Bogota...Safety Third!

Safety is definitely not a priority this country.  We have been in Bogota, Colombia for the past few days.  This city is chaotic, disorganized and charming all at the same time.  Matt has been showing me around  and reminiscing about the days he spent here on his mission, the people here are so nice and happy to see us.  Matt waited until we arrived in Bogota to share some near death experiences he has had here, such as; being shot at, being held up, etc...but it's totally safe now.  Right.  But really moms no need to stress, there are police on every corner, we are in the wealthy/safe part of town and we don't leave our hotel after dark.  Last night I actually had a dream that the Colombian government recruited me and Matt to help with the war against the FARC (Colombian drug gorilla group).  Matt says I can not read anymore about Colombia's war against drugs.

After being here for a few days I noticed that EVERYONE stares at us, without shame.  On the bus, in the streets, in the mall, everywhere it's like a stare-a-thon!  I guess they don't see many blond haired, green eyed women, or men that are 6' 4".  I think that because of the stigmas attached to this country the people here are not used to seeing many tourists.

Yesterday we went to a large gold museum, it houses over 34,000 historical gold pieces discovered here in Colombia.  It was very interesting and we saw some amazing pieces.  We also went to a museum that has mainly pieces by Botero, but there are also some Picasso's and a few pieces by Degas.  I love all the chubby people in Botero's work, if you're not familiar Matt's comment was that they look like really chubby babies as adults, see below for proof.

Today we went to these beautiful botanical gardens, they have over 5000 orchids.  They also had a huge rose garden, the colors were so vibrant.  And tonight are the Oscars!  Yay!  We spent about an hour this morning trying to find somewhere that aires the awards in English.  Sadly, we were unsuccessful.   My mom said she would record them for us, but it's not the same!  Oh well, I guess I will just put the TV on mute and enjoy the fashion.  We have our Oscar ballots filled out, we will post below.  Very excited to see if my pics win and can't wait to see what everyone is wearing.  Thinking of everyone wishing we were having an Oscar party!

Oscar Pics:

Actor in a leading role:
Annie: Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"
Matt: Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"

Actor in a supporting role:
Annie: Geoffery Rush, "The King's Speech"
Matt: Christian Bale, "The Fighter"

Actress in a leading role:
Annie: Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"
Matt: Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"

Actress in a supporting role:
Annie: Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"
Matt: Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"

Animated Feature Film:
Annie: "Toy Story 3"
Matt: "Toy Story 3"

Art Direction:
Annie: "Alice in Wonderland"
Matt: "Inception"

Cinematography:
Annie: "Inception"
Matt: "Black Swan"

Costume Design:
Annie: "Alice in Wonderland"
Matt,:" The King's Speech"

Directing:
Annie: David Fincher "Social Network"
Matt: David Fincher "Social Network"

Documentary:
Annie: "Inside Job"
Matt: "Exit Through the Gift Shop"

Best Picture:
Annie: "The King's Speech"
Matt: "The King's Speech"

Tanathon...

So much beach time...  We met some Chilean people a few days ago and we have been hanging out with them for the past few days (I will post a pic).  They traveled to Colombia for a wedding.  One of the Chileans' is an older woman, she is my favorite.  She kisses my cheeks non stop, buys me fresh mango, and nags me about sunscreen.  Yesterday she had a vendor make me a necklace to match the bikini I was wearing!  I am constantly surprised by her generosity and kindness.  She doesn't speak english so most of our communication is through affection.  She keeps calling me and Matt her children, she is the mamita (mama) of the entire group.  We leave here tomorrow night, so we are planning to spend our last day here at the beach with our new Chilean friends.

Chatty Matty made friends with some Colombians at the pool at our apartment.  They invited us to a BBQ and told us that they would be making us "Real American Hamburgers!"  Yikes!  Obviously, we ate dinner before we went to the BBQ.  I couldn't imagine what was in store for us.  We arrived to a ecstatic group of Colombians... They were already grilling and they had "Lady in Red" blazing.   They said over and over, "Tonight is for you, please partake, please enjoy."  It was so sweet.  Matt kept trying to take over the grill, the chef told him, "Senior please relax, and partake."  They wouldn't let us lift a finger.   To my surprise, the hamburger was AMAZING, who knew.  Colombians + Hamburgers = Happy Chucky!  The night continued into the wee hours of the morning.  One butt rock 80's American tune after the next.  Matt got really hot after the food so he decided to jump in the pool for a quick dip.  Before I knew it he had all 6 Colombian's in the pool teaching them to swim (Swimming lessons aren't part of the normal Colombian upbringing).  He began with the back float, which proved to be too much.  So he ended up just teaching them to tread water, calmly. We tried to get a picture of their antics but we didn't want to offend them.  Imagine 40 year olds having a panic attack in 4 ft of water, that is what I witnessed.  By the way, these Colombian's are the people I ratted out at 2 AM last week for blasting their music.  Opps, they are good people.

