Weekendje Bogota

So, that was some weekend here in Bogota; I planned to work on preparing for the course (still only four students but going to make it a very interactive course) but at the end it was a very social weekend. Yesterday, first of all after having a great last breakfast with La Suegra we went to the Peluqueria (kapper/pedicure/etc). We had to get "pimped" because of going to a chique party in the night, a prom night here of one of the kids of friends. I was only going to accompany Marcela to the Peluquria but ended up getting also my feet been treated very well!

The party was great; one of those where you should have the photo's being taken before and after the party (to measure the degree of pretention wearing the chique cloths); the kids were all dressed up very nicely before the party with the girls with very, very short skirts, high Brazilian pumps (10cm), the guys all in suit but that all changed after some hours of drinking ron y bailar at the music of "Los Tupamaros", the most famous salsa band here in Colombia (according to Marcela).

Today, a day to explore the area of the appartment we moved to yesterday. A place much closer to the university in a relatively good area of Bogota with nice coffee places, restaurants etc. Today, sunday was as usual a day with the "Cyclovia" where they close part of Carrera Septiema (one of the main roads going North-south) to allow the hikers and bikers to use the streets at their day off. Some of those very nice initiatives they took here to give the streets back to the people of Bogota. But when you then go at the roads here you have to be careful; there is at many places these "craters" in the middle of road, holes that are not always that deep as the one on the picture (in front of our appartment) but sufficiently deep to potentially damage you car (or face) seriously.

For the rest Bogota is a city that has sites can be really ugly but also his its nice particularities; more old colonial buildings in between that tpyical Bogota/Colombia style of appartment blocks, actually being build quite high here as you can see on the picture taken in the barrio (neighbourhood) La Marcarena where we had a nice lunch in an Arabic restaurant with some nice vegetarian dishes (By the way, being vegetarian here is basically impossible with so many menus being based on Carne y pollo).

So far some more impressions about a weekend here in Bogota in this big, big city. Tomorrow, nine o'clock, the real work will start! Hasta la proxima, Laurens