No Fixed Plans

I had an overnight flight connection, having the first one leaving at 7:45pm and the second one arriving at 4am. I got lucky and was told my bag was checked through the whole way (which I wasn’t expecting as it was a domestic flight followed by an international flight) but upon picking my bag up I realised that the airline had broken the zipper on the front bag off and when I tried claiming it through the airline, they told me that they weren’t responsible for it. 

I was able to get to the hotel straight away and check in (as I had booked a room for the night before) and was happy to realise I was in a single room. 

Given I had gotten my tattoo two days before (and was told I was supposed to clean it 10 hours earlier) I showered before breakfast. This was when I realised there was no hot water which the receptionist forgot to mention when I checked in. 

After this it was time for them to start serving breakfast so I went down to eat my first proper meal in over 24 hours. 

I relaxed in my room for a bit and right before I was about to head out for a walk, the phone in the room started ringing. It turned out to be reception, wanting to change my room so they could fix the hot water (something about needing access to my bathroom). 

After I moved, I went out to try finding something to help heal my tattoo, but gave up after the first chemist said they didn’t have it so gave up and decided I could ask my ceo later that night after the meeting. I ended up walking through a few markets before ending up at a supermarket where I bought a small yogurt for lunch and a replacement bottle (they took mine during security for my international flight) and then headed back to the hotel to rest until the meeting (which also resulted in a 3 hour nap- which I luckily woke up before the meeting). 

During the meeting we had complimentary wine that the hotel gave, did introductions, listened to our ceo rant about Colombia for a bit and then agreed to meet downstairs for dinner in 10 minutes. Before going down I asked my ceo about the tattoo cream where he said he’d message one of his friends to see where as the specific brand that the tattoo artist sent me wasn’t common in Colombia and he had never seen or used it (he had almost a full sleeve of tattoos) and that he’d get back to me. 

When we got downstairs to meet, one of the guys asked who was going to fess up to be Hanky Panky (we had seen that one of the guys had his name set to that in the G adventures. It had turned out that it was one of the two people who had turned up late due to traffic and that his real name was Ben and that his friend had hacked into his G account and changed it. 

We all had dinner together and spoke about a few of our last travels before going to the hotel. Half of the group had gone up to bed while the other 6 of us (plus the ceo) went out to have a few drinks together. After this the ceo and two others went back to the hotel while the remaining 4 of us went to see if we could find a club. It turned out locals one of the guys had been talking to weren’t lying when they said the nightlife in the area was non existent on a Tuesday so went back to the hotel (on the way back we did see a homeless guy looking through rubbish and someone selling drugs). 

The next morning we had to be up and ready at 8:30am to go on a walking tour and tasting throughout the city. We walked around, stopped at a local market and had an opportunity to buy fresh juices. We then headed to an art and coffee shop where most of us bought a coffee and a couple bought an art piece. We then went to a local museum from a famous artist who never drew anything to scale and always drew everything fat (although the artist always called it voulumetuious) 

We then headed to the city centre with all of the government buildings before heading to our included lunch. Most of the group tried the local chicken soup whereas me and the other vegetarian had the vegetarian option (which was basically paella but with avocado instead of any meat) and we all had a juice included too. 

We were warned that all of the portions were big and filling but the ones who got the soup were very skeptical of how filling a soup can be. We all soon realised we weren’t being lied to and most of the group couldn’t finish. 

After this we went to a local coffee shop where we got shown a of a bunch of different coffee beans (washed, natural and mixed beans) and got to smell some of the different beans that were ready to be used. 

We chose as a group the one that we wanted to try and then the guy showed us how to make it using a pour over method. 

We all then tried the coffee. After this the guy showed us a few more of the different beans before leaving, getting the opportunity to buy a bag first. 

We were then walked to the gold museum where our guided tour finished and we had a few hours of alone time before meeting in the lobby for drinks and dinner. 

40 minutes before leaving I decided I should probably go to a big chemist and find something for the tattoo (which thankfully I did) and got to the hotel 5 minutes before the meeting time.

We were having drinks on the rooftop for about 3 hours before deciding to move inside and actually order food. 

After this, 4 of the guys decided they were going to uber to a more lively street whereas myself, one other woman, and the ceo decided to go back to the hotel (the rest of the group had already started trickling back to the hotel before this). 

I ended up on the phone with my mum for about 2 hours before realising it was midnight and I needed to back my bag and be ready to leave the hotel at 8:30am the next day.