My New Ride and Sunday Funday

I bought a new bike! She's a super light, fast, 1-speed just made for city riding. I had been looking for a bike for a while when my friend Daniel's friend put this one up for sale. I swooped in, bought her, and named her Samba. The girl selling her to me was Brazilian so it seemed fitting!

I cannot express how happy having a bike again has made me! Bogota is by no means bike uber-friendly, but there are several bike paths and trails. In addition, the main roads are closed down until 2pm every Sunday for Ciclovia, which is a pedestrian-oriented time. Thousands of walkers, runners, and bikers take to the streets, and you can really explore other parts of the city safely.

After a few days of riding around, I found my optimal route, which takes me to Parque Simon Bolivar. I can only compare it to Piedmont Park, as it is a huge green space in the city with bike and walking paths, a lake, and even a concert amphitheater.  The entire loop from my house is around 10 miles, so I 'm pretty tired when I get home. I usually bring a book or some study notecards and sit in the park for half an hour or so before biking home. Here's one of the spots I like to take a rest in.

Daniel is an avid biker, so he invited me to go for a ride one Sunday. It turned into an epic adventure with stops at parks, cafes, garage sales, and a few bars! I barely made it up a few hills, and I had to suck wind a few (ok, many) times, but it was so much fun I didn't care. At the end of the night, we decided we had a new tradition: Sunday Funday. We have now enjoyed around 5 Sunday Fundays and the adventure is different every week. We pick a new direction and just head out and see what happens! We've clocked rides of up to 15 miles! Daniel says that's nothing, but um...it's hard for me sometimes haha. To break up the riding, we've also brought a soccer ball to kick around a few times. Here are a few pics.

Night ride!

Cicloruta along the 26

                                    Laying in the grass with beers? Doesn't get much better :)


Daniel's friend, Daniel (who I will now refer to as Dos) has joined us the last two times. Sunday Funday must be shared will all adventurous souls! The first time, Dos had his dog with him, but the second time he left him behind since we couldn't go as far or as fast. The second trip was the last before my trip home to Atlanta for the holidays. Our meanderings took us to a very traditional Colombian food sector, where we ordered a platter for 3...holy God we almost exploded from food. The dish includes morcilla (blood sausage), intestine, pork, potatoes, kidney...and probably some other body parts. We also made refajos, which is a drink combined with Colombiana soda and Poker beer. It's a typical hangover beverage or is drank when you don't want to get very drunk. I'm kind of obsessed with it. Here is a small photo story of our experience eating all da meat!

MEAT

 Please notice how HUGE this plate is! Dos is on the left, Daniel on the right.

We did our best, but we were defeated!

So Dos strapped the leftovers to his bike. 

Our next stop included a park, where we kicked a ball around and had to repeatedly stop a dog from getting into that meat bag! In the end, it was a bit awkward to keep a meat bag on the bike, so Dos stopped and gave it to a woman and her child on the street. Pretty stand-up decision, in my opinion! The day ended with a few more beers and a 2 hour nap!

So where will Sunday Funday take us in the future? I have no idea, and that's what makes it so wonderful!