We're Finally Licensed!

First of all, I'd like to say welcome to any readers who've found us here from the careers.state.gov homepage. Hello!  They just added us to the official blogroll, which is kinda' cool. Guess I'd better proofread a bit more carefully from now on out.

So, after waiting for our truck to make its way from Seattle to Bogota (about three months) and then watching it sit on the Embassy lot for  another two months awaiting its dip plates-  we're finally legit and have our very own vehicle in our apartment parking garage. While Tim and I don't plan to use it much for regular commuting, we've been looking forward to taking some weekend trips, or even just day trips, to explore the area. Last Saturday we started by heading up into the mountains of La Calera, the eastern spine of Bogota. I've been looking at this vertical barrier for months now, watching the car lights on the one road as they wind their way up into...? I didn't know. I've had daydreams of what it must look like "up there," and finally got to see it firsthand.

We found beautifully green and rolling (sometimes very steep) countryside with farms, sleepy small towns, fancy developments with golf resorts, roadside grill restaurants (parillas), weekend homes for Bogotanos and historic towns complete with legends of gold-filled lakes (El Dorado in Guatavita).

Let me show you around a bit:

Nice local gentleman taking it easy in Guasca under the umbrella-trees

How many shades of green?

Roadside restaurant - vegetarians beware, it's a carn-fest here!

"Protect him - It could be your son!" to remind us not to run the cyclists off the road.

Uhhhh... what? Any ideas?

Approaching Guasca

So it feels great to have the liberty of a vehicle again. We even went grocery shopping and it didn't involve a taxi or a heavily-laden 20 minute walk with the grocery bags and their tourniquet effect on my fingers. Seeing new horizons has a rejuvinating effect, too, reminding me of what a beautiful country this is instead of just the big ole' brick city that I see everyday through the windows of the armored van. We even had the truck windows open for fresh air! And were able to play music we loved as we drove!

Ah, the forgotten pleasures.

Although we visited the plaza of central Guatavita, quite a tourist attraction, we didn't hear the whole legend nor hike up to the gold-filled lake. That'll be for another weekend adventure.

In the meanwhile, it feels so nice to be normal again.