Exploring Bogota

View of Bogota from Monserrat

Today is dedicated to exploring a new city in a new country with old friends.  Viva Colombia!

A walk en la calendaria (center) of Bogota.

Breakfast tamales and lulo fruit juice (a new one!) at la Puerta Falsa in Bogota's old city.

Bogota is full, FULL of graffiti.  Everywhere you look, on every building.

It tuns out that there is free admission to museums on Sundays in Bogota, so we took a quick sweep through the Botero museum.. and were greeted by this gigantic fat hand that I fell in love with.

Train up the mountain that dominates the center of Bogota - Monserrate.

Tunnel up the mountain.

Walking through the food markets at the top of Monserrate.

Chickens in a hot tub?

A little cheese and guava snack

Trying to see if coca tea really does help with altitude sickness...

Beautiful texture on a clay roof on Monseratte.

High altitude flowers at the top of the mountain.

Bienvenidos a Colombia!

It was so fun to land in Colombia yesterday to a wonderful welcome by my dear friend Kate!  She picked us up from the airport, complete with a welcome sign and treats. 

Our welcome sign!

In the cab on the way to our hotel

A few treats to welcome us to Colombia....  clearly Kate knows me well and was prepared with snacks. 

I was loving the cool lighting coming in the windows while we rested at our hotel

 After a rest and recharge at the hotel, we went out for a great dinner at Club Colombia, and then for canelazo (special Colombian drink) and vino caliente (hot wine) at the most lovely cafe ever, Cafe y Crepes (we all waaaaay recommend it if you are ever in Bogota).

Canelazo y vino caliente at Cafe y Crepes.

I'm loving exploring Bogota, especially with Kate as our tour guide.  Stay tuned...

Adios for now Paraguay!

This short trip was a wonderful visit, with wonderful meetings, and exciting things ahead for our Paraguay program.  But most of all, it was so beautiful to see these two wonderful folks.  

Even just seeing them for a couple of hours made my heart sooo happy!

Nilton, Aly, Gloria and me.

Happy Birthday Elisa!!

September 12 is a big day for the people I love.

A special shout out to a very special friend on a very special birthday.

you know those friends who make you like your life better?

This is one of them.

So happy for you, the challenges you've taken on, and the adventure that you're living!

And so happy for me that i get you in my life.

Happy birthday E!

Happy birthday Big Daddy!

Happy happy birthday to the best dad EVER.

Seriously.  

Look at that diving form.

And that style!

(apparently its hereditary)

Here we come South America!

My colleague and I are off for a quick South American trip!  

A few days in Asuncion, Paraguay and then on to to Bogota and Cali, Colombia.

Excited for the meetings & greetings (both professional and personal) ahead in the next week... especially seeing this beautiful one and her home in Bogota!

Nos vemos!

NYC 2 DC

My Labor Day weekend (extended by a day), was nothing short of dreamy.  I got to spend some time and explore two amazing cities - NYC and DC - that never cease to make my heart beat harder.

But more importantly, I got to spend that time with two of my oldest and dearest friends.  The more I travel, the more I see, the more I value reuniting with the people I care about most and finding ways to squeeze out some quality time.  There is nothing that energizes, grounds or inspires me more.

And when exploring an inspiring place gets combined with reuniting with inspiring people... and then multiplied by two... that's when you start to get to the dreamy level.

Here's a glimpse:

The trip started in View from the High Line in NYC - my new favorite spot in the city.

yep.

Picnic in Central Park

our bicycles.  EVEN THOUGH I lost the fight over renting a tandem bicycle and checking an item off my LIFE LONG bucket list, regular bikes were still ok.  Ok, they were amazing.

my co-explorer.

And then I took a BUS to DC.  And... it was incredible!  Clean, cheap ($30), departed and arrived exactly on time, comfortable.  Seriously.  I'm not even being sarcastic.  Though I may have gotten lucky, I would totally try it again.  Check it out: Dc2ny.com

Elisa is living in DC now, taking charge of her dreams!  I am SO happy for her and was so glad to get some time with one my dearest.

I defied all odds and only took about 5 pictures the entire time I was in DC.  This is probably because we were too busy talking and I was too busy falling in love with DC. But this was one of the ones I snapped, and it makes me happy.

:)

SO happy to be reunited!

Beautiful E looking out at Adams Morgan.