Colombia - I know a girl...

Saturday
Everyone had said that if you do anything in Bogota, you need to see the Gold Museum. It is the largest collection in the world of really old gold artifacts. It is set up very well -- but I must say that it is tough to go through if you cannot read any of the signs.

The day started with breakfast and then we had the hotel call for a cab again. They were very concerned both Friday night and today -- and took down our room numbers and cab numbers so that if our bodies were discovered, they could track down the perpetrator. (I assume).

Days of Thunder had been on one of the channels that was in English and all I could think of as we whipped in and out of traffic (he actually used his emergency brake a couple of times to stop suddenly so that he could switch lanes) all I could think of was "rubbing is racing". Thankfully, HR had finally gotten me all set up and Nicole is set with life insurance.

We went to the museum and wandered through the markets and streets. Our directions (and map) was not too much help as we could not find street signs. At one point we decided that we had gotten far enough away from the good path and that if we could make it back to "sketchy" it would be an improvement.

I bought some emeralds from a local guy pretty cheap, so I can't wait to get back to see if they are real. (I think they are, but then again my IT background did not include training in gemology.)

It also didn't help that at one point -- hypothetically -- we found a young woman that might or might not have been selling some movies which might or might not have led us down some alleys though storefronts, etc...

The one thing that was really cool was that there were a number of those guys (they all seemed to be guys) that would act like statues in different dress. There was a shepherd hanging out at the cathedral, a knight, and a jester. They were pretty cool.

When we finally decided that we gave up and should ask a guard -- we realized that we had made a big circle and were about 45 yards away from where we started at the museum. So, more confidently now, we wandered around the presidential residence (no pictures allowed) and other wonderful architecture. Some guards were there for decoration. The ones with automatic weapons and in constant communication with each other -- may have been serious.

After a nice lunch in a local hamburger place called "McDonald's" -- I had the McTasty combo -- we found a place that would sell soccer jerseys. I got one from the local team. We had the guy get us a taxi and we repeated the experience of the morning, just in reverse.

After our wonderful success with maps and directions, we decided to simply walk down the street to go back to the Bogota Beer Company which had a great outdoor patio. It is Valentine's day in Colombia so we had figured that all of the local restaurants would be packed.

We got a table and there was a nice couple next to us. I helped them take a picture of themselves and that started a couple hour conversation (see earlier blog). They had a 2 month old son and this was their first night out. It ended with invitations to their home for dinner. I am supposed to email them on Monday. Very nice folks...

So at this point, it is about 1ish so they leave. There is a new group of 5 couples that comes over and ask us to join their table and we have a great conversation (see earlier blog). They were a lot of fun -- so we closed the bar down. They finally kicked us out just after 3. They walked us back to our hotel and made promises to call us for lunch (they did not which was fine...)

Sunday
Started a bit slower today. We had breakfast (great omelette) and went to the local market where I bought some watercolors and verified that I got a good deal on the emeralds.

The goal was to get back in time for football, but unfortunately here is the literal order of sports preference:
1) Soccer (there were 6 different games on)
2) Baseball
3) Billiards
4) Volleyball
5) Golf
6) Tennis
57) NFL.

I bought the wireless service from the hotel so that I could work and see the scores (18 USD/24 hours). I wandered out at one point to get passion fruit sorbet and dinner from the grocery store.

On the sandwiches, let us just say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I saw (Pollo) and recognized that as chicken. Chicken is good. Chicken Salad however in a foreign country may turn out to be less than stellar. Stay tuned.

Anyway, I missed the Bengals but they are showing the Sunday night football game and I must say that the Spanish announcers are better for me than John Madden.