Renault in Colombia

I love car spotting in South America. The huge American wrecks in Venezuela are quite something but are much less abundant in Colombia. What is interesting in Colombia (for me, though undoubtedly not for some readers) is that the majority of cars are either from the far east or are Renaults. With a factory in Medellin, Renault has had a big presence in the country for 40 years. There are loads of new Renaults in Colombia but I was more taken with the range of handsome, shiny classic Renault cars that have survived in style in cities and villages across the country. Sadly they must not have produced the wonderful Renault 16 because I failed to spot even one model of a car my grandparents owned and whose distinctive looks I remember fondly.

The Renault 12. Lovely colour. A great car, it was robbed of the 1970 European Car of the Year award by 2 dodgy Italian cars.
The Renault 12 estate
A pair of Renault 9s (1982 car of the year).
A Renault 12 estate action shot.
There is a large number of Renault 4s in great condition on the streets of Bogota
This man loves his brown Renault 18 estate. Who wouldn't?

A mint condition Renault 6 in aqua blue. Special.

Fantastic travel writing

We have just read this brilliant article by Simon Gandolfi, a 73 year old who set off on a Honda 125 to travel through Central and South America. Definitely worth a read if you have a spare few minutes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/jan/10/south-america-road-trips-bike?page=all

Bogota and Goodbye Colombia

Bogota is a modern sprawling city and we were lucky to be able to spend time there with Angela and her family. We only realised after we had left that we didn't take many photos of the city. Most of our time was spent in the richer north side of the city and it is the most modern, developed place we have been to since leaving England.

Some parts of the city are built in a very English style like the houses above.


There are lots of statues on rooftops around the old part of the city centre. Not too sure why they are there but it's a nice thing to see.

The Old Town area, called Candelaria is lovely to walk around and has lots of nice cheap places to eat and drink. If we had the photos we would show you the Gold Museum, the markets, the poor shanty town suburbs, the modern high rise buildings, the fancy bus system, trendy bars, parks, street vendors...

This model of Jesus in a big church in the centre of Bogota is made of plastic or something but his hair grew at some point- a miracle! Hmm, we preferred the Virgin on the piece of wood miracle in Venezuela.

This of course is not a miracle. We don´t even know him. But his hair grows well alrighty. I just took a photo to make fun of him really and to show that the mullet is alive and well and a surprisingly popular choice in Bogota.

Mostly though we will remember our time in Bogota for the friendship and generosity of Angela and her lovely family.

We were sorry to be leaving Colombia so soon and with so much to see. It is a beautiful country with great people and we would recommend it to anyone as a fantastic holiday destination. We certainly hope to return one day.

Rana

When darts meets hoopla in Colombia you get a good game of Rana. Players take turns to throw 5 metal rings at the board from around 5m away. Then you add up your score. If you throw a ring in the frogs mouth your team can shout Rano and cheer wildly as you have just scored 15000 points. Some people play for money but we played to see who had to make breakfast.

The winning team!

Make your own Party Chicks!

1. Hatch a load of cute little chicks.

2. Use food colouring to dye them bright colours. This makes them more exciting.

3. Put each chick in to a bag along with some crisps, sweets and maybe a plastic toy.

4. Give out the party bags at the end of your childrens party.

Warning: your chick is highly unlikely to reach adulthood.

Rachel in near-death experience

It's OK. I saved her.

Villa de Leiva

I have always heard lovely things about Villa de Leiva from my Aunty Jan and Uncle Nick who lived in Bogota in the 90s and came here a lot. We thought of them when we went past the luxury hotel that they had recommended to us en route back from the walk above. It was slightly beyond our budget but we imagined they must have had a lovely time in the outdoor jacuzzis. Granny and Grandad also came here with them so we enjoyed picturing them all here.  

Villa de Leiva is a beautiful, colonial town in the mountains and a weekend retreat for many Bogotanos. There are lots of great walks around the area which we really enjoyed and appreciated after gazing longingly many times at hills and not getting out in them in our time around Bogota. 

In Colombia, the countryside is spectacular - mountains and rolling green hills which look perfect for walking in. Unfortunately, much of it is private land or as we discovered one day when we returned from an after lunch stroll from a roadside restaurant a few hours from Bogota to a pale and anxious Del Valle family, it may be inhabited by kidnapping guerillas. It made us realise how much we take public footpaths (and lack of armed guerillas) in the UK for granted.

We did one walk which was hard work - we arrived too late so had to march to reach a 'lagoon' (see below, not quite the bathing spot we envisaged but lovely all the same), ascending over 1000 metres constantly for several hours from a starting point of 2800m. Altitude makes such a difference. 

