My birthday, Caldo, and Bogota with Lee

Thursday was the last day of class for my conversation II class, and somebody told them it was my birthday on Wednesday, so they brought me a cake which was really nice. From left to right, there’s Laura, Dalia, Laura, me, Andrei, Gloria, Stephanie, and Sandra, with Rodolfo and Diana up front. Rodolfo also gave me a cd of crazy Colombian music that has been mixed with American songs. I’ll miss this class, they were really smart and very easy to teach.
This is a picture of Caldo, which is a typical breakfast in Santander (the part of Colombia I live in). It’s a soup made from potatoes, egg, toast, cilantro and either hot water or a mix of hot milk and water. It’s usually eaten with arepa (made of ground corn), which is also pictured. Caldo isn’t much to look at, but it’s really delicious.

Sunday after my basketball game (which was awful), Lee and I hopped on a bus to Bogota so I could get my Brazilian visa. This is a recent picture of Lee and me.
While we were waiting for the embassy to do their thing, we went to the Gold Museum and the underground Salt Cathedral. The Gold Museum was great, the photo you see here is regalia worn by a chieftain for important ceremonies.
The Salt Cathedral was also very cool. It’s essentially an entire cathedral that has been carved into an underground salt mine. It is HUGE, and the mine is still active today (I think our guide said they extract 4 tons of salt daily). This picture is of the main nave, although the whole complex is MUCH bigger.