Hola from Bogota, Colombia..

So I had the best flight.. Had 3 seats to myself an amazing selection of movies.. Everything was perfect until the air hostess came up to me.. Is your name Jessica.. Yes I replied.. She then hands me a bland special meal request... The worst part about being a travel agent is that you lovely team mates can mess with your booking and request awesome things like bland meals.. I will get them back upon my return.. Unless someone tells me who did it.. Every person in our store will get a lovely special meal next time they fly.. Mark my words haha. Anyway as appealing as watery eggs are I gave the meal a miss...

I landed in Bogota, got through customs pretty easily and walked out for my first exposure to altitude... it wasn't too bad at all.. I looked around for a minute then found Carlos.. I met Carlos in Brugge and he kindly offered for me to stay with him and his brothers.. Carlos and his girlfriend were going to be at the airport picking his brother up at the same time so it worked perfectly. He landed just after me. John got in and Nico came around with the car. The 5 of us headed out for lunch at this cool food court kind of thing but way better then a food court.. food was great and so was the company.. Carlos' brother John lives in Miami and is hilarious.. All three of the boys were so friendly and really chilled out.. Carlos girlfriend was really nice as well. I am still trying to come to terms with how generous this family is.. After lunch we went back to the house and dropped the bags off before heading back out. We headed to a flea market and park which was really cool, the neighbour hoods are what I had imagined them to be, the people were friendly and it was such a different experience than anything else I had so far. After the park we headed up a mountain a couple hundred metres to a lookout.. At this lookout was an open view bar with salsa band playing.. I had a local drink which gave me Goosebumps every time I had a sip.. I didn't even get a quarter ways through it... the Colombians like their drinks strong.. The boys kept encouraging me to drink on but it was a bit like mission impossible.. We then went to the lookout where I took some happy snaps and headed back down the mountain to a burger place... now these burgers were amazing.. The boys had raved about them and for good reason.. I was still full from lunch so struggled to finish mine. We headed back to Carlos' house and after some chit chat I called it a night.. Altitude really takes it out of you.

The next day I slept in pretty late.. Got myself up, Diana the families maid, made me some lunch that was amazing and called me a taxi.. My first stop on the sightseeing journey was Mezzerate which is a church 3000m above sea level that you catch a cable car to the top.. The view was incredible.. Bogota is the biggest city I have ever seen.. It's just keeps going and going and going.. Makes New York look as big as ocean grove.. After exploring the church grounds and flea market and running short of breathe I ventured back down the mountain and into downtown to Plaza de Bolivar.. This is where the parliament buildings are and a beautiful church.. The square is full of pigeons as well.. Nearly got taken out by a few of them.. I then wander around the streets for a bit exploring and manage to catch a cab back to Carlos' about 4pm.. I rested for a couple of hours and then the boys got home.. Carlos, John and I headed out for dinner to a place famous in Bogota called Crepes and Waffles.. I had a Tuscan kind of crepe that was AMAZING best thing I have eaten in a long time.. We went shopping for john as he wanted a Colombian football jersey and also looked for a Spanish phrase book.. No luck.. We then headed back to the home where we watched some TV. After a bit I said my goodbyes to Carlos and called it a night..

In the morning I woke up had breakfast... Diana again amazing woman.. And packed my bag.. At 10am the taxi comes.. I said goodbye to john and Diana and was on my way back to Eldorado airport where my flight to Lima was leaving from..

I am sad I only had a short time in Bogota and Colombia in general.. The people are lovely and the city was really cool.. But after being there I have learnt there are many other parts of Colombia that look amazing.. I will definitely have to schedule a return trip to this amazing country...

Carlos, John and Nico were the most amazing hosts and made my stay in Bogota as amazing as it was.. if I just went there as a tourist I never would have so many traditional experiences, I never would have had drinks at 2800m overlooking the city lights listening to local music, had the amazing burger, had crepes and waffles and also have such great conversations learning about the country, city and culture.. No words can describe their generosity and also how thankful I am for going out of their way to show me their city and such a great time.. I look forward to the day I get to Miami, back to Colombia and they come to Australia...

Next stop Lima, Peru