A Very Busy Weekend!

This weekend we went to the new mall that opened up here recently. OMG. It was amazing! I am not a big mall fan, I don't usually like the just shop around and browse. But we wanted to get out of the house and do something before going to farm, and we decided to go there so I could look for some hair products that I will need when I get my hair chopped off later this week :) There is a store here, Fedco, where you can buy imported (read expensive) body care products that you can't buy anywhere else. We assumed the new mall, Cacique, would have one, and it would give us an excuse to check it out! Well, It was really a treat! I didn't have super high expectations since I know how most malls here are, (older, mostly natural light which can make it a little gloomy looking if it's cloudy, and they tend to have all the same kind of stores.) and I assumed that it would be more of the same. It wasn't! It was very American in the style, and in the stores!!! There are plenty of American stores that I didn't know existed here! Most aren't open yet, but some where.

Coming in the next 6 months, we will have Forever 21, Victoria's Secret, G by Guess, and Aeropostale. Not that I necessarily shop at all these stores, but it is really nice to see something familiar! Also, just off the food court, they have a McDonalds, and a McCafe. Across the board, McDonalds here are much nicer than any in the US. Food is more expensive, the clientele is classier, and the insides are new, clean, and look really nice! Until now, I had never seen a separate McCafe. It was set up like Starbucks stores are, and looked like a great place to drink coffee, do some work, or relax. But the best part of the mall was the top floor.

The top floor is were the casino is and also the sit down restaurants. We ate at La Birreria. It is a pub that has lots of great European beers, and pretty delicious American bar food!

The restaurants are set up to look like an old American town, and the end is open with views of the city. After we ate lunch and shopped around a little, we stopped for some yogurt and La Yogurteria. It looked like yagoot and supposedly had active cultures and was low fat. This was not yogurt, and did not have active cultures. I also highly doubt that it was low fat. I'm glad we only got 2 for us all to share. The kids didn't seem to mind that it was was soft serve ice cream :)

After the mall, we went to the farm, but on the way, we drove through Giron.

I love small towns here. They look so different from anything I am used to, and I love the dirt or cobblestone roads, the way everything looks the same, and I am so fascinated with how people live so close together.

Everyone is pretty much on top of each other, and it seems so cozy to me. It isn't odd to see tons of doorways open, people hanging out on the street and talking. It is just such a different way of life than I am familiar with. Where I come from, there are neighborhoods where you can walk a ways and see your neighbors, or apartments, where you usually don't see too many people. But here, people all seem to get along, and want to be friendly with everyone around. I just love it!

Sunday we went to a restaurant called La Niebla. It was so fun! It is a restaurant in the mountains on the road to Cucuta another city in Colombia that is northeast of Bucaramanga, and right near the Venezuelan border. Cucuta is about a 3 hour drive, and this restaurant was about an hour in that direction. Here is the view of the city from up there.. It was cloudy Sunday, so it's kind of hard to see.

It is on the complete other side of the city than I had ever been, and we went through a very poor neighborhood to get there.

These houses are built into the side of the mountain and have the most extraordinary views of the city! The only problem is that they aren't constructed very well, and during the rainy season, there is always concern that the rain will erode too much of the mountain, and they will crumble. I also learned on the way up there that rainy seasons have been bad, and recently there have been fears that the mountains will fall down over the city. The area that we go a lot (and close to where Carlos grew up) is especially in danger. So they are putting up barriers to protect the area.

Now. On the the restaurant!

The best part was the sangria.

The view was a very close second!

For my meal I got these Tex Mex Patacones (green plantains with guacamole and cheese). They were delicious! The guacamole was actually very spicy, and that is very very rare here!

Also fun was the fact that they had two dogs and a cat there. Usually I wouldn't be a fan of animals in an eating establishment, (esp when they try to take my kid's food.. like the kitten who climbed on Emma's chair in order to try to sneak her steak :) but it was a very outdoor type place, and after we were finished eating, (while enjoying more sangria :) we let the kids play with the animals and they had an amazing time!

They clearly need a pet. They wouldn't leave this kitten alone.

They also loved playing on the playset and running around with other kids! They both zonked out as soon as we left, so by my measure- it was a very successful afternoon :)

We had a great weekend, and it was a shame it had to end!