For those of you who have been following because of the motorcycle adventure, with the bike segment now done, we turn in to the typical tourist.
After our hotel breakfast we both bring our clothes to the lavanderia around the corner. Then we agree to meet in the lobby at 10am. Meeting back up, we catch an uber tp the Uno Centro Commercial (shopping mall). Cruising around here for a while we find a wack of Casa de Cambios where we can change our money. I check out the rates and then we settle in for a coffee and to figure out what way is best. It turns out that if we changes the pesos directly into Canadian dollars we would do worse than if we changed into US dollars now and then changed the USD again in Canada. I return to the cambio and exchange 2 million for 600 USD. Since I didnt want to walk around with all the money, I will need to return and change more. Chris didn’t bring any of his so we will need a return trip anyways.
The mall overall is quite dull, not unlike any north american mall, except perhaps a little more upscale. Not hugely busy either. Since we aren’t really there to shop anyways, we don’t spend long there before returning to the hotel and stashing our money away.
Next, we walk a block or two to the metro. Buying a pass, jump on the metro and ride around to a couple of different areas while enjoying the ride and crowd. A little later, by the time we headed back to Laureles and our area, the metro was packed and we felt like little fish in a can (except the fish are dead and we aren’t, so I guess that is a shitty metaphor).
Back at the hotel, both of us this time bring more of our pesos, and we head back to the mall. Strangely, even with all the other businesses open, the cambios are mostly closed. We end up finding a couple that are still open and both of us change another 2 million. The money is changing fast. It took me over 50 years to finally become a millionaire and required a trip to Colombia to happen. Now my 6 million is rapidly turning into very little. I didn’t even spread it out and roll around in it and now it is almost gone (I don’t know who all the little faces are on the bills so that would feel dirty).
Once again back at the hotel, we collect our laundry. An hour or so later we meet and head out to dinner just down the road. Nice place, live musicians, fantastic street scene, unspectacular food. Cant win them all. After dinner, we spend a couple hours wandering the streets and watching everything before returning to the hotel. I watch a playoff football game before going to sleep. A nice city and an entertaining day.
Colombia Motorcycle Ride 