Bogota

Bogota

Bogota turned out to be one of our favorite cities in South America. The city is modern, clean, safe, and filled with green spaces and artistic flourishes. We were here for only two nights and wished we had more time to wander about as well as visit some of the city’s nearby sights. A highlight for any Bogota visitor is the Gold Museum with an unmatched collection of Pre-Hispanic gold from a number of Colombian cultures. The museum,...

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El Cielo – Bargain Molecular Gastronomy

El Cielo – Bargain Molecular Gastronomy

With no plans (or budget) to visit any of Grant Achatz’s establishments in Chicago, we found a way to experience a little cooking magic on the cheap in Medellin. El Cielo offers a menu of ten “moments” designed to engage all five of your senses. It was our first time truly seeing the snazzy tricks of molecular gastronomy. Here’s a sampling of what we got to experience.

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Medellin

Medellin

Colombia is a beautiful country, one where there is clear investment in infrastructure when visiting its large cities. Medellin, former home of notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, today boasts Colombia’s only Metro system, and our long ride into the city from the airport showed off the city’s modern architecture as well as high-rise housing complexes. Controversially, the Metro includes two cablecar lines that connect the city...

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Ipiales – Las Lajas Sanctuary

Ipiales – Las Lajas Sanctuary

Here’s a short, little post about one remarkable church built into the side of a canyon after a miracle involving the apparition of the Virgin Mary in the cliff. We had not planned on visiting the Las Lajas Sanctuary just outside Ipiales, Colombia, but as we were researching flights from Quito to Bogota we found out that border-crossing flights in South America are prohibitively expensive. So we saved over $300 per person by taking a...

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