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Back to the Big City
During our first visit to Colombia, we spent time in Bogota taking tours, seeing sights, and experiencing as much of the city we could. The city has a population of 10 million, so you can imagine how much there is to see and do.
This trip, we did not have the same mindset. Instead, we celebrated Samantha’s birthday. Along with resting and preparing for our cross-Atlantic flight to Europe. It was time to wind down and reflect.
A Memorable Airbnb
We picked a uniquely beautiful Airbnb. The host is an artist, so the place was eclectic and unique. Plus, we had a private garden just outside our room. How fun.
Our host, Yaneth, was incredibly hospitable, and we talked with her every day about Colombia and each other’s lives. We met her daughter who was eager to practice her English, which she is working on in university, and we were able to bond with her and her boyfriend too.
We mentioned it was Samantha’s birthday, and Yaneth’s birthday was the day before! She was elated about the coincidence, and invited us to her own birthday celebration.
Birthday Celebration #1 🥳
We were told her friends were coming to celebrate, it was BYOB, and the party started at 5pm. Excellent, we made a side dish, bought dessert, and made sure to be ready on time.
Little did we realize, 5pm was NOT when the party started. Actually, Yaneth wasn’t even home at 5pm. The first guests arrived at 7pm, then immediately turned around to buy their drinks and groceries to make food at her place. Around 9pm, everyone was there and the party started to liven up. We told our two Colombian friends about this and they laughed at us – silly Westerners thinking 5pm meant to show up then.
The party was a complete blast! Her friends were kind and welcomed us in, making sure to not leave us out of the conversations and antics.
They had the most delicious brownie cake. We consider ourselves experts on desserts but this thing blew us away. We danced, talked about travels, our various hometowns, and even current events in Colombia. It was an authentic experience and we could not have been happier.
We didn’t expect the party to go so late with a start time of 5pm, so we left for a couple hours to meet up with our Colombian friends Reinout and Maria at a local bar their friend owned. After great conversation, and farewells until next time, we headed back to the apartment.
Oh wait, the party was still in full swing. We joined in again until the guests dispersed. As we went to bed, we were smiling at how unexpected and lovely of a night it turned out to be.
Birthday Celebration #2 🥳
The next day was Samantha’s birthday, and Nick planned a full-day itinerary.
For lunch, we went to a lovely place that was a home transformed into a restaurant. Its menu featured foods from the regions of Colombia, all with an upscale twist.
For dinner, Samantha requested Asian food since Bogota has so much variety. We dined at a lovely place with an outdoor patio next to a city park (thank you for the recommendation Maria), and the food was out of this world.
Our energy and moods were soaring, so we enjoyed time in the park, went to a café nearby, then decided to go dancing for the night.
We were living like locals, making the most of a Friday night.
Until Next Time Colombia
Six weeks may seem like a lot for one country, but we could have done and seen more in Colombia. We already had plans for a future trip.
Next stop, Spain! Time to rendezvous with Rhea and Mark.
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Wander Bloom 