We sent the boys to school Friday morning while we did the final preparations to check out of our apartment. Then we picked the boys up at lunch time and stuffed ourselves and our luggage into a remis (car service) to the airport. The boys and I took a late afternoon flight to Santiago Chile, arriving just before dinner. We checked into the Holiday Inn at the airport, used the swimming pool, and ate dinner. Then dad arrived from a different flight and we went to bed. We woke up early Saturday morning for our flight to Bogotá.
The security man with a big gun immediately attracted the boys' attention when we were leaving the terminal in Bogotá. Throughout our time in the city we all noticed the large number of armed security people with very visible guns. Argentina had more security people than we are accustomed to seeing in the United States, but significantly less than in Bogotá. While the firearms made us feel uncomfortable (it made us think that there might be reason for the armed security people everywhere), I think the effect was opposite for many Colombians. Given their experiences with years of violence associated with narco-traffickers, paramilitary, military, and guerrillas, the armed security people probably make a number of Colombians feel safer and more secure.
John orders an Uber driver to take us to our temporary apartment. We used Uber drivers during our stay in Colombia. It was a good experience overall. Many (but not all) were quite talkative so we learned a bit about life in Colombia, history, and tourism. They were also quite convenient: we didn't have to negotiate rates or worry about having enough cash (everything was paid with our credit card).
During our stay in Bogotá, we rented a 2-bedroom apartment in this building in Zona G. We chose this neighborhood because John would be working on Monday and Tuesday and the apartment was only a couple blocks from the office. Zona G is a very upscale neighborhood known for excellent restaurants, and true to form, we mostly saw high rise apartments and restaurants in the neighborhood.
We didn't do much on our first day in Bogotá, especially since we were pretty tired (we arrived in the afternoon, about 24 hours after we had left Buenos Aires and the days before our departure had been packed with activities). After relaxing briefly in the apartment, we walked a couple blocks to the common Colombian chain restaurant, Crepes & Waffles, for lunch. The boys loved it (except for the unsweetened fruit juice); I was a bit surprised to be eating a crepe and had had a different expectation of what Colombian food would be like. As we left the restaurant, a downpour began so we returned to our apartment to relax for the rest of the evening until dinner time. For better or worse, we ventured outside again. Everyone was tired and grumpy, so we did not fully enjoy our dinner at a nice pizza restaurant that John had visited during his previous business trip to Bogotá.
It was a treat to visit places that John had been to during his business trip to Bogotá in late 2015. During his stay, he sent me a photograph of this restaurant (and I posted it in this blog). It was neat to take another photograph of the restaurant with all of us together. Unfortunately, we never had the time to eat at the restaurant.