From Colombia with love

when i booked the flight i told people im going to south america to bask in the sun and then i checked the forecast. highs in the 60s and rain. because bogota is at 8600ft it is quite chilly. i arrived 5 days ago with the perception and reputation that this is a violent place but have only see the contrary. i think because of their past, people even the big city are particularly worried for your safety and are welcoming.

i worked in venezuela for a bit and the cities and people couldn't be different. caracas is a truly dangerous place and you feel it at all times. the woman I worked with had a jeep and when we left the truck she had two steering wheel clubs and a locking engine cutoff switch to prevent thief. Visually the cities couldn't be different bogota has small winding streets and alleyways and caracas was built so quickly during the 80s oil boom that they tended more for concrete grandiose rather than architecturally pleasing; the downtown looks like a communist bloc housing project.

the first day i woke at 6am and tried my best to get dysentry by eating everything on the street all for breakfast.

lechonera, roasted pork with the meat removed mixed w corn and other stuff and served with an arepa, corn cake, and piece of crispy skin




shaved young mango topped with chilli, honey, salt, pepper, green ooze, vinegar, sugar, and anything else in the cart. delicious and strange.





waffle topped with caramel, unsalted cheese, and strawberry jelly. like a crepe


empandas, fried turnovers, stuffed with chicken or beef and traditionally with a piece of raisin and egg. the round ones are pastel de yucca, a ball of cornmeal, (just like a hushpuppy for all my southerners) with chicken, rice and egg. this is the food of busy students and office workers, who you find huddling around a cart eating from napkins and pouring various sauces (bbq, tarter, honey, tomato, chilli) on each bite, while the grease drips down their fingers.


later i hiked to the top of monserrate, the mountain that looms over bogota at 10,000ft. i huffed and puffed to the top and was rewarded by being offered a deep fried peice of intestine.