Spot Wally amongst the Andean flowers 
We're not sure what this is but a nice photo

It's probably worth a mention after our epic food entry that our last meal in Villa de Leiva was to be our downfall. After so much delicious food throughout our time in Colombia, we drank a couple of dodgy jugos (fresh juices, probably with dirty water) with our usual meal deals and it was game over on the food front for us until a few days into Peru.

Salt Mine Cathedral

On route to Villa de Leiva we visited a salt mine that has been turned into an underground Cathedral for people to worship in and to impress tourists. It was impressive by any standards.

You can see pews at the bottom of this picture- the chambers are massive.

They actually let you hit the wall as hard as you like. There was salt crystal flying all over the place. A health and safety no-no in the UK. I have a nice big piece of crystal as a souvenir.

We had a lovely time

Comida glorious comida

During our time in Colombia we found lots of fantastic new food to try. We haven't held back and have indulged in many tasty pleasures. Here are pictures and descriptions of some of the highlights and new discoveries.

Fruit salad (usually banana, papaya, melon and mango) in Colombia often comes covered in cream and a mild grated cheese

An hallaca - a mini tamal - our Colombian friends will be able to tell us the difference. A delicious and nutritious street snack cooked in a banana leaf, costing about 40p. It is ground maize with chicken and vegetables within. Yum.

Our fancy engagement meal. This is a mouth-watering fillet of fish with a red wine reduction on a bed of leek and something else that we have forgotten. Oh dear!  One of the nicest dishes we have ever eaten.

Our other engagement meal dish. This tuna was cooked perfectly and was very exciting although it came in second place to the delectable dish above.

Our first ceviche in South America, a specialty of Peru, raw fish marinated in lime juice. Very tasty.

It's not all about eating out. In our hotel room in Cartagena we had this table picnic (on a plastic bag) for a couple of nights.

Look how many limes you get for 30p. Good with rum and coke.

We found no ice cream in Venezuela, the infamous icecream parlour with the most flavours in the world in Merida had closed.  We were delighted then to find this luxurious Italian style icecream in Cartagena.  The chocolate was rich and bitter, the physillis tangy and refreshing and the other flavours were yummy too.

The main course of a great value lunch time meal deal - a menu ejecutivo or a corriente.  For £2 you can eat if not like a king, then at least like some kind of vaguely royal person.

Fruit stalls in so many streets in Cartagena selling so many tropical fruits, many of which we have never seen before.

Delicious papaya, no trace of the sickly smell it often has picked up by the time they reach the UK.

Cazuelo de mariscos - a rich, seafood soup made with fresh coconut milk. Absolutely fantastic and made fresh and especially for us on our island retreat.

Standard supermarket fare - a giant papaya and a spiky green guanabana - mild, milky and refreshing in a milkshake.

Angela and her mum enjoying a delicous soup - Angela will have to remind us of the name. Made with large, more savoury sweetcorn (mazorca), maize, milk and sweetened with panela (unrefined brown sugar, bought in blocks or bags and used as much if not more than sugar here).

We think this is called chicharron - a sort of grissly, tasty piece of pork crackling which accompanied a thick bean soup/stew, along with rice and avocado.

Colombian Aguila beer on tap at the table

Beef oreado - a steak that has been hung and partially dried in the sun, half way between fresh steak and beef jerky. A bit chewy but full of flavour.

Mojarra - fried local fish. Extra bonus points for eating the eyes and sucking the bones.

An interesting mix of beer and an irn bru type soft drink (called Kola, of which there are many varieties and brands in South America, either yellow or orange).

Barbecued, giant savoury sweetcorn or mazorca on Christmas Day with a plate of barbecued potatoes and a sort of black pudding which Simon ate and Rachel spat out. Something like morcilgo.

Christmas morning soup - Angela what is it called pleased?  Thick soup with potatoes, vegetables, mazorca and chicken stock. Very delicious and a good, if alternative start to Christmas Day.

Obleas - available on most street corners. A sandwich of two large, thin, circular wafers filled with arequipe, which is like caramelised condensed milk, crema de leche (sweet cream), grated cheese and sometimes with a blackberry source.

 

Our first salad in South America. So good that we went back the next night and had it again. This could be made at home - since it is more Italian than South America. Shredded chicken, mozzarella, grated carrot, sliced tomato, lettuce, sweetcorn and finely chopped red peppers, onion, mushroom, green olives, pinenuts and seeds.  Dressed and topped with basil pesto.

Colombians are passionate about their food and there is so much regional variation. Rather than asking us where were the best places we had visited, many people would ask us about our favourite food in Colombia. They were also very interested in typical English food, we found we were soon running out of things to say after roast dinners, crumbles, pies, cheese and shepherd's pie. Any more suggestions gratefully received.