Bye Hell, Hello Heaven aka From the Furnace to the Fridge

7/16/16

By Jesica Mary Brush esq

I woke up beside one snorer and one slurper, and so it begins again...

We had a big day planned before our flight to Bogota; breakfast needing eating, cash needed exchanging, castles needed climbing and pools needed swimming.  We set out late as always because my sister and I are horribly slow people and can't be coerced/chided/tricked into being on time* so we left the house for breakfast around 9:30 before our 12:00 checkout.  We found a great French breakfast place that let Melisa, Kennedi, and Nevin show off their French language skills. After a yummy pancake breakfast with Chantilly cream and homemade caramel and real cacao hot chocolate for the kids. We left breakfast around 10:45!!  We exchanged money and returned to the house around 11:30.  The cleaning ladies were waiting for us and said we were supposed to be out at 11 and glowered at us as we hurriedly packed our things.

After a uncomfortable exit, we dragged the kids to see the original fort of Cartagena called Castillo de San Felipe, amazingly as soon as they started exploring the tunnels and catacombs of the castle they didn't want to leave.  We headed back to the apartment for one last swim and to gather our bags before the airport.  On the cab ride to the airport we realized we forgot to print the boarding passes.  The cost of printing the passes at the airport was 25,000 COP almost half the cost of the price of the tickets!!  Dumb dumb.

We bide a fine farewell to the heat of Cartagena and said hello to the cold (50 degrees) and rain of Bogota. We took a quick taxi to the Airbnb which was in a cool, tranquil neighborhood. After a little confusion on getting into the apartment. We headed out to get a snacker and breakfast food. We found a cool, hip bistro and had yummy sandwiches and mashed potatoes and a nice glass of wine. Then headed back to the apartment to settle in.

Aq note: Bogota is my favorite. It's artsy, intellectual and a little bit gritty. It's the capital as well as having lots of universities so there is a cool young vibe to the city; like Portland.

One last swim