~The great city of Bogota!~

Let's learn some things about the great city of Bogota. As missionaries, moving to a new country and culture has it's adjustments, but we have learned to love beautiful Colombia, the culture, the people, and the food!

The Colombians are SAD...for the news media always makes Colombia sound sooo dangerous and so bad...but God is helping their country to be more safe! It's safer now than it had been 10 years ago! Colombia's president told one US news media person to Please come and visit, and get acquainted with his country, Colombia, before you knock it. Colombians are sad because the people in the USA think of their country as everyone here being dangerous, everyone being mean, and everyone doing or selling drugs. WHICH IS NOT TRUE! Just like anywhere, there are bad people...but the city of Medellin, Colombia, that 10 years ago was one of the most dangerous cities in THE WORLD...is NOW SAFER THAN WASHINGTON D.C. Colombia is a Beautiful country, and the people here are very nice. I mentioned that the people (that you meet on the street) are more friendly in Medellin, but once you became acquainted with the people from Bogota, (and they realize that they can trust you) you will find them just as kind, loving, and giving! You cannot enter someone's house without them giving you a drink and trying to serve you food...even if they hardly have anything to feed their own family! Once you become their friend, you have a friend for LIFE!
Bogota has some very delicious food. Like the plate of food that we get from a restaurant down from our house: a bowl of yummy homemade soup, rice, a vegetable, or beans, a fried platano, a salad, yummy chicken, and a homemade yummy Fruit juice...all of this for around $2.50!!
They are famous for their fruit salads here. They have LOTS of fruit salad restaurants, that basically sell those salads and ice cream and that's all. The fruit salad is filled with yummy fruits, and then covered with a cream, raspberry sauce, and a ball or 2 of ice cream, and shredded fresh coconut.
They have a typical snack called an "oblea" that has a caramel cream, fruit sauces and shredded white cheese if you want it, sandwiched between 2 thin sweet wafers.

An arepa: a white, unleavened bread that the Jews invented here in Colombia, made out of corn flour. They heat this thick, corn tortilla-like thing up, cut a slice inside and melt cheese and add melted butter and salt on the outside. To us they taste a lot like popcorn...with the butter and salt. Unlike Mexican food, Colombians don't make their food spicy, but they do have a special SPICY sauce that they call "Aji" that they put on their arepas and their empanadas.
An empanada: a deep-fried masa pastry filled with rice, meat, potatoes, etc. and they serve these with HOT sauce.
Colombians eat a lot of fried foods, but also eat a lot of FRESH FRUITS AND VEGGIES! They almost always have fresh salads, and fresh YUMMY fruit juices to drink.
The elevation of Bogota is: 8,355 feet.
Population: City proper: 7,014,111. Metro area 7, 594.000
Bogota is a beautiful city that is HUGE and is surrounded by very pretty mountains.
Weather: there are 2 seasons: Dry and Rainy. The Colombians tell us that their weather is so mixed up now, that they cannot predict what season it will be when, as they did in time past. =)
One source said:
January temps 67 F./42 F. with 33" of rain falling, normally.
July temps 65 F/46 F with 41" of rain falling, normally.
Economy: Banking, Insurance, coffee, tires, chemicals, clothing, flowers, and more.
Colombians are good looking people who are blacks, indigenous, fairer people, typical Latino looking, and a mixture of all of the above.

I'm reading the Book, "Third Culture Kid". In there it mentions something that I find myself doing. I find myself wanting to DEFEND THE USA, IT'S FOOD, AND IT'S CULTURE to the Colombian people, and wanting to DEFEND COLOMBIA, IT'S FOOD (minus the cow feet, chicken feet, cow gut, etc.) AND IT'S CULTURE, to our visitors from the USA. I so want my friends from both cultures to get along. I feel like I'm a BRIDGE to join my original culture and my new culture. I guess I have 2 homes now...Of course, to me the USA will ALWAYS be #1, but since God has called us to Colombia, I'm adapting to, and enjoying my 2nd home. Come visit us in Colombia, and I don't think you'll be disappointed. =D