We have arrived in South America! Great Level 1 seminar in Bogota and then a couple days in Santiago, Chile with our good friend, Danette, while we awaited the van's arrival.
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| LONG hours of flying from Kilimanjaro to Ethiopia, on to Rome, and then back to familiar turf in WA DC for 8 hours of layover! |
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| Final leg from Washington DC took us to Bogota for the seminar, and then finally finished in Santiago! We are finally here! |
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| CrossFit Bogota Level 1 seminar! |
The seminar staff had a great introduction to Bogota by dining at the EXPERIENCE restaurant, Andres DC - the city version of
Andres Carne de Res, which is a huge restaurant on the outskirts of the city and has been a popular circus of an establishment out there for a long time. This place is fantastic - 5 floors of colorful mayhem with TV's on each floor to show you what you're missing on all the others. Super fun! See it if you're ever in Bogota!
Thank goodness for English Speaking translations on the menu! I copied this and took it with us to other restaurants, later!
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| Adriana - The Queen (Burger Queen?) |
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| Sangria in the heart of Colombia |
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| Fernando, the King of the bread basket! |
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| Lunching in Santiago with Danette! |
Our hostel in Santiago gave us clear signage on what we needed to know! What further clarification does one need, really?
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| Our bus ride from Santiago to Valparaiso was adventure in itself with all our loads of luggage we are dragging from the US to Kilimanjaro, trying to get to the van! Whew! |
Loved our hostel in Valparaiso! Lots of fun artwork!
Angel Hostal, in the heart of historic Valparaiso, with tight turns and cobblestone streets, and graffiti art everywhere you look!
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| Valparaiso is the seaport city where the van was shipped to. Very bohemian and artistic, graffiti artists took it over and have given the historic city it's own charm and character through the a wide variety of perspectives on graphic art, colorful houses, and little funiculars that transport you up the steep hills into historical neighborhoods! |
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| Mike and our container roommate from Colorado got the van ok in Valparaiso, though it took all day because just as
they opened the doors to the container, there was a spider glimpsed on
the side of the van. That threw Customs into a tizzy and they resealed
the van and made Mike wait for hours while they discussed how the spider
could have gotten in there if it was fumigated in the US. They had to
go to Agriculture and discussed re-fumigation. Finally they decided to
re-open the container and look again. When they did, they saw the
container has a hole in the ceiling, so they could see how the spider
got in there after the container was sealed. They finally released the
van and shrugged it off. Sigh. Oh well. At least we got it and all
our stuff was intact! |
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| Next adventure was to drive around the tight streets of Valparaiso and get this beast parked somewhere secure for the night! Mike made several 3-point turns around hairpin curves and switchbacks, trying to figure out how to get back to the hostel on all the various one-way streets. At last arriving there, we then had the challenge, much to the dismay and amusement of local residents, of getting the van pulled into the tiny secure parking lot, just below one of the city elevators! After much ado, we got it parked and had a restful night before heading out of that crazy city! |
Our last stop in this area was to visit
CrossFit Reñaca in Viña del Mar/Valparaiso, where had 2 days of great workouts and instruction by one of the national Olympic Weightlifting coaches in Chile! What a treat! This gym has in incredible location right on the beach, with amazing views out it's panoramic windows! Thanks to Lucas, Bastian, and Grisel for their warm hospitality and tolerating our spotty Spanish!
The seminar staff had a great introduction to Bogota by dining at the EXPERIENCE restaurant, Andres DC - the city version of Andres Carne de Res, which is a huge restaurant on the outskirts of the city and has been a popular circus of an establishment out there for a long time. This place is fantastic - 5 floors of colorful mayhem with TV's on each floor to show you what you're missing on all the others. Super fun! See it if you're ever in Bogota!
Thank goodness for English Speaking translations on the menu! I copied this and took it with us to other restaurants, later!
Loved our hostel in Valparaiso! Lots of fun artwork!
Our last stop in this area was to visit CrossFit Reñaca in Viña del Mar/Valparaiso, where had 2 days of great workouts and instruction by one of the national Olympic Weightlifting coaches in Chile! What a treat! This gym has in incredible location right on the beach, with amazing views out it's panoramic windows! Thanks to Lucas, Bastian, and Grisel for their warm hospitality and tolerating our spotty Spanish!
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