Bogotá – whiskey, rumba and meat

January 25-28

We arrived late on Thursday to Bogotá, Colombia, birthplace of our brother-in-law and Shakira. OK – Shakira wasn’t born in Bogotá, but she is Colombian. Since we don’t know Shakira (yet), we went with our other options and spent time with Oscar’s family for a few days. We had a blast. But before we get into that, we had just one night in a hotel in Zona Rosa before meeting up with Juan and Yubely. Zona Rosa is a really chic part of town, with a lot of high end shopping, great restaurants, and Bogotá Brewing Company (BBC). We split our time between the first and the last. I walked away with a great pair of boots and we both walked away with a few extra calories from BBC:

Juan and Yubely met us at the BBC and took us immediately to eat. I had been warned by Michael that they were going to try to feed us nonstop. I was mostly ready.

Steak, plantains, yuca, chicharrónes… and a few cervezas.

We stayed with Juan and Yubely for the rest of our time in Bogotá. Their apartment was incredible – including the view which overlooked the mountains.

We were really spoiled the entire time we were with them and incredibly grateful. After getting settled in, we headed off to dinner at Carlos Vives’s restaurant. Carlos Vives is a multi Grammy winner and sings this song with Shakira:

So his restaurant, Gaira Café, is basically just a huge party that serves great food. We arrived around 8 or 9 on Friday night and there was a huge line outside the restaurant. Yubely just walked up to the door and I don’t know what she said to the doorman, but we walked right in. We definitely did not have reservations. Once in, Yubely walked into the roped off space and claimed a table. The waiter came over and told us that the tables were reserved, but it took only about a minute for the guy to cave. So now we had a table in a prime spot for the show. Yes, show. This restaurant has a huge stage and puts on a show, that is apparently televised, each night.

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This level of entertainment went on for hours. Set changes, people being lowered from the ceiling, costume changes, audience participation… it was incredible. That’s right… a cocodrilo dropping down into the crowd.

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The place is a weird mix of restaurant, night club, and performance space, so besides eating a ton of great Colombian food, we also had bottle service, because of course we did.

The crowd was great, in general. Everyone was dancing all night, with certain songs causing the entire place to jump up to dance and other songs causing the entire building to sing along. There was a great group of ten twenty-something women sitting in front of us. “Sitting”. They danced the entire night – just having a blast with each other. Michael and I did dance some and Juan and Yubely danced (and were really good). But mostly we just enjoyed watching everyone else dance. Towards the end of the evening we started dancing with the women in front of us who just so happened to love Michael. The one woman awkwardly, albeit sweetly, asked my permission to dance with him. I gave the green light. I did, however, put the block on a woman from a different table who asked Michael to dance with her. Yubely thought she was up to no good, and although I couldn’t understand what Yubely was saying about her, I felt a similar vibe, so had no issue putting a hard stop on that.

Here is a famous Brazilian singer who filled in for Shakira on the Bicycle song. I definitely don’t know her name.

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We stayed out way past our bedtime, but had so much fun.

On Saturday, we met up with our buddy, Hector, who we use to play soccer with in Chicago. Hector moved back to Colombia after a few months in Chicago and now lives in Bogotá.

Hector hung out with us for a bit at Juan and Yubely’s apartment and then the five of us went to dinner at Andrés Carne de Res. This restaurant/bar/rumbeadero is about an hour drive outside of the city. When I googled it to double check the spelling, I found this description that works too well not to steal: “Alice-in-Wonderland meets Moulin Rouge… mind-boggling trip of bright lights, theatrical service… a party place like no other”.

Upon arriving, Yubely was not pleased with the table we received, so she told them it was my birthday to get a better table. That landed me with an entire band playing happy birthday, a crown and a sash:

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This also led to an entire evening (and part of the next morning) with the five of us reminding each other how “muy importante” I am.

The next morning we left Juan and Yubely and headed out of the city with Lucy and Tonio – Oscar’s parents – for lunch with Jorge and his wife, Maria Paula. Being out in the country was such a huge change from spending time with Yubely and Juan in the city.

After spending a little time exploring the incredible farm that Jorge and Maria Paula live on, we headed off to lunch at Tereza al Tambor which is an outdoor restaurant where a bunch of Colombians come on Sundays to have a long lunch. People order food and then sit around enjoying the fresh air, some live music and each other. It was a really enjoyable meal.

Once again, a ton of meat:

But also we had a Colombian drink called Refajo Colombiano which involves mixing Colombian soda and beer together. It is surprisingly delicious and easy to drink:

After eating way too much, we headed into La Calera which is a really cute traditional Colombian town. We walked through the market and square for awhile and, because we’re in Colombia, had ice cream to throw on top of all that other food that we’ve been eating. We are definitely walking away from Bogotá muy gordo.

Thank you to all of the wonderful family that took us around Bogotá. It was great spending time with you all and the food/dancing/drink was all too much!! Thank you for your hospitality. We can’t wait to come back!