Getting Ready for Bogotá

Time to fire up the old blog site again. I haven't posted anything since last July when we were getting ready to return from the Summer in Spain. We don't go to Bogotá until 14 May but the preparation for an eight week trip to another continent takes a bit of planning, at least it does for us. What to take, what to leave? The elevation is about 9000 feet so even though it is much closer to the Equator it is not hot, even in the Summer time. Expecting highs in the 60s with frequent rain. Two umbrellas and Gore-tex rain jackets are definitely on the "to go" list along with sweaters and sweatshirts.

We found a nice apartment about four blocks from the archivo where Karen will be doing research and about a half block from the language school where she will take half day classes. It is also walking distance to the famous Museo del Oro, the Presidential Palace and several other museums.

Karen found tickets from Orlando for $89 on Jet Blue. Whatever they are charging per bag these days will raise it a bit but you can't get from here to Atlanta for that. For some reason it is $189 for the return but even that is cheap.

From what I have read, the electric outlets and the voltage are the same but most of them are the ungrounded ones that won't take the third prong and won't accept the kind of US plug that has one prong wider than the other. Fortunately, all of the items we plan to take that need electricity have two prong plugs with both prongs the same size. Laptops, electric razor, toothbrushes, cell phones all will work without adapters or voltage converters.

The other thing that will make it easier is even though it is on another continent it is in the same time zone. I Don't believe they are on Daylight Savings time so it may be one hour earlier there. Last Summer we had to remember to not call friends and relatives at 9:00 AM because it was 4:00 AM on the East Coast.

Look for more blog posts soon and when we get there I'll try to blog often and post photos.