It's so common to promise to visit and see each other at post while saying goodbye in a previous post knowing full well that the likelihood of it happening is very slim. Such is expat life. One gets jaded when it comes to friendship. You meet people on the same boat, heck, you're thrown together and cling to each other like lifeboats...and then you say goodbye.
More than promise, we threaten (:-)) people that we'd drop by for a visit and almost always make good on it. And that's exactly what we did to the Nielsens (chuckle-chuckle). We've known L since 2002 back in the Philippines and less than a year later M. L was instrumental in the logistics of our move to Denmark and therefore kept in touch and every now and then see each other in Denmark.
They were our hosts in Bogota and wonderful hosts at that. They were still as good fun as they were back then except L makes the dandiest cocktail concoctions and M now cooks! And she proved that by singlehandedly (almost, as L only did a bit of frying but then he had his hands full making savory cocktails) making a 4-course Thai dinner. Absolutely divine, if I may add. The lady can really cook....now - that's what expatriation does to you.
Single career women in the Philippines don't (or don't bother to) cook. There's just too many good but relatively cheap restaurants to go to and most importantly after a hard day's work, too many hardworking friends to see and party with. That's Manila for you. Besides, there's probably so much traffic during rush hour on your way home that it's better to meet-up with like-minded friends for some cocktails and light meal in the business district anyway. Such was my life too before I married T, no make that before I moved to Denmark with T, except that I went straight home from work, which would be around 10 in the evening anyway - too late for happy hour - have tooootally digressed, again (why do I do that).
Anyway, they tolerated (wink) us for 5 days in their flat atop Cerros de Sta Barbara overlooking the city and the mountains surrounding it. The view is precious and the area very convenient for shopping as 10 minutes walk takes you to a couple of huge malls and a big Carrefour Chévere (which as far as I understand Colombia is peppered with).
They've been very congenial hosts and it was great to see them. In less than a couple of weeks, they will be moving to their next post in Shanghai and we're glad to have spent time with them before they did.
Bogota, the third highest city in the world is cold and dry but very green and somehow reminds me of some places in Europe. Five days in Bogota again wasn't enough. So many things to do, places to see and when you come from where I am now, shops to visit. We did our best but missed some must-dos, which is for another post.
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