Ok, so I ended up having a really nice day yesterday. You may recall my 26-year old friend Sara B. who I hooked up with a couple of trips ago when I passed through Bogota and who now has a boyfriend. Well she'd been sick last week and so I still hadn't seen her, just like I hadn't seen any of my other amigas yet (four in total that I'm expecting to see this trip). Well I wrote to her and asked if she was free. She knew that I was supposed to go to Valledupar and asked me what was up and I just said that I was in a bad mood and would tell her about it later. She said of course she was available for me and that I should swing by her place at 1:45pm and we could go to Candelaria and walk/talk.
I ended up getting there about 2pm and we went straight to Candelaria. It was pretty busy, as it's a popular place to walk around and hang out on the weekends, and the popular candidate for president, Petro, was to make an appearance. He's a socialist who keeps getting closer, and most people I know seem to think he will win the election next weekend. We walked around for a while and went over to the Plaza de Bolivar which is where the main government buildings (Congress, Supreme Court, President's house) are. There's also the
Cathedral Primada de Colombia. We walked around and took some pictures of the plaza, and then some couple stopped us and wanted to hear me speak English. I think the guy was from Bogota and the wife was from Cali, and they had a little girl with them as well. We talked to them for a little bit and then they asked me to take a picture with the wife. Sure, why not?

. Reminded me of the days when I felt more famous here lol.
From there we went walking up an inclined street towards the mountains. When we got to the top of the street and were trying to decide which way to go to find a place to eat, a couple of girls stopped and asked us for help. They were both 22 years old, from Israel, and they had been traveling South America for several weeks, I think with a group. They had been to Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and were now in Colombia. The night before one of the girls had her cell phone stolen during a rumba and they were looking for a police station so she could report it. The one her lost her phone spoke some Spanish, but mostly English so I was translating between her and Sara. The other girl spoke little English and less Spanish. Sara and I both told the first girl that her phone was gone and that the police wouldn't even bother with it. She said she kind of figured that but that she needed an official police report to submit to her insurance to get reimbursed. A couple of
policia came riding by on a motorcycle and we stopped them to ask where the nearest police station was. They said go back down to the bottom of the hill and make a left. So we walked back down the hill with the girls and took a left, where we saw a couple more police officers. They said go two blocks that way and make a right. So we did, and came across several more officers standing watch. We asked them where the police station was and they said go two blocks that way and make a right. So we did. We came across a private security guy at a building and asked him where the police station was, and he said go down to the end of this street and take a left. So we did, and finally there was the police station. We talked to the 18-year old kid standing watch outside, and he said that they girls couldn't file a report there, that they would have to go to the main station somewhere else. The one girl pulled out her phone, and the kid put the address in to her Uber app and we waited there until it came to pick them up. The kid officer told Sara that we should go with them, but she didn't really want to, so we waved goodbye. I was a little disappointed because while we were talking the girl who lost her phone asked me if Sara and I were together and seemed somewhat pleased when I said no. And she and her friend guessed that I was 28 years old, which Sara and I both got a kick out of and turned into a running joke the rest of the day.
From there we took an Uber back to Chapinero (the area where Sara B. lives) to a pizza place to finally eat. We had a good time and I told her what had happened with my Valledupar trip. She said that she had a brother who lived there and that she had told him I was coming in case I wanted someone to go out with, etc. Very sweet of her. I asked her why she hadn't introduced me to any of her friends yet, and she said she'd been going through them all and that none of them were slim enough for me. I said now that's a
buena amiga!

Then she told me about some problems she's been having with her boyfriend and that she wasn't sure if they were going to stay together.
From there we went walking back to her place. It was about 8pm and the walk was a little sketchy, but probably not too bad. On the way we passed a very popular club called Theatron, which I've heard great things about. She said she's never been there but that we would make plans to go. Her brother has been staying with her for the past couple of weeks so he was at the apartment when we arrived. It was pretty nice, but it was basically a small hotel room with a small kitchen and a patio in the back. Not a place I'd want to live in, let alone share with someone. We had a couple of beers and listened to music, talked, and had a great time. Her brother was fun too. We were laughing about the age thing and Sara asked her brother how old he guessed I was. He said 30 or 31, which I attributed to the lighting lol. I finally left and had a good conversation with the Uber driver who had lived in Miami for several years, so we spent the time complimenting each other on our English/Spanish. Got back to my apartment around 11:45pm and called it a (successful) day/night.