Final Days in Colombia

Hello, Hope everyone is doing well. Bob & I are doing fantastic and have really enjoyed our time in Colombia. We moved quite a bit thru this country visiting Cartagena, Taganga, Santa Marta, Medellin and Cali. The 1st 3 were coastal towns while the other 2 were inland and large cities. Colombia is a beautiful country and we saw most of this country while riding in a bus city to city. It's mountainous, green and well maintained highways. The Colombians we encounter thru our trip were over friendly and gracious. Truly beautiful people. The only downfall is the food. Living in Houston; we are exposed to some of the best American and Ethnic foods. Here...not the same. They try their best at Chinese food but wow it is bad. Variety, flavor and spices are what we find that lacks in the foods we've eaten. Now, we did find a Thai Restaurant in Medellin called Royal Thai. It truly was one of the best restaurants with the best food. The Chicken Satay hands down, the best I have ever had. Wish I could eat there again and try everything on their menu. We actually found the places to eat were at the malls food court. Fried chicken tops the food groups here and it cracks me up to watch the locals eat it. They actually put on plastic gloves before digging in. Yes, we are mall rats as Bob states. What can I say, we enjoy going to the movies. Most of the movies here are in English with Spanish Subtitles. Works to our advantage. When you buy a movie ticket here; the seating is assigned. They even have a Preferencial seating which cost a little more. We opted for the Preferencial the 1st time we went to see what it was all about. These seats were at last 3 row at the very top. Seats were large but that's about it. I was hoping for a blanket and waitress. So, the rest of the time we choice General admission. We buy our tickets early and pick our seats from the computer diagram. There's no jumping from one movie to another at least not in the theaters we've been to. There's a guy/gal who takes our tickets and escorts us to our assigned seats. Like the theaters in Mexico...everyone picks up their trash as they leave and disposes in the trash bend. What a concept! We've also enjoyed the casinos here in Colombia. They are much smaller than the ones in Vegas or in Lousiana but they are nice and clean. When you walk in your not walking into a smoke filled room and feel you need a shower immediately. All the casinos are smoke free. They have most of the table games we play back home....Black Jack, Texas Hold'em, 3 Card Poker, Roulette and tons of slot machines. I probably would gamble daily but Bob puts his foot down on that one. I sometimes call him NFB (No Fun Bob). But it is because of him we're retired and have money in the bank. So I listen every now and then. We have a few more days in Cali before moving on. Tomorrow we plan to go to the zoo. They say its worth seeing and I'm a zoo fan. Other than that; we're walking the streets daily and taking in the sites. We'll be leaving on Friday and making our way to Quito Ecuador. We'll be busing it and think it'll be a long day. We're still mapping it all out and looking for a hotel. I'm sure Bob will have all that figured out in the next day or two. He does it all plans on paper and my job is get us there using my Spanish. We miss everyone dearly and hope to see you soon. Love - B&B