Friday 25 January 2019

Week 3 with Brianna, part 1

It was so great to have Brianna with us this past week and she had a blast. She learned a number of Spanish words/phrases and wasn't the least bit afraid to use them. I suppose every language is the same in that the way you are taught to speak is not exactly how it comes out of the mouth. So as we're trying to perfectly say "buenos dias" the replies to us are more like "wennadee". Interesting also that the majority of people who greet us don't even bother with the dias, tardes, or noches. They simply say "buenos" as a greeting, similar to the way we would say "mornin'" to someone as opposed to "good morning".

Coffee. Strange as it may sound in Colombia, we've had trouble finding coffee that we like. We're told that all the best beans are exported to other countries. The restaurant pictured above, Epoca, apparently fancies itself the place to be for coffee. They actually bring the coffee to your table and have you smell it, like wine, before brewing it. A bit pretentious, you say? No argument here. Neither of us cared for the result.

I did love this sign though.









Some of the wild (and not so wild) life caught by Sarah and her camera. (a little pocket sized travel camera - the Sony HX99. Fun fact, the camera can transfer low res files directly to the phone for quick and easy sharing)


I love this picture of Brianna looking over the old city from our perch in the bar El Balcon.



Everybody gets their picture taken with this sculpture, which appeared in an earlier blog post.


Just in case you forgot which city we were in. Sarah is squeezed between the R and the T.



The spectacular Hotel Santa Teresa. Not in our price range.


Sarah and Brianna with Jesus at the Mona Lisa Pub, one of his two jobs. Jesus arrived from Venezuela two years ago and  speaks excellent English. He is a great guy, full of personality, and made us feel very welcome. 



Brianna and Sarah adorning doorways in the walled part of the city. Beautiful ladies amongst beautiful colours.


This place is called Las Bovedas (the vaults) and is located right underneath the walls of the old city. You can't see from this angle but between each set of arches is what used to be cells for prisoners. Each vault is now used for, surprise surprise, gift shops for tourists. As far as I could tell, each of the approximately 25 shops is identical. 


On Brianna's last night we took a horse and carriage to Cafe del Mar. I wasn't sure I wanted to use this method but the horses looked quite healthy and I read a few articles by vets and people who have raised horses and they convinced me that horses are perfectly happy to pull wagons. We're about to go through the wall to the old city.


I realize that it's hard to appreciate a sunset simply through someone else's picture but this does look pretty amazing, right? This was taken at Cafe del Mar where hundreds of people come each night to witness this. The DJ actually played soft and peaceful music as the sun dropped into the Caribbean and, oddly enough, all the people gathered there applauded as the sun disappeared.

There's more ... but we don't want each post to get too long. Week 3 Part 2, Castillo San Felipe, the beach and a hidden park coming soon.

Hasta luego!









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