Year 3: Colombia and Ecuador - First days in Colombia

Welcome back to the Wallace Family Aboard Blog. This is our third year of travel with this blog. Last year we took you to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. The year before we were in Guatemala. This year we go to South America for Colombia and Ecuador! We left on July 1 and were very excited to get on the plane for our next adventure, first to Colombia:

Nicole and Emma on our first flight

Tyler and Josiah on our first flight

We took a total of three planes, the first leaving at 11:59am pacific time and the last arriving at 5:30am the next morning (but two hours ahead). Fortunately we did not have much planned for day 1, just resting in our hotel as we did not sleep well on the plane. We also learned that Bogota, Colombia is at over 8,000 feet above sea level and we all got a small amount of altitude sickness as we acclimated to the higher Andes Mountains. 

Day 2 our adventures in Bogota began with a city tour. Our city tour began with a trip up to a church that was another 2,000 feet higher (now at 10,000 feet with barely any oxygen!). But we had some remarkable views of the city. There was a small hike up to the church after a tram took us most of the way up (we could have done the 2.5 km hike.... but that takes most people over 2 hours because of how steep it is, so we passed).

Climbing to the top - almost there!

Statues along the way represented the passion of Christ

Alter for the Black Mother in the church

At the top, us with a view of the city behind us

Better view of the city. See tall building in the center?

That is the tallest building in all Colombia

This is a view of that building from the bottom - 68 stories!
(This picture was from later in the tour, obviously not from above...)

Our next stop after the view of the city was a visit to the Gold Museum. Here we were able to see gold from the indigenous tribes of the area and learn about their cultures. Lots of impressive gold! And we were only seeing about half the museum:

Emma with a King's Crown

Josiah with a King's Crown

Emma made a friend! She was not thrilled...

Yes, that is about a 2000 year old skeleton! 

Nearby we also visited a factory where they cut gems that are mined in the mountains of Colombia. We learned about the mines and the process to cut the stones, clean the stones, and why some are more valuable than others, based on weight, size, and transparency.

Emma and Josiah in a replica mine. Do you see the gems?

Next we went to the center of the town where we saw the government buildings around the town square and the catholic cathedral where the Bishop lives. 

Us with the Congress building in the background

Us with the Cathedral in the background

Us with the Judicial Courthouse in the background

Our next stop was an art museum featuring the art of Colombian artist Fernando Botero. This was exciting for Tyler as he studied Botero while at George Fox. He is known for focusing on "curves" and exaggerating them in his unique style of art (yes, he draws fat people). You can google him for more pictures.

Josiah, Emma, and Tyler in front of Botero's Mono Lisa

Botero lends us a hand... (I couldn't resist) 

Now we are back at our hotel and resting after a busy day. We did get some Colombian Pesos so we can pay cash as needed. The exchange rate is $3,200 Colombian Pesos = $1 US Dollar. 

$83,000 Colombian Pesos = just shy of $26 US

We have been eating lots of great food. And I have been told the only reason some of you read our blog is for the food. I never remember what anything is called, but at least I have been remembering to take pictures:

These patties were great with salsa on top!

Josiah had a rice and chicken dish

(the chicken is inside the mound of rice)

Breakfast was amazing!

Emma always wants rice and beans

This was death by meat - lots of different types

Sausage, eggs, and bean with avocato

This was Tyler's favorite - chicken, potatoes, rice, and other stuff... in a soup!