Pre-Christmas time in Colombia

Living already almost four months here in Colombia showed me that many things here work a bit different. Already in the beginning of November it became clear to me that also the time before Christmas is lived in a different way than we do it in Germany. Of course I am currently really missing winter and Christmas markets and honestly I am a bit jealous that there is snow in Germany now. Anyways there is a lot in Colombia that is also amazing about the time just before Christmas:
 

- Christmas decoration wherever you look – private houses, companies and especially malls put a lot of effort to be decorated before the 1^st December. When speaking of Christmas lights it is impossible to not talk about the famous mountain Monserrate which lies on 3200m (Bogotá itself is on a hight of 2600m). During pre-Christmas time Monserrate is the tourist attraction even for locals as the city puts a lot of love into decorating every corner of the view spot that lets you see most of Bogotá. I say most of Bogotá, as Bogotá has a size that’s unimaginable. So for everyone who wanted to visit Colombia and Bogotá in December go and wait the 3hours to drive to the top in “Teleferico” (Cable car you might know from your last winter vacation) or “Funicular” (a train that goes up the hill – actually just a bigger version of the one in my hometown called “Turmbergbahn”). Here I let some pictures speak for itself. 

Canelazo - typical Colombian drink for cold Bogotá nights

Just a few (1000) people waiting to go up the hill

 

 

L O V E

Bogotá by night <3

Can you see how she's tanned and I am not :D

Santuario de Monserrate

Deep inside I am an angel

- As Colombia is a very catholic country, the pre-Christmas time is a very important one including very nice mangers to be found in every single church and other places like two in my university (the one in the congregation where we go is huge with streets of Jerusalem to be discovered) and traditionally the Advent wreath with one candle every Advent Sunday will be blessed by the father. 

- 8 ^th December: might seem like any other date in December to you, but here in Colombia it’s an official holiday. The night of the 7^th everybody celebrates “el día de los velitas” the day of the little candles. This is a holiday on the eve of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Colombia around the world is the only country that holds up this tradition of lighting candles in name of the Holy Mary. With each candle people make a prayer for e.g. their family or to say thank you for the things they have received in life or wishes for the future. Next to candles they will also light fireworks, "Chispitas Mariposas"(sparklers or Wunderkerzen how we call it in German). It is a very calm and nice family night with actually all the neighborhood

 

 

Candles in all forms and decorations - loved this recycled one

 

- Las Novenas: nine days before Christmas eve (24^th  December) every night the family gets together and prays and sings for baby Jesus to arrive. Every day another person of the bible is addressed, so different days there is one special prayer for Maria, Joseph etc. It’s a really cute Christmas tradition that’s quite a bonding experience. 

- Christmas: Chirstmas is actually also celebrated on the 24^th at night similar to how we do it in Germany. Here there is, of course, also a mess we celebrated in a park near by as the church itself cannot handle if all the people come to the mass at the same time. After church everyone went home, us including my dear friend Laufey from Iceland who traveled almost all of South America and who finalizes her trip here in Colombia. Our Christmas food was Tamal – a very tipical food in general in Colombia. That is a corn mass including some veggies, chickpeas and a piece of chicken all evolved in banana leaves – super recommendable if you’re here once. And well with a full stomach, loud music and already tired feet from dancing at 12 everybody gets up, holds a glass of wine and counts down from 10 to 0, because 12 o’clock baby Jesus arrives and finally the presents can be shared. All in all it was really nice to share such a special holiday with my second family here in Colombia and with one of the most important people in my life. 

Anyhow have I been with my family in my thoughts and I cannot wait to share it at home next year, with Christmas markets, my loved ones, cold weather (yes Bogotá isn’t super warm but like 0-5 degrees I would actually appreciate, thanks to heatings in Germany haha) 

Muchos Besos,

Leonie

Food Market Paloquemao, Bogotá

One must do in South American countries is for sure to visit one of the food markets of the city you're in. The most popular one is Paloquemao.  It is easily reached by public transport and has a large variety of products. It is one of the most visited markets of foreigners and I'd definitly recommend to visit it with locals as the large variety of new fruits can be a bit overwhelming.

