was Friday night and the place was jumping. My dad even made a friend while there! Check out Part 2 (coming soon) to read about the rest of my dad's visit.

Sunday Morning On The Farm

2013-02-03T12:44:00.001-05:00

We've been up at the farm in Chiquinquira for the last few days helping out Diana's parents by doing a major spring cleaning. I spent three full days painting the central patio and it's turned out quite nice. But, by the end of the third day, my knees, back, and wrists were killing me. I'm happy with the results but even happier to have finished the job. Diana's been systematically moving every single item in the house and cleaning it and the space around it. It's another big job and she's been sneezing the whole time even while wearing a dust mask. Being a farm, there can be quite a bit of dust at times. We're hoping to finish later today.

Stopping for lunch and enjoying checking out the locals:

Apart from the cleaning, I've been acting as the family donkey, which if you know me, you know that it's not a tough job... Anyway, Pepe, the family burro has an infection in one of his front hooves and can't walk very well so he's out of commission for a few days. So, I've been waking up at 4:30am and loading the milk cans and other milking equipment/supplies into the car and moving them over to where the cows are milked. About an hour-and-a-half later, I move the milk back to the house. The process gets repeated at around 2:30pm. The reality is it's not as much work as actually milking the cows, which I'm still not very good at but do enjoy:

What's been nice about waking up so early is watching the world and the farms in the area come to life. I've never been much of a morning person (actually, not at all) but, already today, I got to see some cut-it-with-a-knife fog while it was still dark out and then, as the sun came up over the hills, the fog burn off. After a bunch of coffee that Diana's mom made for me and some scrambled eggs that came from some chickens that walk through the farm everyday (talk about free-range!!!), I got to learn how to trim the hooves of a donkey. Like a dog or even you and me, their "nails" need to be trimmed too. After that, it was off to the center of town so that Diana and her mom could go to mass and I could drink some coffee and write this story at a cafe next to the cathedral.

It's been nice to be at the farm for so many days in a row as most of our visit to Colombia this time's been a combination of work and doctors' appointments. I'm glad that we've finally been able to "relax" a bit!

Apple Replaces No Fear In Quest For Cool

2013-01-29T21:30:00.001-05:00

I was once somewhere in China doing a quality-control audit at a belt factory. What I really remember, other than the bathrooms were really grody (free tip: a great test of a company's - as well as a restaurant's - commitment to quality and quality control can be found in how they maintain their bathrooms), is that they were simultaneously producing belts destined for both Walmart and Louis Vuitton on the same production line (no, I'm not sure if they were legit but the factory was very proud). I'm thinking that those belts cost about the same to produce but the LV ones would probably end up going to retail for, what, maybe 100 times more? Who knows.

At another past company, we would ship product to the Japanese that was identical to what we sold in the United States. The only difference was that they "just" doubled the price of everything we shipped there because "the Japanese will pay anything for the [product]". Note that this was during the boom years in Japan and I'm not sure that pricing model would hold up now. (For another fun business-case analysis, check out my surprisingly popular google referral bagged-drink post.)

Aspirational branding, a goal of product managers everywhere, is when a product or service is priced such that a large percentage of potential buyers cannot currently afford it but hope (aspire) to one day. Think TAG Heuer, Coach, Beats Audio, and so on. Related to this is the way people want to be associated with popular brands by being seen with a certain shoe, purse, or even belt. For years, I've seen this brand love displayed on the back of vehicles via logos like Oakley, No Fear, and Nike. (By the way, I'm also guilty of having "logoed" my car at times.)

Love, love, love this Nike-Renault combo logo I spotted in the neighborhood (and yes, these old Renaults, which are everywhere, deserve a story of their own):

I remember growing up that you'd see lots of audiophile cars stickered with Pioneer/Alpine, Oakley/No Fear for the sporty folks, or even the generic powered-by-[name of automaker]. Sometimes, like in the photo below, the owner will put a bunch of stickers from various brands on the car like it's Formula1 or something. I love the combination - Bennigans???

