Ahhh, the funny things continue

This past Friday stood in stark contrast to the 7-Eleven musical booze-fest of last Friday. I went with my friend to the "Zona T," the upscale, hipster part of Bogotá. Skinny jeans and high-heeled ankle boots were in abundance, as were big boobs and big earrings. Looking decidedly less fancy and not giving a rat's ass, I was so excited because we went to this pan-Asian restaurant called Wok. People: I can get Thai green curry in Bogotá!!! Some of you know how major that is. I am beyond thrilled, especially since it turns out that there's another Wok like 15 minutes by foot from my apartment.

I can't remember if I have written about this before (I must have), but some of my new gringo friends and I have started a tradition we call "Mimosa Sunday" which, big shocker, involves getting together early on Sunday afternoon and putting back a bunch of mimosas made with Colombia's finest sparkling white wine. (It's not as bad as you might think!) Anyway, this week our usual plans were thwarted by the Liberal Party's election of their presidential candidate: election/voting day = no alcohol for sale. After discovering this on my way to the get-together, I ran back to my house to grab the only alcohol I had: a bottle of Havana Club rum. So this week, along with our kind of brunch-y food, we had a rum and coke Sunday.

But possibly the highlight of my day yesterday was the journey to my friend's apartment. Another friend and I took (me for the first time) the TransMilenio -- Bogotá's express bus/trolley-like service. It's pretty lame that it has taken me this long to ride that stupid thing. It's a 15 minute walk from my apartment, goes pretty much everywhere, and costs 75 cents. Anyway, so I finally navigated it with some help (it IS a little confusing at first). It was fitting that at one point I got to experience it as the "TransMilleno." (Lleno means full, and I have not pushed so hard through people to get off a bus for a long, long time). But, hands-down, the highlight of this trip was the discovery of a commuter habit I have never seen anywhere in the world. As eager as they may be to snag a seat on the bus, Colombians apparently do not like to sit down on a seat that somebody else's buns have already warmed up. So, they claim a seat, but then they don't sit down. They squat/hover over the seat in order to give it a chance to cool off, and only after a minute or so of giving their thighs a good workout do they park their butt in the seat. I was fascinated. It was awesome. Even more awesome than this sight I saw today: a guy on a Vespa with a black Lab and a Goldren Retriever perched in the front. Yeah, you can't really make this stuff up.