Botanical Gardens in Bogota, and other stuff

Before I post my zillion pictures of the gardens, I meant to tell about our trip to the market on Sunday....or rather, our trip back to the hotel FROM the market.  It is the rainy season here in Bogota, so it rains pretty much every day, but usually in the afternoons.  We left the hotel about 10 or so, knowing it took almost 30 minutes to walk there, and planning to head back in time for lunch, which is served at 12:30.  We really enjoyed the outdoor market and got to try a few new, Colombian treats while we walked around.  Just as it was time to head back, it began to sprinkle.  It does that a lot here and you don't usually give it much thought.  We all just pulled our hoods over our heads and kept sauntering around the market, making our way out, and telling the guy selling umbrellas that we did not need any but thank you anyway.  By the time we reached the end of the market and began the 30 minute walk back, it was pouring rain.  REALLY pouring.  We didn't have much choice but to keep walking, and at first we actually attempted to avoid walking in puddles, but very soon that became a useless gesture.  We were soaked to the skin, raincoats and all, thinking wistfully about the umbrella guy back at the market. At one point, Laura pointed to her hands and made the motion to tell me (Lenna) her hands were "sleeping"--they were going numb. It's not terribly cold here, but when you're wet that changes things. As we walked, the lightening picked up, and it was very close, so the thunder was quite deafening, often making us jump involuntarily.  Would've been scary if it wasn't so tremendously, awesomely incredible.  We finally made it back and shed all our wet stuff, hanging our jackets in the laundry room in the hope they would be dry the next time we headed out and giving thanks that each of us had more than one pair of shoes! We felt as though we'd walked through  a waterfall!  So that is the story of our trip back from the market.  Very memorable!!

Now, here are our pictures from the gardens.

Giant trees, so many textures.

Another, fuzzy headed giant. (I don't mean Geof)

This patch of, yes, dandelions was carefully planted and tended within the medicinal herbals garden. Not everyone thinks of these as weeds! (Labeled "Dientes de Leon")

This tree had curly side branches that hung down.

 

Yamile is posing in front of two different kinds of agave plants.

Do you see that umbrella Laura is holding?  Yes, we learned our lesson!

Apparently someone had an irresistable urge to proclaim undying love to Mauro and chose this as the way to go.

A hut made of palm fronds.  Such an amazing structure!

Many of the trees here have such beautiful flowers.

Yamile wearing a crown of leaves. The leaves really were in the form of a crown.

My favorite place...the rose garden! So many colors.

Many of these roses smelled incredible.  You really just had to "stop" and smell them!

The remaining pictures of flowers (including this yellow one) were taken inside a climate controlled building.  I wasn't even allowed to use the flash on my camera in there.

(no flowers here, just interesting cactus plants)

A true giant!! The trunks of these palm trees feel like cement posts! They're amazing.

Our special outing with Martha before we head back. We took her and her daughter out to the restaurant called "Crepes and Waffles". 

Packing for our trip home!!!