Here in Colombia, Chinese, Korean, and even some Indian car makers are duking it out in the local car market. In an attempt at true aspirational branding, one Korean company, Ssangyong, even goes so far as to put "Powered [or Licensed] By Mercedes Benz" on the back (right-hand lower corner) of their middle-class-aimed small SUVs:

Probably my favorite though is how I've seen a TON of Apple logos. You probably didn't even notice it on the window of the car above. Here's one on a Chevy Aveo at a local shopping center:

Who'd have ever thought that a funky little California computer company would one day replace No Fear and Oakley, also California companies, in the quest for cool?

It really makes me wonder what the next "it" brand will be. I could imagine one day in the future, the cool folks might have some sort of genetic-modification or implantable-device hologram logo on their driverless cars...

Day Trip To Tierra Caliente

2013-01-23T18:36:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up in Philadelphia, during the summer people'd often say "it's not the heat, it's the humidity". It was/is in reference to the fact that Philadelphia tends to have very humid summers and that people "didn't mind the heat" as much as they minded sweating profusely and not being able to cool off. All I know is that it was f'n hot...and humid...and not pleasant especially during late summer.

Bogota's weather, on the other hand, is much more like southern California in that its Mediterranean climate is fairly consistent during the year. I looked up the weather history for the last calendar year and the overall, annual average temperature was about 57F (14C) with a range of around 66F (19C) in the day to 45F (7C) at night. The daily average temperature really doesn't vary much (maybe 3F) but I can't count the number of times that someone's said something along the lines of "today's colder than yesterday" to me. It's Bogota's weather-expression equivalent to Philadelphia's "it's not the heat...". I laugh every time I hear it as it feels the same to me every day since the only difference is whether it's sunny out or not.

Even though Colombia's in the tropics, Bogota's high elevation (~8,600 feet above sea level) makes the weather pleasant and non-humid most of the time, even after a rain. The rest of Colombia, on the other hand, tends to be much lower in elevation and, for the most part, fairly tropical. People in Bogota call every area that's not at high elevation, and therefore warmer and more humid, "la tierra caliente" (the hot lands). The hot lands are surprisingly close to the city; it's possible to drive there, down some pretty dramatic hills, in about an hour or so.

This past week, Diana's best friend from when she was growing up, Angelica, invited us to go visit her in-laws for the day at their second home in tierra caliente west of Bogota. Her in-laws needed Diana's architectural advice for some work they're considering. How could we say no?

Their place is in a village about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from where we're living. Along the way, we stopped at the Salto de Tequendama (Tequendama Falls), which is a 433-foot-tall ** (132m) waterfall on the Bogota River:

The area is especially amazing when you realize that it's like a 15-minute drive from the creeping edge of Bogota. If you look closely at the photo above, you'll see an old hotel on the right cliff that was once pretty posh but is now abandoned. Supposedly it's haunted by the souls of the folks who chose to take the big leap at Tequendama. There are a couple (of other) bummers at the site including a smoke stack at a business located near the falls that's dumping out what looks (and smells) to be pretty toxic smoke. Add to that the unnatural foaminess of the Bogota River, which is claimed to be one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Other than the seemingly sketchy environmental oversight, it's a lovely place and well worth a visit.

About ten minutes farther on our journey, we stopped at the side of the road to look out over some of tierra caliente stretched out below:

In a way, the trip down the mountain reminded me of the Big Island of Hawaii where you can go from sea level up to the top of the volcano, which is at about 13,800 feet (4,200m). You go from tropical at the bottom to sometimes seeing (quite a bit) of snow at the top. Going from Bogota down isn't as dramatic but I love watching the foliage change on to tropical on the way. Some Colombian banana plants in our hosts' tierra caliente "garden":

The temperature and humidity difference between when we left the city and when we arrived at their house, which is at around 2,000 feet, was staggering. My guess is that it was in the high-80s (~32C) and quite a bit more humid. I fully understand why the lowlands are called caliente!

A jumbo-sized mango tree with about 1,000,000 mangoes that we passed while on a walk around the area. And, yes, that's a (ill-fitting) sombrero that I'm wearing. Angelica's father-in-law bought it during a trip to Chichen Itza in Mexico. (Side note: I should write one day about where I used to live in Mexico. Maybe when I run out of stuff to write about...)

