Catching up: Dancing women, gold treasures, toddlers at a barbeque and beer-drinking cows

I'm having a great time diving into work and getting into the routine of life here. There's been a lot of family visits, a lot of fun and certainly plenty of learning. Some things have been particularly entertaining and memorable throughout my stay, so I'll share some highlights!

The first day I arrived bushy tailed and excited for my time here. First order of business: cultural reacquaintance. My dad, sister and I went to see Maria Barilla, a musical based in the northern coast of Colombia at the turn of the 20th century, telling the story of the woman known as the best porro dancer of all time. It was a great show featuring only folkloric Colombian musical styles, with various famous Colombian actors, fun music, and plenty to learn about.  What's best? At the end of the show, performers went to the lobby to dance, grabbing unsuspecting audience members onto the dance floor to join in and celebrate. Guess who was one of the lucky people selected? My very own sister! See her in action (quickly, so she can't tell I put this up ;) )

That Saturday was spent hanging out with a former Ed School friend and now Admissions buddy, Adam! How we don't have a picture together escapes me at this moment, but we had an excellent lunch in Bogota's historic district (La Candelaria) and headed to the truly amazing Gold Museum.

Famous gold raft portraying the Sun god and gold offerings.

We hope you loved it, Adam! They'd renovated it since I last went, and it really was a cool experience that I promise to take anyone and everyone to as soon as they get here. :D

The next day was the much anticipated welcome back BBQ, full with two huge tubs of guacamole, amazing Colombian corn (bigger kernels, not as sweet and rather nuttier in flavor), and a "small" 25-person portion of the family and two awesome friends- Kate (from Ed School) and Luis Gabriel (from study abroad)!

Chef and Grill master extraordinaire, Uncle Luis Diaz

Yummm, Guacamole

Yumm

The stars of the day, however, were my two adorable cousins's kids (second cousins?): Lupita (the eldest of her generation), and Juan Pablo (Number 2!). They ran around, played around, and got presents from Karen and me. Lupita showed off her Sox gear, and Juan Pablo showed off his strength (and willingness to learn) from his brand new Little Einstein English word books.

Juan Pablo, weightlifting

Lupita, rockin' her Red Sox Gear with JP

You'll be seeing more of these two. They are absolutely adorable, so well-behaved and waaay TOO much fun. I've already offered my babysitting services. I'm gonna enjoy these two to the fullest.

Now, on a pretty unrelated note, I HAVE to share one of my favorite recent lunch adventures (alongside my dad, aunt and sister) was visiting a place called Burger Market. They serve Wagyu burgers from beer-drinking, massaged cows. You read that right: the cows get massages and drink beer. 5 times a day. (see pictures, below)

Plus, they have really great cuts of meat. What's the best way of showing you the cut of meat? Well, by getting a big chunk-o-meat at your table to describe what the cut of meat looks like, of course. 

Needless to say, the burgers were AMAZING. I'm not sure if it was the priming of the whole experience (they also had a full-out market at the entrance and a wall of lettuces as you walk up to the second floor) or the actual meat, but if any of you decide to come visit, we're going there. Note also, the most ridiculous onion rings ever.

Beer drinking cows. Note the cow massage.

Chunk o'meat.

My dad, eating the most ridiculously sized onion rings ever.

Market display at the entrance

I keep discovering new things-- I recently found out that Carlos Vives's brother's restaurant is 2 blocks from my job and even that Carlos himself stops by to play some tunes every once in a while. If you don't know Carlos Vives, you gotta check this out. In any case, the adventure continues, so expect some more! :) Thanks for reading!