Meeting up with Ana Maria in Colombia

We had been looking forward to seeing Ana Maria for a long long time. We were counting down the days in Cuba until we arrived in Colombia. Ana Maria had told us a lot about Colombia so now we were finally going to see it..

        

On the flight from Cuba to Colombia we had a stop in Lima before going on to Bogota, and Silje (brunette) got an extra security check. Ana Maria and her parents (Claudia and Miguel) were so kind to pick us up at the airport. We were pretty tired when we arrived because of the timedifference,for us it was the middle of the night. Their apartment was so wonderful and we were so lucky to get Ana Maria’s brother’s room since he was out travelling. We stayed up the first night talking and catching up. There was a lot of gossiping…hehe!        

The first day we took a walk to the T-sone (where all the malls, clubs and bars are). We met Ana Maria’s friends Maria and Adriana and walked to a park nearby Ana Maria`s home and had a warm Colombian coffee 🙂 We sure needed it. When we left Cuba it was about 36 degrees and in Bogota it was about 15-20 degrees…freezing for us!! Silje (blond) had gotten a cold after sleeping under the A/C in Cuba so it didn`t help that it was cold. We had to borrow shoes from Ana Maria because we only had sandals.        

Walk in the park

When we got back to the apartment we had lunch with the whole family. Ana Maria`s family have a maid so she made us breakfast, lunch and dinner.We were in heaven! We also got to have a look in Ana Maria`s closet and we can tell you guys that it was packed. We thought our closets were pretty full, but we were impressed of how much shopping she had done!:P    

Ana Marias bags, and there was a whole closet!!

That night we went to a place called Andres to party. It was a little bit outside of Bogota, in Chía. It was a really original place and we got our first taste of colombian music. The next day we went to Ana Maria’s club for lunch. The club had been bombed a couple of years ago, so our car got sniffed by dogs and checked before we could park. In the evening we went to the T-sone and got the popular “lychee martini”. We sure can tell you that it was strong, we had to ask for some extra juice about three times..hehe! After that we went to a private party in a newly opened bar where the president’s son was. He was surrounded by security the whole time, but it was fun to see a colombian celebrity! 😛   

Martini in the T-sone

We went to Ana Maria`s friend`s country house one of the days to have some BBQ. It was so nice seeing the nature, a bit like Norway. We had a great time there, and the BBQ was awesome. 

In Bogota, there is about 7 million people, and they have 2 days a week where each car has a block-out, and during rush-hour some streets are changed to the opposite direction. Very strange for us, but it’s not like we have so many cars in Norway that we need a system for it. If you are a tourist driving here you would not know which way to drive, because there was no sign or anything, but every person in Bogota know it. Not long ago it wasn’t allowed to be two people on a bike either, because they hired biker’s to kill people; one was driving and the other would shoot someone. So now all the motorcyclists have their bike’s number on their jacket, helmet and sometimes on their backpack so they can’t get away with anything.     

Cars driving against the arrow on the road

Ana Maria`s family have an apartment in Cartagena and it`s on the Caribbean side of Colombia. We were 10 girls going there. We both got pulled over in the airport for an extra check, one on the way to Cartagena and one back to Bogoata. We were so excited about the weather,we had been freezing for some days now, so this was going to be lovely. Ana Maria’s friend Rebeca had lived in Cartagena and knew the best maker of seafood-cocktails so we went to his stand the first night and it was really good!      

The best shrimp-cocktail

We thought that it would be interesting making food for 10 girls, but the first day there was suddenly a maid there making lunch for us. We were so surprised. We had never imagined it. The maid made food for us, cut up fruits and cleaned up after us. This was so perfect, or else we would spend all day cooking and doing the dishes. We had a nice view from the apartment and got to see the sunset one of the days. We were a bit unlucky when we were in Cartagena because it was mostly cloudy during day and thunder/lightning during night with some rain…         

A sunset seen from the apartment

 When it rains heavily in Cartagena the street gets flooded because there is poor drainage here.       

