Rainy Days
Apparently we are in the rainy season here in Bogota as it has been raining for just about every day for weeks. The upside is Annika jumping in puddles with her rain boots. ...and Flan.
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Trip to McAllen, Texas
A couple of weeks ago, in mid March, Annika and I took a trip to McAllen to visit the folks. I worked while Annika got to spend quality time with the Abuelos, Tios and Tias, and Primas. She just loves being outside even if it was hot.
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Cancun, Mexico
After experiencing some cold weather and snow in Aspen, we thought it would be a great idea to visit Cancun and enjoy some warmth, beach, sand, and more importantly oxygen. We wanted to be lazy, and an all-inclusive hotel hit the spot.
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Aspen, Colorado
Our annual super bowl weekend snowboarding trip. This year we went to Aspen. Even though snowfall amounts for the area were some of the lowest in decades, there was a lot of man made snow put on Buttermilk mountain thanks to the Winter X Games the week prior. Buttermilk mountain also has a wonderful ski school with plenty of spanish speaking instructors -- perfect for Annika. Her first time seeing snow and hitting the slopes was a success. She absolutely loved it and that made us happy since it allowed Julia and I to hit the slopes as well. As a nice send-off, on our last night it snowed and continued to snow till the early afternoon giving us a rare experience of snowboarding on some nice powder. Boy was that a fantastic gift!
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Videos below:
Argentina
We spent 10 beautiful days, November 5th - 15th, in Argentina visiting 3 cities: Buenos Aires, El Calafate, and Bariloche.
After a 6 hour flight from Bogota we landed in Buenos Aires. We stayed for a day in the city in which we walked through the streets of Palermo and had lunch at La Cabrera for some tasty bife de chorizo, chorizos, and Malbec wine. We met up with our old friend Derek, aka El Chinito, from our tour in Mexico for drinks and fried empanadas which were delish! The next day we hopped on a plane to El Calafate, a city in Patagonia, Argentina with incredible sunset views of Lago Argentino. We stayed for 3 days at Blanca Patagonia just a couple of miles from the center of El Calafate. The food in the town was fantastic with it's rich Italian influence -- we had homemade pastas, fish wrapped in a buttery pastry and cooked in clay, and empanadas (of course), to name a few. On our first day in El Calafate, we took a trip to Los Glaciares National Park to get an up close view of Glaciar Perito Moreno. On the next day we took a "Safari expedition" to the mountains just outside of El Calafate to explore Patagonia's native wildlife that include Darwin’s Rhea and Guanaco (similar to llamas). We also stumbled upon a large fossil deposit, thought to have been deposited by moving glaciers, and had a tasty lunch overlooking the mountains while drinking Malbec wine from the region (of course). Annika quickly befriended our Safari driver.
We then flew to Bariloche, a city in the province of RÃo Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake. We stayed at the wonderful Lirolay Suites on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi. The food again was incredible, especially at La Salamandra PulperÃa where we had ojo de bife, empanadas, and choripan accompanied with Malbec wine of course. We rented a car and on our first day we drove to the outskirts of Bariloche around Lago Moreno with incredible views of the mountains and lakes. The next day we took a longer drive through Villa La Angostura, a small and beautiful town with a nice downtown and a European ski resort feel to it, and later along Siete Lagos road (7 lakes drive). This road is filled with breathtaking views of snow capped mountains and clear water lakes and goes along the shores of the Espejo, Correntoso, Villarino and Falkner lakes. Annika especially enjoyed throwing rocks at one of our many stops along the lakes.
On our last day in Argentina we flew back to Buenos Aires and explored the Puerto Madero neighborhood where we met up with an old high school friend of mine, currently working in BA as CFO of an oil company (dealing with lovely unions) We had lunch there -- one last bife de chorizo and Malbec wine (of course).
We highly recommend this trip to our family and friends and if we continue to stay in this continent, will definitely head back.
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Buenos Aires
El Calafate
Bariloche
Videos below
Halloween at the Embassy
Got a lot of catching up to do as it has been a bit since our last post. For Halloween, we headed to the US Embassy for a little trick or treating. Embassy was very kind in keeping with this tradition so that American's posted abroad can participate, although, Bogota also celebrates Halloween, or Dia de los Niños as it is called here. Annika was dressed as a mariposa.
Cartagena Part Deux
With Suzan in town, Julia and I took a solo trip to Cartagena for a little relaxation. Although we missed Annika, it was a nice getaway. Thank you, Suzan, for taking care of our little one and giving Julia and I some alone time.
Some pics below from Cartagena. To view the entire album, click here.
Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá
Just outside of Bogota is a town called Zipaquirá known for an underground Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine. Before the church was built, the miners had carved a sanctuary as a place for their daily prayers before going to work. Construction of the church began in 1950 and was completed in 1954, and dedicated to Our Lady of Rosary, Patron saint of miners. With Suzan in town, we decided to do something touristy and took her out for a short adventure.
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Weekend Trip To Neusa
Back on August 6th, 2017, we took a trip to Neusa with some good friends for a little getaway. We did a little hiking, marshmellows in the fire place, and--to take advantage of the windy season here--an afternoon of flying kites along Lake Neusa.
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Isla de Providencia
For the July 4th (long) weekend, we travelled to Providencia, a small Caribbean island that's close to Nicaragua but officially part of Colombia. Annika took to the calm beaches and warm water...and enjoyed seafood at every meal--fish, Caribbean lobster, shrimp, octopus, and calamari. We stayed at the Hotel Deep Blue, which is not a beachfront property but which has an incredible view of the very picturesque Crab Cay. With almost no internet service and little cell phone reception, it was a true getaway, and well worth it.
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Below is the video of our trip or you can click here.
Texas Visit June 2017
After 3 tours or roughly 6 years of living at high altitude and in eternal spring, we decided to spend 2 weeks in South Texas during the month of June to remember what heat and humidity feels like. Every day during our visit the high temperatures were at or above 100F and on one special day McAllen, Texas hit a record all time high of 111F. We found shelter from the heat by spending some days at the beach in South Padre Island, driving to Blue Hole in Wimberly, Texas, and visiting a friend's swimming pool. Cigars, scotch, and dominos were still played outside but we just had to wait till the cooler late afternoon. Annika of course loved Abu's cooking, Vince's special pancakes, and took kindly to a medium-rare tenderloin steak.
It was great to visit the family but thinking our next trip will not be during summer months -- basically April through September.
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Video with the Cubans below or click here to view.
Drone footage of South Padre Island below or click here to view.
Video of Blue Hole in Wimberly, Texas below or click here to view
Villa De Leyva May 2017
Slowly, slowly, we're getting out to see various parts of Colombia. We took a one-night spur-of-the-moment trip to Villa de Leyva in May. Its whitewashed colonial buildings made for a refreshing backdrop, and we spent the two days more or less just meandering through the small town. We also took a field trip to El Infiernito pre-Columbian archaeological site with its...em, "monuments". We stayed at the Casa Terra and would highly recommend it.
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Video link here
Annika's 3rd Birthday
For Annika's birthday we had a small celebration at her school, then home to open some gifts, and finally to Annika's favorite gnocchi spot for dinner.
A couple of pics and video below!
Video link here
Vail Snowboarding Trip
This year we decided to try somewhere new for our annual snow boarding trip. We settled on Vail Colorado, smaller than our usual spot of Park City, but equally beautiful and enjoyable. Below is a video of our trip!
Video link here.
Christmas and New Years Vacation
We spent the holidays in South Texas, Christmas in McAllen and New Years in Austin. While "winter" in South Texas can range in temperatures from 30F - 90 F, the change was welcomed. Once again Annika loved Abu's cooking and once again she loved "mi boat". Oh and my lovely wife got me a new toy for Christmas!!
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Videos Below
Ciclovia Nocturna
Twice a year Bogota has Sunday Ciclovia at night. On December 15th, Julia and I took advantage to view the Christmas lights from the bike route. As weather in Bogota is always temperate, everyone was in the streets and it was pretty packed.
Noche de Velitas
Dia De Las Velitas (Little Candles Day) is celebrated on the evening of December 7th. People place candles and/or paper lanterns on sidewalks, balconies, streets, parks, etc.. in honor of the Virgin Mary and her Immaculate Conception.
Below are some pictures of people celebrating this event around our neighborhood.
Austin Visit
Annika and I left the family in McAllen and drove up to Austin to meet up with Michelle, Vince, and Julia, who was in town to celebrate her birthday. Along with eating a ton of great food in Austin, we enjoyed taking Annika trick-or-treating for Halloween, visiting Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and watching Tio Vince and Annika paint. Annika was also estatic to ride mi boat (my boat) down the Colorado River.
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Videos below
McAllen Visit 2016
Annika and I spent a week in McAllen to visit the family. Annika of course devoured every meal made by her Abu, and enjoyed running on the tall Texas grass, naps with Abuelo, playing with her cousins, and more of Abu's food. Even though I had to work during the week, I was still able to enjoy quality time with my parents (playing dominos and smoking cigars) and family.
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