You know that saying...
...Objects may be closer than appear?
>Well today I fell pray to a simlar misconception. I visited both dramatic ends of the spectrum we call good and bad. This morning Royal and I decided to go on the highly recommended Bogota Bike Tours. It was over cast out, as most days are here during this time of year, so we thought it a perfect day to see some highlights of Downtown Bogota. The part they don't divulge is that the tour is 4 hours! Yes I said 4, which was no where to be found on the flyer. Give me a second and I'll go into why this became a problem.
I had never used one of those child seats that strap on the back of the bike and while Chaz and Margot looked at me quite skeptically, Richie showed faith in his mama and climbed on back.
Royal was the picture of a Greek God having Chaz on the back of his bike and Margot in front in the baby bjorn. Did I mention he has a GOPRO camera strapped to his head?? Tourists were actually taking pictures of hime. I think he secretly liked it.
I really enjoyed biking around; it was a lot of fun. I've never been a huge biker. Not for a lack of trying it just wasn't something that fell into my scope of athletics. We stopped in a really populated square and the kids got to feed a llama, cause llamas roam around the busy streets here with mini saddles on there back. Its kinda cute and kinda sad if I'm being honest.
We got to see a lot of daily life happening through the eyes of Bogotonians. About an hour and a half of riding we arrived at the second largest market in Bogota. It was amazing. We sampled tons of new fruits that are only indigenous to South America and saw a man carving his way through a cow head like he was just working on his latest sculpture.
Yeah..that sucker still had hair on it folks! Moving on...
After we wrapped up at the market we were about to jump on our bikes and keep on, but a nice little rain storm decided to stop by. Since, as I mentioned before it was overcast we all had our rain coats on-- and with added ponchos the guide gave us we hopped back on out bikes and pushed on.
I'd like to be able to tell you that the rest of the journey was excellent, but unfortunatly is just wasn't. It rained for about an hour (you know the kind that makes it just unbarable) and Margot was getting wet. I fell down and every blasted hill in the city of Bogota seemed to be at the end of our tour. My legs were burning so badly and I wanted to give up, but Im happy to report that I pushed through, even though I had to walk a bit. I don't think it wouldn't have been bad without the extra weight, but its not my stlye to leave the kiddos behind.
Once the rain stopped the sun came out and we were in the home stretch. We stopped for a minute on what out guide called "the edge of the red light district" Can I just tell you that riding down the street and seeing real live hookers is so much different than in the movies!! Oy!!
When we got back Royal took my hand and squeezed it and told my he loved me and was proud of me. And for me that made the whole ordeal worth while.
Overall I would definatly suggest the Bogota Bike Tours to anyone-- as long as you check the weather before hand. And if you are in great shape bring your kids, but if you haven't ridden a bike in ages...I may suggest doing it another time.
I'm going to take 2 Tylonal and go to bed now...
xO- Etheline
I am exhausted jut reading this! Hope you had a comfy bed to lie in! I feel like I've had traveling experiences likthis but definitely not with three kids! You are a rockstar!
ReplyDelete