On our first full day in Colombia our plan was to do some shopping and later meet up with Sandra, Hara's Colombian friend. The first thing we discovered about Bogotá was its horrendous traffic. It took quite some time to get to our destination.Luckily our driver was very good although it was quite a ride. We went to one of the local malls which was beautiful. Later drove around just getting a view of the city. My first impression - a very modern and cosmopolitan city with a very vibrant upper middle class. A lot of very lovely and modern apartments and lofts right in the heart of the city.
After an afternoon nap we planned to meet up with Sandra at a restaurant named Quarés in the center of the city. It was supposed to be close by but took more than an hour to get there due to traffic. I frankly was expecting white linen tablecloths and tuxedoed waitstaff, and quiet violin or guitar music. I was way off. I could hear the steady rock thump thump well outside the place. I knew we were way out of our league by about 35 years. The menu was longer than most airline magazines, and mostly in Spanish. We decided to just let Sandra order and hope we wouldn't get "snake surprise". We ended up the a selection of potato dishes, empanadas, and local chorizos. It was a very hip crowd there and we were still in the early hours before things really started to rock. What hearing I had left was useless, so I just nodded alot and smiled. When we got back to the hotel at about 11:00 we were all pretty fried.