You’re probably wondering why I am now in Bogotá, Colombia, of all places. A number of people asked me why I chose this country of all travel destinations.

The explanation goes back several months when I was considering attending the Association of Anglican Musicians (AAM) conference in Dallas in June. The first thing I always do when planning a trip is to research airfares. From Honolulu to Dallas was going to be $950 round trip. By the time I figured out the cost of the hotel, transportation, registration fee, and food, it was going to be a substantial chunk of change.

Just then a pop up ad appeared on my screen, « 5 day Highlights of Colombia tour $599 » and I quickly found a round trip airfare from Honolulu for $725!

Well, that convinced me and I booked it, while at the same time reading this advice from the State Department website: Reconsider travel due tocrimeandterrorism. Exercise increased caution due to civil unrest and kidnapping . Violent crime, such as homicide, assault, and armed robbery, is widespread. Organized criminal activities, such as extortion, robbery, and kidnapping, are common in some areas.

¡Pero aqui estoy! but here I am!

I left Honolulu at 1 pm, arriving in Los Angeles at 9:12 pm. My flight to Panama didn’t leave until 2:06 am and I’m glad I spent a few extra dollars to upgrade to business class. I arrived in Panama City at 10:37 am the next morning,

¡Que comience la aventura! Let the adventure begin!

We met the other members of our Gate 1 tour group last night with a welcome dinner. This particular Gate 1 tour is unusual for its size —there are only 15 of us on this trip, where normally Gate 1 tour groups number 35-40. We’re a diverse bunch, with all ethnic origins represented. Guess what we had for dinner —ajiaco, the traditional Colombian chicken and potato stew (!) — my third time having this dish in three days! It’s delicious, so I’m not complaining.

We started out the morning with a walking tour of La Candelaria, and luckily we only walked downhill. I was taken with the Colombian style of architecture.

Our first stop was at the Museo Botero, which featured the works of the most famous Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, who only died 8 days ago at the age of 91. In fact, Botero’s body was lying in state this weekend in the Congress building, and his funeral will be held in the Bogotá Cathedral which I visited two days ago. According to Wikipedia, “His signature style, also known as “Boterismo”, depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political criticism or humor, depending on the piece.” Our local guide, Luis-Miguel, explained that Botero found “fat” bodies sensuous.

Here’s Botero’s take on the Mona Lisa:

Our next stop was at the most visited museum in Bogotá, the Museo del Oro (The Gold Museum) where we learned the importance of gold in the lives of indigenous Colombian people, and how they wore golden objects as everyday clothing.

Just outside the Gold Museum, I spotted a llama and couldn’t resist having my picture taken! The guy used the camera on my phone and took 10 pictures of me with the llama. The cost = $5.00!

We spent twenty minutes at a bar where a Colombian game called tejo is played. The game is pretty simple – throw a metal disk at a clay board with small pockets of gunpowder laying on a metal ring. If the metal disk hits the gunpowder packet, then BOOM, the packet sparks and has a tiny explosion. Several people in our group got hits — they hit the gunpowder and there was a loud sound, sparks and even a mini-fire! I was happy to just take pictures.

Even Anthony Bourdain tried his hand at tejo and you can view the short video below. It was certainly exciting, especially when someone gets a hit!

Our last stop was at Montserrate, which is a high mountain over 10,000 feet high, with a church (built in the 17th century) with a shrine, devoted to El Señor Caído (“The Fallen Lord”). Of course, there were spectacular views from the top, which we accessed by taking a cable car.

I was really surprised to see the familiar shell symbol of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela way up here!

Like the Montserrat in Spain (which I visited several years ago), this Montserrat also features a chapel with a Black Virgin.

Would you believe we did all this today — and we were back at the hotel before 6 pm! Tomorrow we leave at 7:30 in the morning and will take a short flight to Cartagena.