Bogota part 1:casa de anyela

Arriving in Bogotá I was welcomed by the friendly faces of Anyela and her brother Dario. After a quick stop at her families house in the city we were off to the countryside and a horde of relatives to celebrate the new year.

My Spanish was soon exposed as very limited, and I embarked on a crash course in Spanish led by Anyela's two nieces Sofia and Mariana, who were both puzzled by this stranger who couldn't speak properly.

The new years celebrations were a lot of fun, erecting the tents to sleep in before the festivities started I demonstrated a gringos ability to attract mosquitoes from miles around, but was then treated to a masterclass in bug killing as an electrified tennis racket was used with deadly effect to eliminate all bugs.

Some of my professoras

Colombian new years celebrations seem to revolve around two things food and fireworks. Over the two days i was there copious amounts of delicious food was produced, especially nice was cerdo, a suckling pig stuffed with rice and vegetables.

New year is seen in by the burning of an effigy constructed from old clothes, similar to a guy. I was surprised when helping to build it when a fair amount of flash powder (you light it and it goes bang), was added to the old clothes, but was even more surprised when they started stuffing the guy with fireworks too! The new year was seen in throwing a list of bad things from the year before (I'm looking at you thesis writing) into the fire, accompanied by a firework salute (fireworks held in peoples hands fired into the night), with the firework stuffed guy on the fire. Pretty sure that would never be allowed in the UK! Anyway it was great fun, and no one injured themselves.

The next week in Bogotá was filled with trips to awesome places, in another post, but was thoroughly improved by the hospitality of Anyela's family, and the Spanish lessons they provided. And of course the food!

A highlight was the BBQ on my final day, with seemingly half a cow and a chicken on the BBQ, putting the British BBQ to shame. Served with salad and potatoes, which were definitively tastier than any other potato I have ever had.  And of course the juice! Fresh fruit juice is a massive luxury that I am determined to take full advantage of in my time in south america!

BBQ!