They were as yummy as they look like 

The market was super pretty and in the end of the tour, with many fruits, panela and quinoa in my bag we made our way to a juice stand right in the middle of the market. Juices are a big thing here in Colombia. Thanks to the tropical climate fruits like Maracuya, Mango, Guayava, Pineapple, Papaya, Banana and others all year long. Most of them are imported to Bogotá but especially when traveling to the hotter parts of Colombia or the cost one can fine fruits that are even more delicious.

It is actually impressive how Pitaya (alias dragon fruit but here it is yellow on the outside) or Papaya actually are really rich in taste compared to the imported fruits one can find in Europe.

love the decorations!!

Additionally to it all being extremely yummy a big cup of juice only costs 5000-6000COP (1,47-1,76€). In general prices for fruits here are insanely low – when I went to buy some mango I paid 1800COP (0,53€) for a big yellow super yummy mango. Sadly we had to figure that due to high visiting rates of tourists the sellers at Paloquemao had higher prices than our local supermarket around the corner. 

Mangostino - yellyish and a bit expensive but good -
they can be collected only once a year that's why it's a bit expensive

They were so nice to cut me the panela in small pieces
so I can use it in small portions

Therefore we decided to only try some fruits that are hard to get in the local stores like Mangostino (see above) and I stocked up on Quinoa that is actually very affordable here. Additionally I also got some Panela which here was sold in a solid block instead of the powder form. 

Panela is a very common supplement for sugar as it is believed to be healthier as it is sugar in its most unprocessed form. Panela is used to make a drink called agua panela, in coffee, to sweeten porridge and many other things. It is locally produced and has a nice caramel like taste to it. It is sold as crystals (looking almost like brown sugar) and as blocks. Panela is the juice of the sugarcane that is cooked for some time and then dried as blocks or further pulverised. It’s barely to be found in other countries but in Germany I found something called “Vollrohrzucker” from Alnatura which is Panela but of course it is not as nice as the one you can find here.  Those who know me better already know that I’m actually going to make a small export for own use of that stuff as I can’t live without it hahaha.

Flowers as far as the eye can see 

All kinds of decorations

Before we entered the marked we could experience all the richness of flowers that are grown here in Colombia. Further if you look for decoration for your home there was also a small collection of stands outside of the market with all kinds of different things to decorate your home (glasses, boxes etc).

Trying pastel de yuca - loved it!

Edible flowers, spices and aloe 

Besides fruits, veggies and grains like quinoa or rice they also sell tons of health enhancing plants like calendula or aloe vera, as well as meat and fish. Outside of the market one can find the typical street food like papa relleno, pastel de yuca, arepa, arepa de maiz, empanadas etc. 

some fruit I had to try due to Jorge - it was jellyish but yummy

love these fruit towers <3

And all over Bogotá you can notice the beautiful mountains

The market was continuing outside in a even in a more beautiful way

All in all I would really recommend to visit this rich place full of Colombian delicacies. If you can get there with a local that’s even better as they can help you finding the most absurd fruits to try. 

Muchos Besos,

Leonie

Life update after 2 months in Colombia

Wow I’m so sorry, I should know myself and know that it’s kind of hard to keep things up on my blog. To fresh your information a bit up here some facts of my current life in the busy city of Bogota.

-      - Public transport is no problem anymore. Here some key things about that:

o   A bus ride with the official “TransmiSiPT” system costs always 2200COP (0,64€). It is a pretty safe way to travel within Bogota, even though one has to look out a lot for their phone as thieves here in Bogota don’t feel bad to grab yours from the outside through the window. A common trick to prevent such events is not to use your phone in any public places or just in those where there are no masses of people as well as when there is a lot of police present.

