So tuesday I finally left for Colombia! Marie-Laure and I said goodbye to friends and family and left together. The adventure begins!
The flights went very well. Especially Brussels-Barcelona, as we talked the whole flight.
We had to wait a bit at the airport of Barcelona because the flight was late. It was really quiet there; you really had the feeling the airport was almost empty!
The plane was really big; I didn't know there would be so many people going to Colombia! It was a pleasant flight. Everybody even had a little television screen. That was quite a funny sight, all those screens in the dark.During our flight we visited our newly acquired Colombian friends Maria-Carolina and Fernando, who were sitting in the back of the plane. We met them before we boarded. They were very friendly! Maria-Carolina wrote us a whole guide about beautiful places and good food. This made me very excited for the rest of the trip!
After the arrival - the flight took more than 10 hours- we had to go past the immigration to get a visa. As a tourist you are allowed to stay for 60 days, but somehow the man behind the glass didn't understand me (although I clearly said I was a tourist and that I would stay in Ibagué) and he gave me a visa for 45 days. Luckily our friends were able to help us and finally I got 60 days.
Apparently you can elongate your stay to more than 100 days. I guess I just looked like a criminal..
Maria-Carolina and Fernando said Marie-Laure and I looked like Colombian people and would blend in the crowd. Now I only have to learn how to speak Spanish properly!When we finally got outside Ana, a friend of Marie-Laure's, and her parents picked us up. They took us to the apartment where we would be staying. The apartment belonges to Oscar and Katia, two people from the Belgian Embassy and old friends of my grandparents.
Today was Colombia’s Independence Day. The country has been independent from Spain for 200 years now. That’s why there were so many people at the airport; a lot of flights were delayed for 3 hours because of the air show. For the same reason there were also a lot of closed streets, what which lead to a delay in arrival at Katia and Oscar’s. Oscar thought we had taken a taxi, so at the time we arrived, he was a bit worried. Such lovely people!
Their penthouse reminds me of a museum; everywhere you look there are paintings, statues and old furniture. It is a bit of a maze because all the rooms are octagonal or abstract. Because we had been awake for almost 24 hours, the soft bed was more than welcome!
