1. You can get almost anything delivered here. The other day I had a manicure and pedicure. Although, the obvious thought is that I went to a salon. It would be wrong. A woman came to my house and I got a manicure/pedicure for about US$7.00. Almost every restaurant delivers and most grocery stores. Pharmacies deliver too. So if your child gets sick at 3 am and you are out of Tylenol – No worries – call the pharmacy and have them deliver.
2. I also love the street vendors. There are vendors of candy, flowers, umbrellas – you name it. My favorites are the fruit vendors. In fact, a block away in two different directions is two different women that sell avocados. These are not the Hass avocados that are common in the U.S. These avocados are about three times as big and not as buttery. They seem to have higher water content but are still tasty. Avocados are an essential part of the classic Colombian cuisine. They accompany a wonderful hearty chicken stew called Ajiaco. The basic ingredients are chicken, potatoes, corn on the cob and guascas (an herb). The Ajiaco is served with capers, avocado and cream. Delicious!! Avocados are also used as an accompaniment to a great red bean dish. The beans are shaped like balls and are dark red. They are cooked with red bell pepper, garlic and onion and served with rice, arepas (a cornmeal pancake – kind of), avocado and sometimes fat back. We normally only have the beans, rice or arepas and avocado. Never do we have the fatback!
3. On almost every street corner, one can see people with signs advertising cell minutes. I thought for the longest times that they were selling the cards for pre-paid cell minutes. Nope. They are actually selling cell minutes. They have a phone with minutes and then they sell to people the right to use their phone to call someone. The funniest part of this is often times the cell phones are chained to the person selling the minutes.
4. Negotiating can be a challenge here. The flower vendors are the most interesting. You can walk down the street and they come running. They always start with an outrageous price, expecting you to talk them down. If you come to Bogotá, remember that, as one of our friends said, “you should never ever pay more than 5,000 pesos (about $2.50) for a dozen roses. Pay more than that and it is a sin.”
5. I was driving the other day and noticed a sign with a cart and horse and a circle around it and line through it, indicating no cart and horses. It made me think about all the carts and horses we see around. All of the recycling is done by these horse/cart combos. It reminds me of getting stuck behind a tractor in Wyoming except that here there are infinitely more cars that need to get around the cart.
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