Rain-water in the street

The girls wanted us to try everything that was Colombian and tasted really good, so they ordered some treats for us! Delicioso!!!      

Delicioso Colombian cake and brownies

As said we were a lot of girls and every one of them had told us that the party in Cartagena was awesome, so we had to try it. We had a really good time.       

All 10 girls dressed up for a night out 🙂

We went to Café del Mar, which is by the wall around old town in Cartagena. It was a good atmosphere there. Chill music and good drinks.       

@ Café del Mar

Rebeca took us and her norwegian friend, Elisabeth, who was visiting her, to a rainforest because she knew the owner and he would show us around there. He told us the story of the rainforest; that it used to be a coral reef ther eand that it was very rear. It was very strange walking around there because it was very different from Cartagena. Ana Maria had never seen it before either. Very exciting.      

A old tree in the rainforest

He had made some pools, which contained mineral water. It was nice and cold. He takes in school classes and show them around there and they get to bathe and have lunch. He had everything there, a slide and a rope where they could play Tarzan. It looked like fun for the kids.       

Natural mineral water in the pools

When it was raining or we were tired we relaxed in the apartment.      

Relaxing in the Apt.

 Ana Maria knew a guy who was selling sunglasses and watches, so we invited him to the apartment so that we could do some shopping there instead of going out 🙂 We like!      

Shopping for sunglasses and watches

One of the days Ana Maria took all the Norwegians with her to an island where the beaches are white and the ocean very blue, but we weren’t that lucky with the weather. It was cloudy and raining. Not the best day to go there, but we had a great time.        

Going to the islands

We saw Cartagena from the boat, and the apartment building we were staying at.      

Cartagena city from the boat

We all took a walk in Old Town in Cartagena. There are so cute buildings there and a lot of plazas where there are cafès, restaurants and bars.  

Walking in beautiful Old Town

 Back in Bogota we went to a museum where the Colombian painter Botero  was exhibited and he had donated a lot of paintings. Botero paints everything fat, so it was really funny seeing the museum. We also saw fat Mona Lisa…hehe!      

Fat Jesus

We also got to see the Parliament building, and the Palace where the president lives. We also went to a café from the 1800’s and had “poor-people-food” from the old days.

We also met Ana Maria’s cousin, Camilo’s sister Andrea, who was vacationing in Cartagena and Bogota. We went out to Osaki and had the best sushi we have tried so far.

We went to dinner with one of Ana Maria`s friends who visited us in Oslo last year. It was really nice seeing her again and we got to learn all about the Miss Bogota competition she is in (like “Frøken Norge”, but first they choose the cities). We really hope that she becomes Miss Bogota 🙂       

Dinner with soon to be Miss Bogata

One of the days we went to the Catedral de sal. It was really interesting walking around there. What’s so special with this cathedral is that it`s in a saltmine. It was about 30 meter underground. Basicly the Cathedral is about the journey of Jesus, so there are a lot of crosses in the cathedral.        

Inside Catedral de sal

We went to Andres again in the day to have a lunch there. The atmosphere is so good there.         

At Andres; restaurant and club

When we got the check it was inside a big box. Inside the box there was  a flashlight, a magnifying glass and a pen. Very original and handy because it`s very dark inside Andres.        

The treasure chest

Ana Maria`s mom wanted us to try every fruit they had in Bogota, and we loved it. The fruit they have are so good!! Aleja (the maid) made a lot of fruitjuices for us, and it was amazing how good they were.        

The best fruitbasket ever!

We have to thank Ana Maria, Claudia and Miguel so much for taking us in their home and taking us around everywere. We have really appreciated everything you guys have done for us. Thank you so much!!       

When we left Bogota, both Silje’s got bodysearched and they had an extra check on Silje’s (blonde) backpack. 

Airport-security-check-counter (see earlier posts for explanation)

Siljex2