Bogata tomorrow night!  I can't wait!  Love everyone!  See you in 10 days!

Random stuff:  Mankinis, High tops at the beach, terrible rip off DVDs, cold showers, the movie 'The Tourist,' Matt's found his first gray hair and counterfeit Holister/Gap/Tommy Hilfiger

Tayrona National Park + Scuba Diving

There really isn't much to report lately.  We are definitely in vacation mode.  Matt and I actually had an argument this week about whether it was Tuesday of Wednesday.  Life is good.  Most of our days here have been beach days.  We have met and observed some seriously amazing characters.  I would try to explain but I'm sure I can't do the people/experience justice.  Yesterday we went to a beautiful national park, the landscape was similar to Cabo.  We were on the bus heading back for our apartment, when... Our bus hung a quick left through an intersection and cut off three Colombian teens, all three on one bike.  They were not happy, there was a lot of shouting and fist pumping.  Then... time stood still.  I saw what was playing out but I was too entertained to run.  One of the Colombian teens threw a rock the size of a baseball at my window.  The entire 5ft x 3 ft window pane shattered.  I felt like Cate Blanchett in "Babel," I know it's a bit of an exaggeration, but still, to say I flipped a bit is an understatement.  The bus driver was irate and all the other people on the bus were yelling, "Fight, fight, fight, go get those kids!"  We drove around for about forty minutes searching for them with no avail.  Anyway, a pretty eventful bus ride after a really relaxing day on the white sand beaches.

I couldn't sleep very well last night because I was so stoked about my scuba class that started today.  My day started of with Johnny (our fave taxi driver) picking me up.  Matt is already certified so I was flying solo today.  I felt pretty safe going alone with Johnny until he pulled over at a random spot in the middle of nowhere.  He doesn't speak any English and my Spanish is shotty at best.  He signaled for me to get our of the car and follow him.  I figured he was going to rob me or worse.  Nope, he just wanted to show me an amazing view of the coast.  I felt like such an ass, I keep assuming that everyone is out to get me here.  Scuba was a total disaster.  After a ten minute explanation of all things scuba, they dropped me in the middle of the Caribbean with the dive master, a tank, and an eccentric American dude.  I panicked right away.  The dive master was pretty cool, he tried to calm me down, it wasn't working.  Then the American took charge.  Lucky for me he was a hypnotist, he tried all kinds of voo doo magic on me.  For the rest of the day I struggled along, it turns out scuba just isn't my thing.  I got the hell outa' there on the first taxi I saw, (sorry Johnny).  Matt could tell I was in need of something comforting, he made me some delicious shrimp scampi and showed me all the rip off DVD's he bought today.  Score!  We only had a few more flicks to see before the Oscars, popcorn and movies tonight!  Yay!  We have really been slacking on the photos lately, I will try to post some tomorrow.

P.S.  Matt deserves credit for some funny 'one liners' and editing throughout the blog.  Props Mateo.

 

Viva Colombia!

A few highlights from Cartagena, Colombia thus far... Cartagena is situated on the north tip of Colombia on the Caribbean Sea.  The old city was a main shipping hub during the early discoveries of the Americas.  Much of the architecture is very colonial mixed with a Caribbean flair. The Chiva Bus, let me explain.  Everyone told us we HAD to ride the Chiva bus, for fans of "Romancing the Stone" this shouldn't be a new experience.  I however had never heard of such a thing.  There are several buses painted red, yellow, or blue (colors of the Colombian flag).  The tour is done at night and each bus has a live band.  My understanding was that this was going to be a nice romantic tour of the city.  Once again a few details were left out.  So basically they pack way too many people on the bus (the bus is a convertible), then the music starts... Thats when it started to get sketchy.  Wilson, our tour guide put us all through sort of an initiation process that included; standing on your seat shaking your booty, shaking tambourines, and doing the macarena just to name a few.  There wasn't any explanation of the historical buildings we were passing, but a good time was had by all.  At one point I turned around only to see a baby lipping a Rum bottle (proof can be found below).  On the Chiva tour we met three American guys from California.  They were professional Salsa dancers, they showed me some new moves.  They tried helping Matt but said he would need at least 3 months of daily practice.  Anyone who has seen Matt bust a move would completely agree. :)  

The Colombian beaches.  I have never seen so many people packed onto a beach, there are a million vendors pestering you, and women begging to massage you.  It is truly a new experience.  There was one vendor who wouldn't stop bugging us, Matt said, "Man we are just trying to enjoy our lunch, please."  The guy responded "At least you have food to eat."  Major guilt trip.  