The middle lane is for bikes, the one right next to the grass and palm trees are seperated by yellow bumps which makes sure just busses from the "Transmilenio" drive there.

o   A bus ride with so called “colectivos” (a rather unofficial way to take a bus yet still a safe one and often more practical as they are located everywhere!!) costs 1550COP (during the day) and 1600COP is the night tariff. That are 0,46€ and 0,47€ per ride. That is the public transport I am using to get to work as their routs serve me a lot more and in just one ride I can arrive at work. Collectivos are just a lot smaller (they fit around 15-20 people) and don’t look as pretty as they are not as strictly checked as the official bogotanian transport system. Additionally the Transmilenio is very handy if one has to go for very far distances or during rush hour as these busses have their own separate lane which makes the whole system look like a metro system just with busses. Another handy thing about collectivos is that you can hop on and off whenever you want.

Tipical view in a "bus" or "colectivo" and as people believe a lot a picture of Jesus or Maria are common as well

o   Small hint at this point – when living in Santiago I thought rush hour in the metro was horrible and personal space was non-existent. Now that I have lived a couple of rush hours in Bogota it seems like there is always a worse in South America :D (Anyways one gets used to everything so you know I see it as a chance to grow :P)

-       - Further I’ve started my Internship at the university Uniminuto de Dios. I’m part of the office of Internationalization helping them especially at the faculty of company sciences (ciencias empresariales) to widen the students view on different  abroad experiences, for example studies, work and internships abroad. I’m also giving a basic German course (that btw makes me really proud as all of them are really motivated to learn this new (pretty complicated) language) as well as I am leading a English Conversation Club for professors so they get the chance to improve their English skills. Another part of my work includes traveling to other cities where the university has faculties as I already did in my trip to Neiva ad Villavicencio.

During my "Taller Aleman" (small German course) in Neiva - one of the hottest cities in Colombia

I also did a presentation for another university called Uniagraria

Above the houses of the North og Bogotá - how can you not love this??

I really like my job and it’s incredible how the Colombian culture makes work so much fun, as everyone is super thankful for my work, very polite and lunches with colleagues are really personal and comfortable. Also telling people how important it is to speak several languages makes me really happy.

-       - All in all life here is very nice especially due to the happy and positive culture of Colombians. In my personal opinion a mix of German and Colombian culture gets the best results.

o   In some parts of my life I am really missing German organizedness and punctuality

o   On the other hand I will for sure miss the warm hugs and kisses I receive here every single day as well as the happiness no matter how the peoples living conditions are here. The “happy-culture” of Colombians is something that will infect you after the first week living here. It also has an effect on the working culture – people are really happy and thankful for your work which motivates me to the max.

-      - Apart of work and traffic a big event took place in the beginning of September: Pope Francis was visiting Colombia – just imagine the pope in one of the most catholic countries in the world. Not being catholic didn’t make me enjoy the events less. Seeing one of the most inspiring men on earth was really impacting and made one really happy. From watching the pope arrive in the 26^th street to waiting for around 10 hours to attend a service of Pope Francis in one of the biggest parks of Bogota, Parque Simon Bolivar. A wonderful surprise were the speeches of Pope Francis as it was on a very understandable level as well as super inspiring because all he says is religion related but also very useful for everyday life. Additionally to this wonderful day full of typical Bogotá weather (first sun 25 degrees, then fast strong rain for about an hour and sun again when the pope entered the park), a brother of the community of Taizé was actually also holding a very short speech before the Pope took the word. This was a truly nice experience I was able to share with all of Jorge’s Family.

Arrival of Pope Francis - while passing the 26th street it felt like all Bogotá is on waiting to see the papa mobil pass

Happiness to all sides of the streets :)

Family time <3

Be always prepared for rain in Bogotá

To give even more people the opportunity to take part in the service 1.300.000 people were allowed to enter the park instead of the 800.000 tickets that were given to all churches of the city.

Many people at the event were wearing white which looked really nice

Sisters from different misters :-*

great view with the mountains of bogota in the background

taking a quick picture of the sunrise at 6am on our way to the park

Muchos Besos,

Leonie