that's how I roll...part III

First of all... Don't forget to vote ------------------------------------>

Okay... so I'm on the flight headed for South America... But first a little background information!

Our trip planning actually started two years ago, when Jared was down in Bolivia. Jared went TDY (Temporary Duty... or Temporary Duty Yonder for those of you with a raised, quizzical brow) to Bolivia in October 2006 for 5 weeks. At the time I didn't have my passport and Jared had about two weeks notice before he had to leave. I wasn't working at the time and didn't have much to do back in Dayton so I should have gone with him. I didn't because of the dog plus I was nervous to leave the house alone for a month. While Jared was in La Paz he took a weekend trip out to Trinidad, Bolivia with his co-workers from the embassy. They ALL had their wives with them and they went motorbiking around all day, ate at great restaurants and ended up having tons of fun. When he got back, he and I were both upset that I didn't get to tag along on his South American adventures. NEVER AGAIN! So we decided that—-wherever Jared went next--we'd plan on me going out to visit.

So last October Jared's branch had a lot of deployments coming down for officers and we were starting to get nervous that he was going to be deployed for up to a year in the Middle East. More specifically... a year in Iraq. We had been planning on going out to Utah to visit Jared's family for the holidays so we discussed the possibility of him volunteering for a deployment in a less dangerous country like Qatar or the United Arab Emirates. That way at least we'd have a little control over where and when he would go since we figured he'd eventually get tagged to deploy. About a week after we discussed it, Jared got a call saying that they needed someone in Colombia for 4 months starting in November. It was all actually a little flattering for him because he was told that the people in charge of the mission wanted the best Spanish speaker and Jared was their first choice. Course, the work he did in Bolivia helped him a lot, I'm sure. To make a long story short, Jared was able to delay the TDY until after Christmas. Then, somehow along the way, the TDY that was SUPPOSED to be 4 months turned into a 6 month deployment. Technically it's still a TDY and he's getting paid as though it's a TDY BUT he gets deployment credit for it. Seriously, talk about a blessing in disguise!

I didn't make haste to buy my tickets for Colombia just yet because we weren't actually sure Colombia was a place I was going to be allowed to visit. With the FARC running rampant and the added risk of American muggings and kidnappings, it was probably best to proceed with caution. As it turns out, Americans are only allowed to travel between cities by air and the embassy imposes strict curfews on visitors. Jared (he's such a sweetheart!) had to jump through mega hoops to be able to not only score permission for my visit but also for the time off to show me around. We had to register our travel plans with the embassy, they had to know where we were at all times, we weren't allowed to rent a car or take taxis so we had to constantly call for a driver and a light armored vehicle. (Which was cool though I'm sad I never got a picture of one.) We even had to find hotels from an embassy approved list. Craziness!

So anyway, March comes around and I have tickets for South America. Woo!! One more hurdle though... I don't speak a lick of Spanish and I have to somehow get myself through immigration and customs using the only Spanish words I know... taco, enchilada, and baño. Curse you Blanca Rivera! I got kicked out of COLLEGE Spanish and if, for some reason, I was going to have any problems at the airport I was prepared to blame it all on her. Now, I KNEW that the airport employees there in Bogotá would be able to speak at least some English (if not fluently).. But DUDE... I LOOK Latina and people are going to try to speak to me in Spanish! I didn't want to be rude! And what if I couldn't understand them with their thick accents?! I was, needless to say, a little worried. Jared, the sweetie, made me a little Spanish cheat sheet that had simple phrases like, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish" and "Can you please take me to the US Embassy."

OK, so I'm on the flight...

