Juliana, Usaquen, & Gumbo-like tastes made this weekend ROCK

I slept in on Friday (until 9:00am - yippee - although, remember those days when "to sleep in" meant 2:00pm? What happened?), having decided that I would not work and instead would travel to Bogotá so I could meet up with Juliana, a friend from Heller, who is from Bogotá, was doing here practicum in DC, and is now heading to San Andres (tropical islands in the Caribbean owned by Colombia) for the second half! I hung around the house in the morning, pretending to work on my master's paper, had lunch with the host familia, and then headed out to the bus terminal to grab a lift to Colombia's capital.

My neighbor/friend/taxi driver Augusto insisted on repeating over and over again his warnings: do not receive anything from anyone. If someone offers you gum, candy, water, anything, do not accept it. They will drug you and rob you and maybe even take you hostage. Oh lordy the over-protective group of Colombian friends I have!

I hopped a bus basically the minute I got to the terminal, and luckily was given the only seat on the entire bus that doesn't have another seat in front of it (I was next to the door) - great luck, because my legs do not fit ANYWHERE in Colombia. Not on buses, not in cabs, not under tables, you get the picture.... It was a rather uneventful ride, apart from a 30 minute sales pitch from a man carting around vitamin mix and cleansing tea when we were about 45 minutes from Bogotá.

I got off at the wrong terminal, which was a major bummer, because that meant that my taxi ride was about an hour, rather than 30 minutes, but surprisingly it was only 5.000 pesos more expensive ($2.50).

Laura and I went out for pizza, and we called it an early night. Saturday morning I woke up and tried to do some work on my thesis, to no great avail. We ate mazorca for lunch (corn mixed with chicken, cheese, and potato strips), and then I got a call from Juliana!

Juliana picked me up with her sister, and we went to a bar near their house that had GIGANTIC and delicious piña coladas, and talked (in English! Sweet relief!) for a while. Then we headed to Juliana's and waited for her boyfriend, who picked us up and brought us to his glorious apartment for a minute before heading to Usaquen.

Usaquen is a very bohemian-funky neighborhood with awesome restaurants and pubs, with a rather young, hip crowd. We went to an amazing, local, organic restaurant and I ordered a spicy shrimp rice stew type thing that tasted JUST like Grandpa's gumbo, which Jude, Dad, and Mom still make! What a powerful taste memory! I was sent straight back... Yum! What is more, I was a bit worried about the price ($10, more than the norm), but Juliana's chivalrous boyfriend treated us all! What a fantastic treat! I am planning on bringing Mom & Deb when they come to Bogotá - they will LOVE that place!

Juliana & Santiago, patacones, & cheese/mole empanadas - YUM!

Some dark shots of the very cool restaurant

We headed to London Calling, a British-style pub that played classic rock music for Juliana's friend's birthday, and mostly just stuck to the 5 of us - Juliana, her boyfriend, her sister, and her cousin. We talked about cultural differences between the US & Colombia, mainly lingering on the warmth of people from "tierra caliente" - hot earth - and that I could pass for a Latina in terms of my warmth (thank goodness!) We talked about the effects that women's rights and women's equality have had on "the family" and on individual women's ideas about motherhood, and all kinds of fun, anthropological topics!

Yay for buddies from home (even though home for her is here)!