Fun Weekend around the City!

Wow, lots to do this past weekend, and it led to a crash nap late Monday morning after class.  I got to spend some quality time with friends, while getting to know some of the best of Bogotá.  Let's go ahead and start with Friday.

Friday:  Beer Station, Calle 116

So Friday wasn't a terribly interesting day.  I managed to go to the gym in the morning, and this time I felt a little better after the workout.  Nonetheless, I returned home after lunch, read for a while, and then took a nap.  Later, my friend Maria Paula invited me to Beer Station, a restaurant with locations all over Bogotá and in other Colombian cities.  Despite an epic rainstorm on the bus ride/taxi ride up to the place, we still got to Beer Station and didn't have to wait too long for an inside table.  I continue to be impressed by the quality of craft beers in Bogotá:  between visiting Bogotá Beer Company in La Candelaria on the first day of orientation and here, I never expected to find this stuff anywhere in South America.  Bogotá has proven me wrong.  Anyways, I had two different kinds of beer at the restaurant:  the Calima Roja and Tayrona Rubia.  I highly recommend the Roja, and the Rubia was ok too.

Saturday:  Andrés D.C., Calle 82

One thing I forgot to mention about Friday was that I met a friend for lunch who studied at my high school way back in 2008, my senior year.  I didn't know Felipe that well back then, but I got into contact with him after arriving in Bogotá.  He invited me to a birthday party Saturday night at a really nice bar a bit north of my apartment, Andrés D.C.  Like Beer Station, Andrés has locations in other parts of the country, but it's still a place to be on Saturday nights in the capital.  Fortunately, the birthday party had a table, and we were comfortable for the night.  As Felipe promised, the place filled up pretty good around 10pm, and then started to level off around 12:30.  He and his friends, for the most part, were from Cali, and I learned that caleños like to party well beyond the 3:00am cut-off for most Bogotá locations.  Kind of reminds me of Brazil a little bit...

In addition to having drinks, they all hit the dance floor and brought me along for a good chunk of it.  As most of you know, I am NOT a particularly good dancer, though I try, especially when a little bit of tequila is involved.  Caleños like to dance salsa, which involves all kinds of quick steps and spinning:  safe to say, my head was spinning after watching the first couple songs.  However, they were all really helpful, and I actually learned how to do a few simple things with salsa dancing.  By about 1:30, I was spent, and subsequently got a cab home.  Hopefully, sometime in the future, I can meet up with them again.

Sunday:  Usaquén and Family Lunch (Fontibon)

On Sunday, after church, I took the bus up to Usaquén to meet an American friend who helped me look for places in Bogotá.  She took me over to Usaquén, a former town now part of the capital.  This area is known for its old buildings and streets, as well as a pretty large fair that sells all sorts of arts and crafts and food.   I took some pictures with my camera, but I'm going to have to wait to be able to upload them, as I'm without my USB cord.  Anyways, I tried some food down there and had a look at the different things for sale, but I will be headed back there at least once before I leave for the States, as I saw some interesting gift ideas.

After Usaquén (way up in the 100's of streets), I elected to take the brutally long F1 Transmilenio bus ride to the Banderas stop, close to where my friend Harrys lives, in Fontibon.  On Sundays, the Transmilenio tends to be several degrees less convenient through the week:  unfortunately for me, I picked up the bus that has to stop at every stop on its way.  You can imagine, after a good 20-25 stops, how crowded a bus with capacity 160 can get, especially as people were headed basically the same direction I was.  Anyways, after I lost a good 45 minutes, I finally made it to the Banderas stop, and Harrys and his brother found me there.

Eating with Harrys' family was a great time.  Though I can't remember all their names (that's going to take a couple more lunches through the next five months), they were very friendly and inquisitive.  They wanted to know what I was in Bogotá for, where I was studying, what I was studying, how I got connected to Harrys, what parts of Colombia I had already visited, etc.  After lunch, I went out to the park next to the apartment and played soccer on asphalt.  It was yet another reminder that breathing at 8,500 feet can be lots of work, especially on a full stomach.  Anyways, I surprised myself:  not only did I not die, but I managed to score a couple fluky goals and make a couple lucky saves.  After dessert and a couple glasses of lemonade, it was time to go, and I got back home to teach around ten minutes after 7:00.

After such a jam-packed weekend, I was grateful to be done with my class today after 10:00.  It gave me a chance to recharge in the early afternoon, in a clean room that the maid already touched up before I arrived.  I'll be sure to write again this week, as I'll be keeping up with the gym and trying new foods and preparing to go to VALLEDUPAR on Thursday!  Talk to you all later.