Breakfast (not Breakfest) in Colombia

So after a Saturday night out in Bogotá with my Colombian friends we were feeling a bit hungover. We went to search out some breakfast which in Colombia is probably just as exciting as the rest of the food. 

If you're bored by food talk then move on now. This is literally just descriptions of food. Haha.

So.....The bakery round the corner from our hotel had 'huevos rancheros' which turned out just to be scrambled eggs with fake cheese on the top. Perhaps not in the Mexican style we'd hoped for...

The other breakfast dish which I can approve of is the calentado. It's basically just rice and beans with the occasional hunk of fat or meat. Served with a cold, hard arepa (like most meals in Colombia) and a dodgy sausage. In this case with an egg on top or you can usually also choose carne which is typically a bit of steak. 

I immediately passed on the sausage and cold arepa to the homeless man outside and at lightning speed he ate the sausage and put the arepa in his pocket. Yep even hungry homeless people aren't that keen.

While I'm on breakfast here's a few other breakfasts. This one is eggs, calentado, plantain and a cold arepa.

And eggs, cold arepa, white bread (almost all bread has sugar here! And a weird sweet smell) and tasteless cheese. 

We've also had a few soups for breakfast. And a specialty here is a soup/stew with ribs but we're yet to eat it. Another one which we have had is called Changua and is a soup with milk and eggs with hunks of stale bread in it. Obviously served with arepa. Tastier than it sounds (and looks) for sure. 

Colombia's Capital and Cheesy Hot Chocolate

Next on the agenda was Colombia's capital, Bogotá. After seeing the homelessness and drug problems in Medellin I was a bit unsure of what to expect with a city housing 8 million humans. Here's a picture of the old town which is basically just tourists, pigeons, people selling stuff to tourists, police and of course some army guys in full uniform with enormous guns. 

I spent weeks in Medellin and felt like I walked around so many different areas of the city so I certainly saw how everyone was living. The thing is in Colombia all you need to do is take one wrong turn or walk one street too far and you'll find prostitutes, homelessness, extreme poverty and drug problems. The street behind the biggest museum in Medellin is full of prostitues. When we first arrived in Bogota I was wondering why everyone said it was so dodgy. Next minute I'm confronted by the large nipples of an overweight woman in a dress that is essentially made of rope. Like one of those shopping bags you get. Yep, we took a wrong turn. 

Anyway it's not all bad. They have a hill with a church on it of course! It's called Montserrat and this is the view from the bottom. And don't worry, the hill next door has Jesus on it.

Your options to reach the top are funicular, cable car or a million steps. In South America every guidebook and the Internet tells you that climbing the steps is a bad idea because basically you'll get mugged. This seems to be standard regardless of the country. Haha. Anyway I've been on so many cable cars in the last six months so we decided to take the funicular. 

It's actually gorgeous up the top. Besides the church there's shops, restaurants and an area to exercise if you're feeling keen. And at night it's all lit up. Oh and that white thing on the other hill is Jesus but I have no clue how you get there.

And this is what a city of 8 million inhabitants looks like. You actually can't see the sprawl for the clouds/fog/pollution. 

Later that day we visited the Gold Museum which is one of Bogota's main attractions. The museum is incredibly well presented but I still found it kinda boring since there wasn't much explanation. Or maybe it was boring and I didn't read it. Not sure. Please don't judge me. Here's some things made of gold...

Then we went off to the Botero Museum which is the guy that did the chubby statues. I didn't know who he was before and when I saw his art used in an anti-obesity campaign in Ecuador I thought it was really amusing but it only just clicked!  Here's one of the art works used in that campaign on display in the museum. 

From what I read he actually donated a lot of his own art and some from his personal collection to create this museum. What a guy. Here's some more of his stuff.

And this beautiful sculpture by Salvador Dali which I loved. 

Then we finished the afternoon with a hot chocolate and cheese. This a a Colombian thing. You can dip the cheese in the chocolate but since it's like rubber anyway not much happens. Not that I needed to further cement my theory that Colombians have no taste buds but I have. 

And no, we didn't get a bad one. If you google Colombian hot chocolate with cheese you will see images identical to this. Including the buttered hot dog roll!

Breakfest Colombia - Medellín

So I forgot to post about this but while I was in Medellin by myself I saw a poster for Breakfest (please note fest not fast). I've been suffering through a lot of Latin Music and as much as I love Enrique I was ready to hear some Australian and (sorry Latin America) decent music again. Endless bachata, Cumbia, salsa and merengue have been taking their toll.  

All I could see on the billboard was The Foals, Bag Raiders, Art Department and Tokimonsta but that was enough. I tracked down a venue and purchased my $50 ticket. 

Here's the actual lineup for the festival...

I didn't quite know what to expect since I didn't know who in Colombia could possibly like this kind of music since I'd never heard anything like it here. Well it turns out, not that many people. Haha. It was the quietest festival I've ever attended but it was also the coolest venue. In Parque Norte (North Park) in Medellin. 

Here's some pics of some of the chill out zones....

I saw some guys starting a grafitti wall. My intention was to return later to capture the finished product. I didn't, so please use your imagination. 

The park already had some rides but they decorated the bumper cars to look like the latest range of adidas sneakers.

They also had a huge slide and a trampoline. Imagine that in Australia?! People would clearly be dead and everything in sight destroyed. 

