Finally!!!!!!

I can't believe that I'm finally in South America!  We woke up early this morning and headed off to the airport. I really like Copa Airlines. They covered our backpacks in thick plastic bags to keep them clean. They served a real meal on a 75 minute flight. Crazy.

 

We breezed through customs and I got my 9th passport stamp. When we went outside the weather was a perfect 67 degrees.  The city was beautiful.  The people have been amazingly nice. People directed us to the official taxi stand where they charged us half of what the regular drivers were wanting to charge.

 

As we drove through the city, I was pretty amazed. This place is pretty close to the size of New York, yet it feels open and airy. There are bike trails and bridges all the way through the city. The police and private security make things feel safe without wielding AK-47s like northern Central America.

 

We found the Platypus hostel. We have a room with 4 beds and high exposed wood beam ceilings. The place is probably 100 years old, but it feels well kept and inviting.

 

We ate probably the worst meal of the trip today. I guess I should say I pretty much looked at the worst meal of the trip. I ordered chicken and it had hair on it. Not like someone's hair, but like the chicken had a 5 o'clock shadow. I didn't touch it.  I did eat the potato. The other 3 guys ordered Cow Feet. I didn't even know they were edible. They're probably not. They had fur too. The weirdest part was that when we walked into the restaurant there were menus with Carne Asada and Hamburgers and there were empty glass Coke bottles all over the place. Every time we asked for one of those things, they said they didn't have it. Finally at the end of the meal we asked why they had all those things on the menu board and they said it was because it was from the restaurant that used to be there. And they only served pineapple juice and lulu juice. I don't know who or what lulu is, but I don't want its juice.

 

I'm going to have to buy a sweatshirt. After sweating 2 nights ago from a broken AC, we are all of a sudden in a place with cold nights.

 

Tomorrow we are going to try to find a good deed or two around here and explore the giant commercial part of the town, but so far Columbia has been one of my favorite places.