Last weekend, the (awesome) owner of our (awesome) apartment, invited us to her finca to get away from the city for a couple of days and spend time in the country with her family. Since in Spanish class you learn that finca means farm, I assumed that we would be going to be spending the weekend amidst barns, cattle, and plain fields of grain. WRONG. My expectations were completely off.
Instead, what we encountered was more like a hillside country-house estate. For example, we got to sleep in the guest house, built on top of a stable, as the family actually owns two horses (plus three dogs, a cat, a parrot, and lots of geese). The finca is located in the township of Tabio, about an hour north of Bogotá. Mind you, this is the country, and there are cattle in general, however since it is still in the Andes, it lies amidst a gentle rolling landscape.
Last weekend was also election weekend. On Sunday, the family lent us some bikes, and we rode them into the town with them, as they were going to vote in the second round of the presidential election. It rained all day throughout the country, so turn-out was fairly low, partly due to the rain, the soccer world cup on TV, and probably some malaise. Thus as was expected, Colombia’s next president will be Juan Manuel Santos, while Antonas Mockus, the progressive Green-party former mayor of Bogotá lost. Hopefully, Colombia will continue on its current trajectory of economic and democratic improvement, and continue to diminish guerrilla activity in random parts of the country.
Anyway, our stay at the finca was idyllic, from our amazing accommodations, to the delicious food that they offered us, and just their warm hospitality in general.
Word of the Day – ajiaco
This is what we ate for lunch when we were at the finca. Ajiaco is a traditional Colombian soup made with chicken, corn, and potatoes. It is mighty hearty, tasty, and wholesome, and often served with a traditional Colombian bread called arepa, which is like a thick tortilla, but more scrumptious, and sometimes made with cheese.
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