I tracked down a burger for dinner and while I was eating I overheard a guy ask his friends for a serviette. They didn't have one so I handed one over. Five minutes later I had a bunch of new Colombian friends. 

After food for some reason we decided it would be a great idea to go on a roller coaster. So off we go to line up. Everyone was super excited. Here we are waiting...

As I get to the end of the line I see a guy in a lab coat wearing a face mask. I thought it was a costume or something but then I realise people are dropping like flies from the queue. Next thing I hear is that they're breath testing people. A few of my friends go first and next minute they're out of the line. Next up my turn. I blow across the mouth piece thinking I've only had 2 beers I'm sure I'll be fine. As he's waiting for the result I ask what the limit is. Completely deadpan he replies 'zero', I laugh and my chances of riding a roller coaster are over. If you wanna do that to me Colombia, at least put a sign at the front of the queue! Breath test not required.

Anyway onto the alcohol situation, the festival was supported by Miller so I obviously had to drink Miller. At least it was only $2.50. Not like the time I attended Circo and had to pay almost $10 for a can of Emu Export. 

Redbull was only $4.50 so I thought why not, I'll have a redbull and vodka. I was then informed I could only buy vodka by the bottle. Ok. Later that night my new friends decide it's time to purchase a bottle of whisky. I agree. Off we go to purchase a bottle of Jameson's(!). They won't give us the glass bottle so we watch the bar tender pour it into a plastic drink bottle.

And here we are drinking whisky on the rocks. Haha.

Overall it was a great day although I embarrassed myself hugely when I thought Bag Raiders were Canadian (oops). And get this, I never once lined up for a toilet! Unbelievable. 

Escobar's Estate

Once upon a time a certain drug lord purchased some land which he named 'Hacienda Napoles' (Naples Estate) and commenced creating his very own safari park. The park is about 3 hours east of Medellin basically in the middle of nowhere in a gorgeous (but extremely hot!) valley.

He brought in pairs of exotic animals (mostly from Africa) and let them roam free on his grounds and invited guests to drive round like it was a safari park. Here is the result of some of this freedom given to the animals....a zebra donkey. Naturally conceived. 

After his death most of his properties were looted including his house in the Hacienda. A lot of the animals died and a lot were relocated to zoos around the world. There was a lot of uncertainty about what would happen to the property but in the end the local municipality was given permission to operate it as a theme park. The park is so big that you can still bring your own car or motorbike in but they have thankfully put the animals in cages.

The result is ummmm, interesting. Some of the animals are original and some are more recent additions. There are also a lot of dinosaur statues. Apparently Pablo had a thing for dinosaurs and I read that there were originally some made with real dinosaur bones. It's not possible to know if they're all original though.

When we arrived at the park a little tuk tuk came to pick us up and give us a tour of the first half of the park which is basically impossible to walk around since the park is so huge and it's so damn hot!

Pablo also built his very own full sized bull fighting ring (naturally). This has now been chopped in half and turned into an African Ethnographic museum. It includes some history of African slavery in Colombia and a picture of Charlize Theron. Need I say more.

More recent additions to the hacienda include a water park with various slides, a lazy river and this particular pool which is turned off in the photo but is a huge waterfall (Victoria Falls obviously) that was actually quite scary and violent when switched on! Haha. 

The park also has a butterfly house, crocodiles, reptiles, ocelots, monkeys, donkeys, some 'rare' goat (apparently?!), elephants, lions, tigers, meer cats, ostriches and the cutest donkeys you will ever see. This little guy was actually my highlight because he was so friendly.

So what about that Escobar guy you ask. Well I think they're a bit stuck between using his property but not wanting to glorify any of his life. His old house on the property was never restored and used to be somewhat of a museum. The house was in such bad condition that it was demolished earlier this year. Now there's a small display with photos and articles about his life and crimes including a large photo of his dead body (hey kids don't be a drug lord!). Here's Spaghetti O reading an article about Escobar (with a beer of course).

The Hacienda also has possession of a helicopter owned by Escobar (the property has a helipad and airstrip). Out the front of the park is a replica of a plane which apparently took the first shipment of cocaine out of Colombia. 

Escobar's first car was a Renault 4 which is also on display along with a few of his other vehicles (in pretty poor condition due to being set on fire after a bombing of one of his properties). There's also a mini hovercraft, an early Jetski and several other boys toys. 

And then there's just some weird stuff with zero explanation.

There's also a rhinoceros named Vera.

And a hippo named Vanessa. 

The hippos are another story altogether. Vanessa is a friendly one since she was raised by humans but the rest are in a separate lake on the property. Apparently there are 50-60 on the property. We went to see them in the lake (but the photos are a bit too hard to see) and there are heaps. The lake on the property is enormous too. Most of these animals have plenty of space.

The thing with hippos is that they are extremely territorial and can be quite dangerous to humans (hence the sign). Not a problem in the park really (although our tuk tuk driver says he's seen them on the road before!) but the issue is that some have escaped. On top of that, they love Colombia. The conditions in the surrounding lakes and rivers are perfect for them...and they're breeding like crazy. Apparently it's the only colony of hippos outside Africa and they estimate there are up to 40 outside of the park.  If you want to read more about it you can check out this article which is quite interesting:

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27905743

Anyway as the day came to an end our original driver was cruising around the park in this little bus. He came to pick us up while we were checking out the tigers.  We visited mid-week so the park was pretty quiet and we were the only people without our own car!