So maybe I haven't been as good with my new year's resolution of blogging more as I planned to be, but sometimes life gets in the way. Ever since my parents arrived before Christmas we have had visitors or been out of town EVERY weekend! This has been my first weekend in about 2 months to relax and do what I want/need to do. And it feels GOOD.
But before I start to sound like I'm whining about being busy, let me just say that the last couple of months have been great. Some of Jason's family came to visit, numerous friends, I went home to Colorado, and as the icing on the cake, we made a trip to Colombia! This was the first big trip that we've done since moving back to the States in August 2010 (besides a jaunt to Mexico for a wedding last May, which was lovely). Our lack of traveling has been quite the change from our lives abroad when we were constantly planning weekend trips to foreign places.
Ahh the life of an English teacher abroad...
Anyway, we first started talking about our possible Colombia trip at Thanksgiving. Jason's cousin, Michael, is married to a woman from Colombia, Cata. He's in the Air Force and they normally live in Germany, but as he is currently deployed for 6 months, Cata and their 3 kids are back in Bogota with her family. She came up to Austin for Thanksgiving and got Jason and I to thinking...
"why don't we just go visit her??" So after some planning and struggling to get dates approved at work (ahh the life of a 9 to 5 job in the US), we were on our way!
ITINERARY:
Feb 4-7: Medellin
Feb 7-11: Cartagena
Feb 11-14: Bogota
I think I'll write some detailed posts later about our time in each place. But here's the overall gist: Colombia is a beautiful country. Did you know it's the 2nd most bio-diverse country is the world?? They've got it all: snow capped mountains, crystal clear waters and coral reefs, Amazon jungle, deserts, the list goes on. A little more info from
Mongabay.com:
Despite its relatively small size, Colombia is the second most biologically diverse country on Earth, home to about 10 percent of the world's species. This biodiversity results from Colombia's varied ecosystems—from the rich tropical rainforest to the coastal cloud forests to the open savannas. More than 1,821 species of birds, 623 species of amphibians, 467 species of mammals, 518 species of reptiles, and 3,200 species of fish reside in Colombia. About 18 percent of these are endemic to the country. Colombia has a mind-boggling 51,220 species of plants, of which nearly 30 percent are endemic.
That is A LOT of animals. I can't even begin to comprehend that many animals. There are species of plants in Colombia that
haven't even been discovered yet. Maybe it's just me, but this stuff boggles my mind... And one of the best parts of biodiversity, which we had the wonderful opportunity to try, are all the tropical fruits! There are many fruits that only grow in Colombia! I thought I knew of most tropical fruits, but in Colombia I tried fruits that I've never even imagined before. You can see images of a lot of the fruits
here. Deeee-licious.
Everyone knows that Latin American countries are known for having warm and friendly people. But Colombia is known for having
especially warm and friendly people, even for Latin America. We met many lovely, smiling people. And one of my favorite parts- they (mostly) spoke clear Spanish and were patient with my rusty Spanish skills! Even though most people I encountered probably spoke at least some English, none of them ever changed to English when speaking with me, even though I messed up my verb conjugation and had trouble of thinking of the right word sometimes.
So to make a long story short, Colombia is a beautiful and enchanting place. We met great people, saw old friends, visited family, ate good food, explored big cities, relaxed on the beach, swam in crystal clear Caribbean waters, ventured through castles, saw famous works of art and amazing museums, wandered through the countryside, climbed giant rocks and had just an all around good time.
Ahh... Colombia.
