Taxicab Confessions with Juan Valdez

Bogota was a blur: 48 hours of taxis, conversations about Colombian politics, and endless exchanges of handshakes and business cards.

A Restaurant in the Magical Bogota Airport

Arriving at the airport, I encountered an immigration agent who, after trying to communicate with me unsuccessfully in Spanish (I realized on this trip that my Spanish is useless), just gave up, smiled, and waved me past.

Wise Words of Caution from My Hotel Toilet

While I managed to somehow avoid any substantive, meaningful cultural/tourist activity while in town--including visiting the apparently impressive La Candelaria--I did see some things.

Art

After checking into my hotel, we wandered around "La Zona Rosa," hungry and disoriented, before settling on Club Colombia beers and a platter of mediocre, mulicolored epanadas at "La Casa de la Cerveza."

I didn't go here

Due mainly to the policies of a slightly frightening-yet-effective president, Bogota is considered safer now--well, at least the affluent parts. However, it is a bit disconcerting to see armed guards literally at every corner and at every entrance to a store, restaurant, or bar. I even watched through the airplane window as the baggage handlers were frisked on the tarmac.

Apparently this place has really good búfalo wings

We stopped to get coffee at the Colombian version of Starbucks and whiled away our time watching the bomb-sniffing dogs go to work on every car attempting to enter the parking garage below the mall next door.

This place was so much cooler before someone told us they have them in the U.S. too.

Dinner was at the creatively named "La Fusion," which was a Colombian-Italian/Greek/French/Asian/etc. fusion restaurant--where I had the plantain muzaka and shrimp ceviche (with plantains).

While at a local supermarket trying to pick up a cultural gift or two, a kind woman employee apparently noticed the perplexed expression on my face in the coffee isle and made me smell each kind. "Hmmm...fuerte"

The rest was just images through the windows of many, many taxis.

On the way to the airport...