Now we are in Santa Marta, I will be attending a three day crash course for scuba diving and Matt is trying to convince me to go to a surf camp with him next week.   We found this great apartment here, it's very art deco.  You can rent apartments here for a fraction of what you would pay for a hotel.  Anyway we have really been enjoying cooking on the grill by the pool overlooking the ocean.  We had one small hiccup last night.  It was two in the morning and our neighbors were still blasting their music.  Matt was sound asleep so I figured I would go down and try to get the security guard to make the music stop.  Needless to say there wasn't much lost in translation when I dragged him onto the elevator, he could hear that there was a serious Salsa/Disco party going on in 5B.  Andele! He had the music off within seconds, whew.  I got back to our room to find Matt in a tizzy.  "Dude, where have you been?  It's two AM, and you are in a third world country!"  Sometimes the risk justifies the reward.  

Good news,  two Colombian captives were released this week after being held for five years.  One a reporter, the other an American.  Matt tried to shield me from this story, but Julia broke the news to me via e-mail.  Needless to say, I will not be leaving Matt's sight again.  

Machu Picchu!

Peru...Whew!  We arrived in Cuzco, Peru.  We spent our first day cruising around the old city.  Our hotel set us up on a tour of the city with a "Spanglish" speaking guide.   He took us around to a few famous churches in the city, some Inca ruins, and a alpaca factory (Peru's national animal).  When we were touring the first cathedral our tour guide explained, "This is the most important cathedral in all of South America.  This is the most important painting of Christ in all of South America.  This is the most important replica of 'The Last Super" in all of South America."  Then we moved on to the next cathedral and ruins when Matt leaned over to me and said, "Have you noticed that everything on this tour is the Mas Importante?" (Most Important).  We thought it was pretty funny!  So now we are saying it about the most insignificant things, "This is the most important chair, lunch, pool in all of South America" ect.

 Getting to Machu Picchu is no easy task.  The next day was pretty exhausting, a two hour bus ride, a two hour train ride, and then a death defying hair pin turning speed bus straight up the mountain.  Anyone who has made this trek shouldn't find it surprising that Machu Picchu wasn't discovered until 1911, given it's lofty location.  During my research I was alarmed by a side note in an article about the Incan ruins.  Apparently Machu Picchu is sinking everyday, and they are expecting a catastrophic mudslide to happen any day.  Great.  I tried to put this out of my head.  I kept thinking, "The scientists have also been predicting a devastating earthquake to happen any day in Salt Lake for as long as I can remember, it still hasn't happened.  I'm sure everything will be fine."  But, keep in mind it hasn't stopped raining hard in three days.  As we started the final leg of our journey, (straight up a mountain, hairpin turns) we rounded a sharp corner, and then I saw it.  A MUDSLIDE!  As if this scary bus ride wasn't enough.  Matt could tell my anxiety was peeking.  He tried to clam me, "Babe, this is more like a baby mudslide."  Please.  The first portion of our tour was freezing, it was raining and really windy.  After about 30 minutes all the rain and fog cleared out and it turned into a beautiful day.  The ruins were really amazing, we learned a lot about the history and discovery of the site.  It's pretty crazy how much of the history of the Inca's has been lost.  Some of the stones were so large, it's mind boggling imagining how the Incas built such advanced cities with limited technology.  Obviously we made it through the mudslide and we are on to Colombia!  I'm missing everyone so much, thanks for the support and the great e-mails.  Matt is pretty stoked to show me his old stomping grounds in Colombia.  Chao!

Iguazu Falls and Chili's!