I firmly believe that I'm meant to live in the tropics, especially where coffee grows. I love the weather. I love the plants. The down side (if it is one) is the desire to take a nap around 2pm every day. Some wild flowering orchids (!!!) that I found:

I recently wrote about some of the foods in Colombia. We weren't disappointed at the feast that Angelica's parents put together for us. The sancocho soup has corn and yucca from their garden, beef, and potatoes. On the left is some rice, gallo (rooster) leg, and an avocado also grown in the garden. The little container at the top is "aji" (ah-hee), which is a lightly-spicy Colombian salsa. Oh, and all of this was just my serving! Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.

Like I said, the problem, especially after a meal like that one, is the overwhelming desire to nap. How's this for my view from the hammock where I enjoyed a bit of a siesta?

A big-ole' hug to Angelica and her husband Hernando, their youngest, and his mom and dad for having us out for the day. I love, love, love tierra caliente and your homemade (and homegrown) food was wowsie! Let's do it again soon - at your place! :-)

________
** Note: Tequendama's height depends on where you check. I went with wikipedia's number although I've seen the height (drop?) at up-to 515 feet.

Depends On Your Perspective

2013-01-16T22:27:00.001-05:00

The neighborhood where we lived in Barcelona, Poble Sec, was amazing. We had everything a person could need within a block or two (at most) and many of the businesses were open until very late. In addition, the whole world lived there. You can stand in front of our old place and, in about 15 minutes or so, hear probably half the languages spoken. Seriously. The downside was that it was busy, really busy, and noisy, all the time. But, to tell you the truth, I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I couldn't sleep or was awoken by noise. My guess is that I just had built up some kind of tolerance.

I can remember being awoken a few times by noise in Stuttgart though. Even though the neighborhood we lived in, Vaihingen, was basically deserted during both the day and night, it wasn't the people (or cars or trains for that matter) that woke us up. It was the damn birds that hung out in the tree outside our window each morning to welcome daylight. Yes, I could sleep through a couple of million people squeezed into a tiny square next to the Mediterranean but I couldn't handle birds.

So now we're in Bogota. And, this time? First, since you can read about the other places we were living in the blog archives, a little background is probably good so that you can have an idea about our current neighborhood.

Diana and her family used to live in another area of Bogota called Kennedy (yes, after JFK) but her parents bought a lot in the northern end of the city in Prado Veraniego a little more than 30 years ago and built a house. The neighborhood grew up around them and is basically now heavily commercial (mainly retail). It's not a bad area though. Mostly it's small, independent, and/or family owned businesses with many of the owners living above the store fronts. It's a mix of mostly car-repair and car-parts shops but there are also a bunch of "neighborhoody" shops like restaurants, bakeries, butchers, salons, etc. Much like Poble Sec, almost everything a person could need is within a couple of blocks

It really comes alive between 7:30 and 8:00 am each morning. This was taken about 3:00 pm on the street that runs in front of their house. In it, you can see a bunch of cars on the street, the businesses open, employees in the streets, a food cart on the corner (look below the no-parking sign to the rear of the red car), and cars being worked on.

The neighborhood is definitely not as quiet as Vaihingen but there's more to offer within a two-or-three minute walk. What's most amazing to me is what happens around 6:30 pm each night. The whole neighborhood shuts down. The cars and people disappear, the metal shop doors are lowered, everything goes silent.

For what it's worth, Prado's much more like Poble Sec during the day and Vaihingen at night. So, what's the problem? Occasionally, during the night, I've been woken up by someone walking through the neighborhood blowing a whistle. Not whistling. Using a whistle like a sports coach would use. A handful of nights went by and I was getting frustrated. One day when I finally remembered, I asked Diana's dad if he knew what was up with the whistle person making noise all night. He looked at me with even more confusion than he normally does with my not-so-good Spanish and asked "what noise?". I tried again and this time he got it. "That's not noise. That's the neighborhood association's security guard. We have him whistle so we know he's there."

Doh! My noise is his sense of security. Learning something new every day.

What's Colombian Food Like?

2013-01-14T14:25:00.002-05:00

In April 2012, Facebook bought a company called Instagram for about a BILLION dollars. If you're not familiar with Instagram (I'm guessing you'll at least know Facebook), it's basically a software company that gives away a program that people use on their smartphones to take photos (lots of times of food). It's most popular feature is the ability to modify the photos by making them look old.

