whale watching

Some friends and I went whale watching on the Pacific this weekend. In the top video, the whale surfaced so close to us that the boat was rocking for two minutes (and all I could do was laugh).  The bottom video is just a nice shot of swimming whales, blowholes, and humpback faces.

birthday quiche

For my birthday this year, my Panama friends got me some great gifts.  One is fixing my phone, and the another, with whom I share a free period, offered to make us breakfast to enjoy during that free period.  He made this delicious bacon/broccoli/garlic/mushroom quiche, with a homemade pate bris crust, and a lot of cheese.  It was delicious, and a lovely way to start out the day.

Playa San Carlos

First beach day of the year, and we decided to pick a beach at random.  We discovered this untouched stretch, and spent a lovely day eating, walking, shelling, and swimming.  It was a great way to recharge before school starts.

Mariah, Laura, Janelle, and Julia- this is what a beach day should be.

Bogota Graffiti

I put a bunch of graffiti photos on facebook, but these were my favorites.  The graffiti is a fabulous art form throughout the city, and I just couldn't take enough pictures of it.

Salt Cathedral, Bogota

Colombia has a lot of salt production.  As my fellow history teachers know, salt had more value than gold at many points in history.  There are still many functioning salt mines in Colombia.  This one was mined for many years;  when all of the salt was extracted, the miners took the open spaces and carved a cathedral, complete with 13 stations of the Cross, all 120 ft underground.  It was beautiful and artistic.  And HUGE.

Services are still held every Sunday, and apparently it is a madhouse during Easter Week.  Luckily, it's big enough to fit them all, many times over.

The artists had even taken the time to do beautiful stone work on some of the walls.

Lake Guaravita, Colombia

While in Bogota, I visited Lake Guaravita.  It is almost perfectly round, and played a huge role in the ancient societies of Colombia.  The head priest of the Muisca, the natives, would paint himself head to toe in gold, row out to the center of the lake, and throw gold and emeralds into the water as offerings to the gods.  When the Spanish found out about this, the legend of El Dorado was born.

Opposite the lake are rolling fields.