• 1. Very Hilly – Flat Oklahoma has not prepared me for walking all the steep hills. Think San Fran.
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• 2. Lots of Police – In the downtown, there was 4 policemen for every block. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Also lots of police dogs that looked bored out of their mind.
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• 3. Fashionista – Most people were dressed up to the nines. Suits, ties, high hills, etc.
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• 4. Progress – Lots of construction and road work improving the infrastructure.
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• 5. Lack of visible poverty – Unlike a trip to other Latin American country the poverty was not very noticeable. No chila kids.
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• 6. Minuto Men – If you are missing or don’t have a phone, these men/women are here for you. 10 cents a minute to talk on a cell phone chained to its owner. Why aren’t these in OKC yet?
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• 7. Lots of soccer on TV – Not only were they showing professional soccer on more than 5 different channels, they also had 8 year old kids on TV playing soccer.
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• 8. Even at 68 you can get a sun burn. Terry and I were in t-shirts it was hot in the sun. Everyone else had some sort of jacket or scarf on. We ended up with a good red neck tan.
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• 9. Our debit card isn’t friends with Colombia – Terry’s Capital One card hasn’t worked in any ATM or restaurant (but it worked at the hotel). Mine has worked at a Citibank ATM. We will see how they fare in Argentina. [Anti Capital One Photo]
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• 10. Nice people but they don’t like to share the side walk. It’s a game of chicken on the sidewalk and I lost every time.

Back in March, we were planning a trip with Terry’s family. Colombia was one of the last three choices on the table (India, Peru and Colombia), but I was worried about the security, drugs, cartels etc. All of the typical things that most American’s would be worried about. But after this past 48 hours in Bogota, my attitude on Colombia has changed for the better.

During our 2 day layover, we hit up our typical cultural stops (grocery store, street vendor food, local cuisine and drinks), visited some museums (Museum of Gold, Museum of Money, Museum of Art) and found “MONSERRATE”; which was the big mountain directly behind our hotel. One thing it looks like we missed out on was a Catholic Church built inside an old salt mine, far below the surface.

Two places we would recommend to someone passing through is our hotel (Ibis Hotel - very nice and they didn’t mind holding our bags while we were touring the city on our last day) and a very cool restaurant called La Jugueteria which means “toy store” in Spanish (not only did it have good food, its toy store theme was entertaining).

To view our Bogota photos, follow this link.