Ok folks, this will be a long post since we haven't written in a while so hang in there.  The past week has been crazy!  We left Patagonia last Wednesday to head to Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil.  We arrived at the National Park and did the "Jungle Tour," it had been recommended to us by several people.  This consists of: a short ride through the jungle, an "ecological" raft ride, and then... a boat ride "past" the falls.  When we hopped aboard the boat we quickly realized we were the only two people who weren't wearing swim suits, (when we bought the tickets the agent told us we may get a little wet).  The boat driver revved the engine and we knew we were in trouble.  We then went head on into the "Devil's Throat!"  I did have a short lived panic attack but when I saw all the kids around me laughing and screaming I figured this was just part of the tour.  The boat driver then continued to do 360's directly into the falls.  Whew!  Iguazu was so much more than I expected.  It was a pretty wild experience to see the falls from both under and above water.  We will attach pics, it sounds cliché but honestly you have to see them in person to really see how amazing and humbling they are.  The natives say that, "God was only practicing when he made Niagara, he perfected water falls with Iguazu."  Enough said.

We went from Iguazu Falls to Buenos Aires, from the domestic airport there we had to transfer to the international to catch a flight to Lima, then from Lima to Cuzco.  One of the major airlines in South America was striking at the airport in Buenos Aires.  The protestors had barricaded the entrance to the airport.  Our taxi driver was very upset about this, while stuck in traffic we even got interviewed by a local news station.  Our driver said, "This is unacceptable, it's a disaster for everyone.  Look, I have two passengers trying to get to Lima and I'm only trying to make a living.  Unacceptable, disaster."  I left out the Spanish cursing.  When we arrived at the "DISASTER", it was more like 10 dudes banging on drums and high five-ing each other for closing all entrances to the airport...not cool Argentine unions, not cool.

Anyway we made our flight to Lima late that night and had a super early flight so we decided to kill time and grab something to eat.  Now, up to this point, we've avoided any american food that can be found at home, a key travel rule that my dad passed on to me as a child....well, hell, who knew Lima has a Chili's.  I folded.  The egg rolls, queso, wings...tex/mex in Lima was my reward for downing three weeks of Argentine steak.  Well, serves me right, because I got downright sick for two days and still feel that something is not right with the world.  I've re committed myself to the unspoken rule of foreign travel and will diligently avoid american chains at all cost...maybe.

A few things worth mentioning: packs of stray dogs, people smoking on planes, Latin Machismo, butting in line, toddlers drinking wine, bidets in general, socks with sandals and feathered mullets.

Bingo!

As I mentioned I've been very excited for the Bingo/Tango/Latin cover band/Pizza Party held at our hotel last night.  We ate lots of pizza, watched some tango dancing and played bingo.  We played three rounds of bingo, I won the first, my reward, a box of chocolate.  I was pretty stoked considering I never win anything.  We were playing the third and final round,  you could feel the suspense in the air.  It was an Argentine standoff between Matt and a Senora.  It turned out that they both had the exact same Bingo card, so it was a tie.  He said that since I had already won he would just let the lady have the prize.  All the Latin's started going crazy... "No! No! You don't understand mister, you just won a free week at this hotel for four people!"  I was pretty sure that I was totally misunderstanding what was happening but sure enough, he did win a week here!  Aye carumba!  It's valid for two years so it looks like we will be back.  Actually I doubt I will be back, I'm guessing Matt and some lucky friends/family will be back to fly fish.  Anyway, it was such a fun night.  These peeps really let loose, some of the dancing was unbelievable (Matt held his own for a Gringo).  I also found it pretty amusing to see a group of 40 adults so worked up about playing bingo...

Today was also muy buenisima!  We went horseback riding through the Patagonian mountains with a guide named Carol Jones, her grandfather used to ride with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  Her grandfather had a ranch in Texas, then migrated to the unknown lands of Patagonia.  So, we rode all day with a descendant of Texas in Patagonia Argentina speaking English and Spanish wrestling cattle and cooking beef on an open fire.  Carol mothered me all day, she had me in six layers of clothing (yes SIX), she kept telling me to apply more sunscreen to my face, "Annie you okay," she was so sweet.  The horse riding, landscape and dirt all brought me back to the time I spent during my summers at my dad's families ranch in Idaho.  Matt (the ultimate City Slicker), actually acted like he had been on a horse more than twice.  He had Torro (his horse) and Little Blackie (my horse, that's what I named her, to pay homage to one of my new fave movies 'True Grit') galloping like there is no tomorrow!  We both loved it and have some sore butts to prove it. I think we may have seen some exotic deer that can be found on Amie and Jason's ranch. 

Tomorrow we're off to the Iguazu Falls in northern Argentina, it's a long flight and we should go from about 65 degrees to 98 degrees with humidity, but for now, we are chillin' by the lake, soaking it all in.