Barcelona, Spain: Arc de Triomf

Dec21

Once we left La Sagrada Familia, my sister and I decided to stop at a local restaurant for traditional tapas. Tapas are small appetizers or snacks that serve the purpose of helping one get through the difficult time before or in between meals (or at least that’s what I view their purpose as).

As we sat down outside—only a few blocks away from La Sagrada Familia—we couldn’t help but enjoy the beautiful weather and take in the incredible sights around us. It also didn’t hurt that we had delicious snacks in front of us to feast on.

Throughout our time in Spain, I found that sitting down to enjoy tapas allows you to put your busy life on hold and take a few moments for yourself. You aren’t necessarily stuffing your face (unless you order multiple items like we did), but you’re stopping the needless worries around you and putting all of that on hold for just a short while. That is exactly what we did, and it helped us better appreciate the fact that you don’t have to be somewhere unique or special to take some time for yourself to unwind. (But then again, this realization was much better seeing as we were in Barcelona).

After our mid-day snack, we walked back to our hotel to get dressed for our evening activities, but on our way, we came across some more fascinating sights. Barcelona hosted the Universal Exhibition in 1888, and the Arc de Triomf (pictured below), was built as the main entryway to enter the fair.

Tapas By La Sagrada Familia In Barcelona, Spain

Arc De Triomf In Barcelona, Spain

Day 2 In Cartagena, Colombia: Enjoying Our Last Night In The City

Nov6

After our afternoon excursion of mud-bathing in Volcán de Lodo El Totumo came to an end, it was time for us to return to our hotel and enjoy our final evening in Cartagena. During the drive back to Hotel Carribe, we came across multiple motor taxis. We were told that you can spot a motor taxi if you see a motorcyclist with two helmets—one on his head and one in his hand.

An individual would take a motor taxi if he or she doesn’t want to wait in traffic, or if he or she is in a rush. There are roughly one hundred accidents each day involving motor taxis, and it doesn’t help that they don’t have licenses to drive others or even insurance. The issue at hand is that the first rule in the constitution states that all individuals have the right to a job. Therefore, if the government were to ban motor taxis, so many individuals would be out of a job. This would lead to protests, strikes, and the blocking of streets. So, while motor taxis are not legal, they are socially accepted in Cartagena.

Similar to Bogotá, Cartagena has zones that classify residents according to socioeconomic standings. However, unlike Bogotá, the zones in Cartagena are dispersed and not in order. So, for example, a poor neighborhood can be located next to a very wealthy one, whereas in Bogotá, the nearby neighborhoods slowly progress into wealthier or poorer neighborhoods.

After arriving to the hotel, we decided to take a walk along the beach and enjoy a nice dinner before having to pack our things and get ready for an early morning flight. As sad as it was to leave Colombia, we had a great trip, and I hope I can say I’ll be back soon!

Cartagena, Colombia

Hotel Carribe: Cartagena, Colombia

Dinner In Cartagena, Colombia

Hotel Carribe: Cartagena, Colombia

Day 2 In Bogotá, Colombia Continued: Andrés Carne de Res

Oct15

After a long day of exploring Bogotá, we had the night off to do as we pleased—which really meant continue exploring the city on our own. As we were dropped off in the center of the city, we decided to stop at Andrés Carne de Res, also known as Andrés DC. First opened in 1982 by Andrés Jaramillo as a small restaurant with only ten tables, Andrés DC is now known throughout the city as a go-to restaurant and club for tourists and locals alike. Each floor in the restaurant is designed differently, as one represents hell, another represents purgatory, the third represents earth, and the last represents heaven. The concept of the restaurant is just as fascinating as the food is delicious.

After grabbing some appetizers and drinks at Andrés DC, we continued to walk throughout the city center until we found a restaurant to have dinner. As the night came to a close, we walked a little longer until returning to our hotel to prepare for a long day ahead—traveling to Cartagena, Colombia.

Andrés DC

Andrés DC Cheese Arepa

Andrés DC Guacamole Arepa

Andrés DC Chips

Andrés DC

Dinner in Bogotá

Day 1 In Bogota, Colombia

Sep21

Last month, my mother took my brother, sister, and me to Colombia where we spent two days in Bogota and two days in Cartagena. Throughout the next few days, I’ll be writing about our travels and experiences.

We flew out of Miami on the afternoon of Friday, August 7th, and arrived in Bogota later that evening. August 7th happens to be a national holiday in Colombia, as it celebrates the Battle of Boyacá. The Battle of Boyacá resulted in Colombia’s independence from the Spanish monarchy and is celebrated as a national holiday every year on the seventh of August. Every four years on this particular day, the elected President of Colombia is announced in the Casa de Nariño—the official home and workplace of the President of Colombia.

There are roughly nine million people living in Bogota, but there is no subway to transport everyone who lives there. Instead, the official means of transportation is public busses. There are designated lanes on the highways solely for the busses called TransMilenio. However, since the busses are always crowded, the name is commonly called TransMilleno as a joke by the locals. (Lleno in Spanish translates to full).

