Welcome to Bogota!

We are alive! And have enjoyed four very nice days in Bogota. We're staying at a pretty great hostel ($9 a night for a dorm room with free breakfast AND dinner included... and we've been told that Columbia is one of the most expensive countries in South America!) and the city is very beautiful. It's built on this high plateau that is surrounded on all sides by big green mountains. The old historic district where we are staying (la candelaria) climbs right up the side of the mountain and is full of steep cobblestone streets and brightly colored houses. The people are friendly, the food is plentiful and the juices are amazing. Bogota offers much more than Columbian cuisine, which seems to revolve around soup, potatoes and beef. The city is like no other. Every sunday the main street (carrera 7) is closed to cars, resulting in a flood of people and vendors sprawling as far as the eye can see.

The first impressions of Colombia in general is that the people are friendly and curious. The government has gone a long way to ensure that people feel safe in their own city. In terms of night life, there is something for everyone. Upon the recommendations of a local, we visited a salsa club located 30 blocks west of our hostel. The club, while small, was soon packed with hips-shaking Colombians. Beyond that we've had a great time hanging out at the hostel and meeting people. It appears that most people treat Bogota as the staging area for their foray into South America or as the departure point.

Tomorrow we are off to Villa de leyva, a small town north of Bogota. It promises to have lots of camping, climbing, white-water rafting and warmer weather.

So it begins!

Welcome to the first of the many, travel updates.

We leave to begin our epic 25 hour journey in approximately 3 hours. The fun begins with a flight to Salt Lake City followed by a 10 hour lay over in New York. I thought it may be nice to include a map, with coloured (or one colour) dot(s) representing where we have been and perhaps where we will be going.

Our first destination is Bogota, and is marked with a blue dot! We are staying at what was rated as the top hostel in Colombia in 2009; free breaky and dinner for $9 a night!

This update marks the start of our blog, but at the same time it tests whether the RSS feed is working O.K. So, let the fun begin! Next update from Bogota!!

Forray into the moist

While your eyebrow may slightly be raised at the title of this post, fear not, it's all in good taste.

The fact is, and this is something that I have yet to come to terms with, South America is going to be wet! While reading about our first destination, Bogota, my impression is that the local version of a taxi will be a catamaran and oxygen tanks for the brave. But did the weather stop the Spanish armada from making it back to Spain intact? While it did, it wont us!

A follow up post can then be made about my expectations of Bogota, and while internet perusing has led me to believe that food is cheap and tasty, Ill leave my full impressions for when I actually get there. So yes, this is the wrap up of the very first blog post that hopefully is superseded by a bunch more intellectually engaging and insightful posts.