Two One-Ways: Bogota - Family for the holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Tim and I are writing from sunny Santa Marta, where we're resting up after a whirlwind couple of weeks in Bogotá with my mom visiting our Colombian family. Tim had the ultimate immersion experience, as none of our relatives speak English (but a few speak some German, go figure).

My grandmother was born in 1913 in Lenguazaque, a small town about three hours from Bogotá in the mountains. She was one of the seven children of Michaela Poveda and Buenaventura Corredor. Her closest sister, Bernarda, whom she also resembled, had nine children, the cousins with whom my mom is closest and in the most contact. On this visit, we spent time with five of Bernarda's children, their children, and their children's children (some of whom have children, but we didn't get to meet any this time). Feel free to quiz Tim on all of their names.

Christmas Eve, or La Noche Buena, is the main event in Colombia and most of Latin America. We were told to arrive between 7 and 8pm, so this being Colombia, we got there at 9:30, and still not all of the guests had arrived. There was a countdown to midnight, similar to our NYE, then all ~30 guests hugged each one of the other guests and wished them a Merry Christmas. Afterward, a few of the grandchildren "sang" to and from whom each gift was, including gifts from Papá Noel, with everyone cheering and clapping as each gift was announced. Around 2am we dug into the main course, a roasted pig. Tim was served more since he was the tallest person present.

Tim and I were both in a weakened state when we arrived, me with a bad cold, and Tim with some other... traveling related issues. Not to worry though, as at each family visit I was told a couple of beers would clear the flu right up while being served a bottle of Poker (a local, cheap brand) and half my body weight in chicken, rice and avocado. Since Colombia possesses 10% of the world's biodiversity, there were also elderberry bushes growing in my cousin's apartment complex, right on the middle of the concrete jungle that is Bogotá. I used the berries to make a tincture from scratch, a more tried and true remedy in my opinion.

We also took a short trip to San Gil and Barichara, two colonial towns a couple of departments northeast of the capital. That region is known for its fried fat-bottomed ants, a local delicacy. They taste a bit like cracklings.

On the day my mom left, two cousins accompanied us to the airport and sat and visited with us for a couple of hours until it was time for her to check her bag and go through security. In the past, up to five or six relatives have come to hang out at the airport with us. Tim was baffled anyone would take an hour and a half-long bus ride to hang out in an airport with a departing relative for two hours when they could be doing something else, so it was an interesting cultural experience that differs pretty wildly from our more individualistic customs in the US.

We capped off the Bogotá leg of the journey with a bicycle tour through the city on Sunday during Ciclovía, a weekly event that has been going on since the 70s. Several major thoroughfares are shut down to vehicle traffic so people can walk, bike and rollerblade for miles through the city. We ran into our friend Hannah, an Aussie whom we lived with for two weeks at our homestay in Antigua, Guatemala back in September. We've also managed to meet up with Hannah in Honduras and just missed her in Nicaragua, so it was a crazy coincidence to encounter her on the streets of crowded Bogotá on our bike tour.

In one week my friend Jess from Montana comes to visit us in Cartagena, so we'll have more to report at the end of January. Besos y abrazos!

Our arrival to Martas apartment. She hosted us in her home for 2 weeks!

Christmas Eve with Hector (and many others)

Christmas ham

There was salsa dancing until 4am on Christmas morning!

Visting cousin Bernardo and his family

Delicious dinner at Hectors apartment

Visiting cousin Silvestre

We took at three night trip to a neighboring department, Santander. Only a 6 hour drive through the Andes Mountains. This was a hike on an old trail from the village for Barichara to Guane.