It's really a miracle that I'm even on the flight at all. I got to the airport that morning at 4am, just in time for my 6am flight. Seriously, I could have gotten there at 5:45am and still had enough time to grab a mocha and a bagel. Oh well. I get to the ticketing agent and she informs me that American Airlines has cancelled 900 flights but that my trip shouldn't be affected. Phew!! The flight from Minneapolis to Miami was smooth, no problems... I get to Miami and I'm checking the boards to find out where my next gate is and I see it... "Bogotá....CANCELLED" Oh. Em. Gee! I about flipped out... Jared only had 4 days leave and if my flight was cancelled I was going to miss practically the whole trip! Not only that but if I couldn't get on the flight the next day, I would miss our flight from Bogotá to Cartegena! Just before I started to hyperventilate I noticed...Oh! There are two flights to Bogotá today and mine is the one that is NOT cancelled. Double PHEW! I found myself some lunch ($14 for a salad, candy bar and water...what a rip off!) and a quiet corner where I could read until my flight. Later, I found out that it wasn't 900 flights American Airlines canceled... it was 2000! So I felt extra lucky that I made it to Colombia on time and in one piece.

So I'm finally on the plane and I realize that I am, like, the ONLY American on the plane aside from the greying Caucasian pilot. Wonderful. Then, just as all hope was about to be lost, another American boards the plane and I am like, totally saved. I figured, this guy probably knows where he's going once we get there so I will just follow him through customs and immigration. Seriously, I was starting to get nervous about the whole speaking Spanish thing when all of the announcements on the flight were in Spanish. Great. ANYWAY... I get to Colombia fine even though I was almost in a bus accident on the tarmac while being transported from the plane to the airport! Jared was there outside waiting for me with his driver so we were able to get out of the crowd and on the road fairly quickly.


The airport in Bogotá
If you're picking someone up you have to wait outside. It felt like we were on display as you come out of the baggage claim area and there were people with their faces and bodies plastered up against the glass, waving and smiling to their friends and family members inside.

We were both pretty tired, so we grabbed some yummy pizza and went back to where we were staying—the suite at the National Police Social Club. It was a decent room. Not really extravagant or anything, but nice enough. It was mostly just a place to hang our hats while we were in Bogota that first day-and-a-half. (Jared wrote that last part.. I'm too lazy to explain more... lol)

I didn't really get to see much of the countryside or city the night I got there since it was night and I was dog tired so waking up the next morning to find Bogotá a lush, green, and blooming city was refreshing. First stop? An emerald store! For those of you who don't know, one of Colombia's largest exports (aside from cocaine) is emeralds. I did a lot of research before I went and figured, if I'm goin to Colombia... I bet I'm going to get a really great deal on a loose gem, right?


It's nearly a full karat (0.93) so I'm thinking I will have it set into a pendant... but who knows... I may have it set in a ring. We'll see.

I felt really privileged when we went to buy it. The store where we went to buy the emerald, Galeria Minas de Colombia, was in a nicer area of the city and when we got there we were taken into a vaulted room where all the emerald cases were. The gal who sold us the gem gave us a little tour and explained how they mine and cut the stones. Normally I wouldn't have felt comfortable making such a purchase in a foreign country but Oscar, our driver, knew the best place to go where we wouldn't get ripped off. As it turns out, the store works very closely with the embassy and gave embassy employees a 40% discount. Yey! We had a budget to work with and the 40% helped to double the size and quality of the stone we bought. Yey for ripping off third world countries! I am a little apprehensive to get it appraised though... I'm hoping it appraises for AT LEAST what we paid for it. If not... yey for ripping off unsuspecting Americans!

Afterwards, Oscar took us to the hills on the backside of Bogota and dropped us off. We took a tram straight up this steep hillside, called El Cerro de Monserrate, to a monastery that was built in 1640. The hillside was beautiful: covered in jungle trees and vines and exotic flowers. The view on top was stunning as well—though, since it hadn’t rained for a few days, Bogota was pretty smoggy. (Again, written by Jared... I'm sorry, he's a better writer and it's getting late. =P)


Us and Mateo the Llama... and in the back you can kind of see our armored vehicle!


At the foot of El Cerro de Monserrate


Jared and I waiting for the tram