Berat, our roommate in Germany, doesn't use Instagram but he does take lots of food photos. His goal is to one day write a recipe book and include the photos that he's taken. Oh, and the food that he cooks is, ummm, pretty awesome. He makes the best authentic Thai food, for example, that I've ever tasted in my life.

When I got to Colombia last month, I started taking photos (not with Instagram) of the traditional Colombian food I was eating so I could share them with Berat. At first, I was sending them via Whatsapp, but I ended up with so many that I thought I'd share them here. This post has eleven food photos (well, maybe ten-and-a-half) in no real particular order and I already have more so I'm guessing that this will be part one. Bon provecho! Guten appetit! Bon profit! いただきます!

I, of course, had to start this with my absolute favorite, the Bandeja Paisa, which I've written about before. It comes from the coffee region of Colombia and it's an evil combination of meats, beans, egg, rice, avocado, and arepas:

This was lunch one day. Chicharrone (fried pork ribs including all that fatty goodness and pig skin), fried plantains (a not-so-sweet banana), fried potatoes, white rice, and some beans. Don't worry, I made it healthier by not eating the rice... :-)

Tamales are often eaten for breakfast in Latin America. This Colombian version is made from corn or rice meal, chicken and/or pork, onions, peas, chick peas, spices, and it's wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf: Oh, and don't do what I tried to do the first time I ate a tamale in Mexico - don't (try to) eat the wrapper!

One morning, to my surprise, my breakfast had a sliced-off cow's foot! Mute (moo-tay) comes originally from the Santander state but this version is from Cundinamarca (home to Bogota) and is made from cow's foot, hominy corn, and spices. I was confused but learned that you cut the gelatinous meat from between the bones and eat the "meat" with the soup. At first, I wasn't crazy about the meat until I cut it from the bone and had it with some soup and corn at the same time on the spoon. Then, love!

In the photo below, the soup is called Mondongo and that's Diana's mom. Mondongo is popular all over Latin America with the Colombian version made from chicken, potatoes, chopped tripe (a part of a cow's stomach), and spices. I'm not crazy about organ meat so this one's not one of my favorites. Oh, she's eating fried fish and we were at a local restaurant called Cocina Colombiana.

Diana's parents come from Chiquinquira, which is a ranching/farming area north of Bogota. I think that a lot of the food that her mom makes comes from the farm. It may or may not be typical of the whole of Colombia (I'm assuming it's not) but it is damn good! Many of these photos are of food that she made. Jealous?

This one's called Entero and it's another soup/stew this time with a roast-beef-type of meat, corn, platano, and potato.

Every Saturday morning, Diana and her mom go to a church service on the other side of town. Afterwards, they stop at one of the nearby cafes and get some snacks before heading back. One of their favorites are fresh Arepas, which are kinda' like super-dense-pancake-like breakfast food that are made from either corn or white flour and grilled. The day I went with them, we chose cheese-filled arepas, which were like buttah! On a side note, arepas are also eaten in the Canary Islands.

Diana's mom sometimes makes this rice with raisins and cola. It's has an unusual, but delicious, flavor that I've never had before. On New Year's Eve, we had pernil de cerdo (pig leg), potato salad with peas, a fruit salad, and her cola rice:

During our visit to the Lago de Tota, most of the family had some sort of fish for lunch. This fish is called Trucha (Trout in English) and it was served with salsa and cheese. The long yellow flat item at the top of the plate is a fried plantain.

This last one, called Lechona, is one of Diana's dad's favorites and comes from the Tolima state in central Colombia. Think of a lechona as a (American) football filled with pork, rice, peas, and spices. The outside is entirely pig skin, which is stuffed, sewn shut, and baked in a large brick oven. It's an evil, and of course, delicious meal. Oh, and yes, that thing sticking out of the top isn't telling you the turkey's done. Nope, it's the pig's tail!

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is visiting local markets. I find that I learn so much about a place from the visits. Everything from how people behave in the aisles to what foods are available are all of interest to me. The big local supermarket that we've been going to in Bogota to buy food and wine is called Exito. I think it was a couple of days after Christmas that I spotted this guy for sale in the frozen-food section. Yep, that's an entire frozen piglet for sale! I wonder what Berat and/or Diana's mom could create from this!

I hope you enjoyed my non-Instagram photo tour of some of Colombia's trad foods. Stay tuned, it shouldn't be long before I have part two up!