A part of my super star life style job choice is sitting for a dreadful 4 hours in the crew room. This is called Airport Alert, or AA. Every time the phone rings silence takes over and eyes dart around the room, you hope it is not for you, especially when the only trip available is a red eye to Bogota, Colombia. I was supposed to be heading home from the airport at 11pm Sunday night, instead I was doing my preflight checks on a 757, soon to be en route to South America.

The only upside to being the person "chosen" to fill in for the sick flight attendant on this 5 hour flight was that my friend Carrie was in Bogota. 

I arrived at the Bogota Plaza Summit Hotel around 5:30 am, exhausted but excited for what the day had in store for me. Carrie met me at my hotel for coffee around 12:30. It was great catching up, I hadn't seen her in at least 1.5 years(she had been living in Australia.) Soon her friend Nico arrived and we were off to see the real Bogota. The city is HUGE! 

First stop

Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Carmen

This gothic style church was built in 1927, and was declared a national monument in 1993. It was closed Monday so we did not get to go inside but if you do a quick google search you can see the beauty that we missed out on. 

                                              

                                 

Our second stop was for a great photo op with Carrie and Nico. On a tiny little street near the church is this cement picture of a korean flag and a colombian flag. It was just TOO perfect.             

                                                 

                                 

   

I loved this graffiti, it looks like a woman carrying babies in her hair. The whole city is covered in beautiful art, I hear there is even a graffiti tour, might have to check that out next time. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon in what I would call the garment district. Nico is working on a line of aprons and we got to help him design one. We visited a leather belt maker, shopped for leather, and searched for the perfect studs, in Colombia they call it a "tweety". 

   

We ended the day at a multi story bar/club/restaurant called Andres Carne de Res.

Nico ordered us an array of traditional Colombian foods. We feasted on papas criollas al horno(small yellow Andean potatoes with thin skins and creamy, butter insides), ajaco(potato and corn soup), and empanadas. Lastly he ordered something called a blood sausage, I opted out of tasting that. 

Nico drove me back to my hotel, and for all my friends that think I am a crazy driver, take a trip down to Bogota, you haven't seen crazy! I worked a red eye that night, departing Bogota at 12:30am landing in Houston at 5:30 IN THE MORNING! I was exhausted but it was well worth it. Thanks to Carrie and Nico for showing me such a great day in the real Bogota.