Sunday, February 10, 2013

A Big First Day In Bogota

I love being a tourist. I mean, seriously, no shame... everything becomes a hilarious or silly photo-op, and I love to take advantage.  So, Day 1 in Bogota - I'll just get right to the silly, photo-op story:

Nikki lives in this really cute townhouse with 3 levels that's connected to several other little townhouses that are all grouped together in a big group of townhouse strips with a gate that's right down the street from this big highway and a little strip-mall with a cute little coffee shop and a fruit stand. Simple, right? So after we got dressed, we went out to show me the sights. And the first stop was Nikki's little coffee shop that had lots of fresh pastries and this cool orange drink - I think it was called Zumo? Something like that - Nikki, correct me if I'm wrong... Here it is...


Here is Nikki placing our order in her coffee shop. I was so proud of her Spanish! She's a prodigy, for sure.


We stopped after our walk at Nikki's little flower stand. Did you know that Colombia is one of the top 2 leading producers of fresh flowers in the world? Definite plus.



Mom and Nikki choosing the flowers that would go in this week's bunch... 


Here I am being a tourist again. This is the big street right outside Nikki's flower stand and townhouse complex.... It's the local road cone/ fire extinguisher stand. Apparently these are all over the place? Not sure why the market would be so big for something like this, maybe they are expecting a lot of vehicle emergencies? Or maybe they are just trying to be super prepared? I didn't get it. But I took a picture.


Here's Nikki post-flower-purchase...


Nikki in her cute little fruit stand - It was full of the normal fruits and veggies, but also lots more that they don't have at the Madison Kroger. They also had a humongous aloe plant in the back that you could buy a cut of... 


Back to tourist photos - Here's a shot of the normal cotton-candy salesmen walking up and down the busy street selling to the drivers stuck in traffic. Because they are most likely thinking, man, I would love a huge bag of spun sugar to get all over my car while I sit here in line before work.... 

I just didn't quite understand this one... But I made lots of jokes, and of course, took a picture.


The first night, we walked across the huge bridge over the highway to the mall across the street from her complex. Here's a shot back towards her house with the mountain in the background.



Of course, it made my heart happy to hang out with my favorite nephews. These two are always a load of fun!


At the mall, Nik took us to Archie's, an Italian restaurant. Nanny, of course, is also a load of fun :)




I enjoyed pretending that the menus were in dollars instead of pesos, and the Whisky was $180,000 and I was absolutely outraged at the unbelievable prices... And so, as a true obnoxious tourist, I took a photo of the menu.


Nikki ordered this great hot wine with a sugared rim... Neat drink, for sure...


And then we went home. And it was an awesome first day! 

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