Upon arriving to our hotel, we were given a few minutes to drop our bags off in our rooms before being served dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. As we sat down in the restaurant, we were each given a delicious hot drink consisting of Aguardiente—a Colombian alcohol also known as “fire water”, in addition to cinnamon, sugar, and panela—unrefined whole cane sugar, common in both Central and Latin America. We were then brought a creamy chicken soup with carrots to begin, followed by chicken, potatoes, and vegetables.

Since it was already dark outside by the time we arrived, there wasn’t much we could take pictures of besides for the food (hence the pictures of food below). Shortly after dinner, we went to sleep for the night before officially commencing our trip in the morning with a tour of the city.

Aguardiente (Fire Water) with Cinnamon, Sugar, and Panela

Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Chicken, Potatoes, and Vegetables

Day Four In Antigua, Guatemala

Sep2

Seeing as we had a somewhat early flight back home from Guatemala, we spent our remaining morning hours in Antigua exploring the grounds of our hotel, which included six great museums on the premises. The first museum we entered was the hotel’s Silver Museum which houses various samples of old, traditional handicrafts of the region including glazed crockery, painted ceramic, pyrography-based crafts (made from wood-burning), wrought iron, candles, carpentry and cabinets, tin ware, textiles and kites, and other such artifacts.

From there, we came across the Marco Augusto Quiroa and the Artist Halls which is a beautiful art exhibit with numerous pieces such as paintings and sculptures on display. We spent much more time in the museums than we had originally planned and only had time for one more exhibit so we chose the Archeology Museum as our grand finale. This particular museum displayed a wide array of both ceramic and stone objects including feminine figures, vases, plates, bowls, funerary urns, thuribles (used in worship services to burn incense), ceramic jugs, and other such immaculate pieces which are assumed to have been used during the Mayan culture’s Classic Period (200-900 AD).

Having reached the end of our trip, we made our way back to the hotel room to grab our belongings and head over to the airport to return home. On the way to the room though, we came across a breathtaking view alongside beautiful parrots that were quick to catch our eyes. Unfortunately, that was it for our time in Antigua, but hopefully one day we will return because there is still so much to be explored in this incredible city!

(http://www.casasantodomingo.com.gt/museums-en.html

Casa Santa Domingo Hotel

View from Casa Santa Domingo Hotel

Silver Museum

View from Casa Santa Domingo Hotel

Marco Augusto Quiroa and the Artist Halls

Archeology Museum

View from Casa Santa Domingo Hotel

Antigua, Guatemala

Day 2 In Antigua, Guatemala Continued

Aug28

To pick up from my last blog post, after lunch, we continued to walk around Antigua to see some of the more well known sites. We happened to have eaten lunch right next to the Arco de Santa Catalina, which was built in the 17th century as a passageway for the Santa Catalina covenant and an adjoining school. Its purpose was for the nuns to pass from from one building to the next without having to go out into the street. This arch is the only remnant of the covenant, and is considered by many to be a “must-see” in Antigua.

From there, we continued to walk along the street and pass through a local market shop with traditional trinkets and goods. We then came across Convento Santa Clara which like so many other buildings had been destroyed by various earthquakes since the 1700s. Following our time at Convento Santa Clara, we found La Merced Cathedral which was built in 1548 and rebuilt in the 1700s since it had been destroyed twice by earthquakes. The Cathedral was beautiful and had a stunning view outside of both the scenery and of locals picnicking and enjoying the sunset.

We made our way back to the hotel (and passed the Arco de Santa Catalina once more) to get cleaned up before going out for dinner. We had to get a good night sleep though because we had a big day ahead of us the following morning.

Arco de Santa Catalina

Local Market Shop

Convento Santa Clara

La Merced

View from La Merced

Arco de Santa Catalina

Walking Back to the Hotel

Hotel Garden

Chips and Guacamole

Condiments for the Table

Black Bean Soup

Chicken

Day 1 In Antigua Guatemala

Aug24

Last summer I participated in a medical mission trip to Guatemala, and after the trip, my father, brother, and I spent a few extra days in Antigua, Guatemala. Over the next few days I’ll be posting about my travels in Antigua because it’s better to post this late than never, right?

After the medical mission ended, we arrived at our hotel and had a light lunch before resting for a few hours. I ordered a black bean soup with a corn tamale on the side, and it was delicious; just what I needed to help me take a nap. When we woke up, we walked around the city and came across two individuals pushing their small vehicle onto its side to fill it up with gas. We also walked past a building designated for Alcoholic’s Anonymous meetings before stumbling upon a lively restaurant with karaoke where we ordered chips and guacamole for the table, and chicken quesadillas for me. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel to get a good night sleep before waking up early the following morning to further explore the city.

View on the Way to the Hotel

Black Bean Soup and a Corn Tamale

Filling Up Gas

Antigua’s Alcoholic’s Anonymous

Chips and Guacamole

Chicken Quesadillas

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Tag Archives: Hotel

Barcelona, Spain: Arc de Triomf

Day 2 In Cartagena, Colombia: Enjoying Our Last Night In The City

Day 2 In Bogotá, Colombia Continued: Andrés Carne de Res

Day 1 In Bogota, Colombia

Day Four In Antigua, Guatemala

Day 2 In Antigua, Guatemala Continued

Day 1 In Antigua Guatemala