Bogota, Colombia

           As I watched a few friends travel around South America and constantly inviting me to come along or meet them down there, I knew I was constantly throwing away opportunities of a lifetime. A girl from work mentioned that she is heading to Colombia and I thought, "this is it, my chance that I cant throw away."  So I asked. She was heading there with a friend of her brothers and had never traveled with her but she said if it was ok with Karrie, it was ok with her. A few emails later, we were all in agreement to go. Caitlin had bad news a few weeks later and decided not to go. I called up Karrie and we both decided it was worth it to go together although we didn't know each other. We planned the next two and a half weeks in Colombia and we decided to head to Ecuador as well. She bought the flights and I bought the hostels. We decided to look up two cities each so we would have an idea on what we wanted to see. We talked on the phone a few times to decide on where we were going and how long we would stay there as well. I planned  information  on my part and made a plan.
           I have had a really hard year and knew I could turn things around with this trip. Chinese zodiac year of the cock wouldn't be horrible anymore. I was sure of it. My cousin, Josh looked up 2017 chinese zodiac for the year of 2017 for fun told me it would be a great year except for those born in the year of the cock (me). He told me, "I wanted to travel with you but now I dont think so. This year will be rough for you,  no thanks. I think I will sit this one out and we can travel together some other time." The time he told me was at the end of 2016 and all I could tell him was, "This is full of crap and you are going to regret not coming with me. I don't even believe in that. Those were my famous last words. As soon as 2017 came with the Chinese new year, the hardship began. This trip would change things around for me though....so I thought.
         I arrived at the airport and everything went smoothly. I decided to go to the bathroom before I got on the plane. My suitcase got stuck as I was coming out of the stall and I began to fall. I lifted my foot around the suitcase and then my shoe got stuck. My foot came out of the shoe and slammed onto the cemented bathroom floor. I instantly started to cry and couldn't move. The people in line all stared at me and one asked, " Are you ok?" I cried back, noooo, Im  not. I pulled myself to the end of the bathroom to wait for the pain to go away. I tried to step on it and realized I couldn't. It was embarrassing but long story short, I got on the plane in a wheelchair and had to ask the disabled cart to pick me up in Austin, in my connection to take me to the gate due to not being able to walk.  Everyone tried to give me advice but due to not having insurance, I thought it might be better to take care of this problem in Colombia. I had called Karrie before getting on the plane but she assured me everything would be ok. In Austin, I tried to get on the plane by walking and cried with every step I took. A lady looked at me with pity and asked with her eyes, what happened. I told her, "I think I broke my foot and I'm heading to backpack across South America." She responded with such inspiration and hope for me. She said, "Tape your toes together and take it step by step, you can do this. It will be ok." I repeated this to myself and prayed that it wasn't broken. I even did some reiki on it which I hadn't practiced at all. It was all I had and I needed to try something.
         We met in Colombia in customs. Our flight came in at the same time and we were only 10 minutes behind each other in the line. We headed off to get a taxi together and I found an uber. I tried to bargain with the guy but I wasn't familiar with the money yet. I realized after making the deal, I lowered the price by three dollars only. Karrie looked annoyed like we had paid too much but the deal was set and we were on our way. All I knew was that it was cheaper than a taxi.
             The next day, we decided to go to the gold museum. It was quite interesting to find out the history of where the gold that was found actually ended up. The Spaniards took it or it was traded to them for other items. After the museum, we slowly walked around downtown to see the amazing architecture in the congressional buildings. I limped along the way, Karrie was gracious enough to wait for me and to walk very slow around town. We got some arepas which were like thick pancakes made out of flour or corn with anything you wanted on top. Karrie asked for a cheese and ham and I asked for an egg and cheese. It wasn't very good but I had tasted them before and knew they could be better. The woman selling them to us gave us 5 different sauces to try with it and we did try them all. The pineapple sauce wasn't very good with my eggs but I had to try it.
           After walking around, we decided to head up the mountain called Monserrate which was about 10,350 feet. We had to take a cable car and we decided to go at sunset. Bogota is 8,600 feet so they cable car takes awhile to carry the passengers up so no one gets altitude sickness. We were able to see the city during the day and then watch it light up at night. It was beautiful. We only had one full day here in Bogota so we tried to do as much as we could. The next day we would head into Quito, Ecuador. When we got back to the hostel, Aragon, I decided to talk to the guy that worked there a little. Karrie went to bed but I stayed up to talk to Luis a little. He was a 30 year old Colombian from Cartagena, a city that we would visit in just a few days. He seemed very nice and he really helped me get back into the spanish mindset. He offered to teach me salsa but with my foot, I told him I would take a rain check, not sure if I would ever see him again.