Eating the Road: Bogota, Colombia

Yep, I’m in Bogota, Colombia this week, playing golf and eating my way around town for a future story in AvidGolfer Magazine. Colombia is nothing like I thought it would be, and that’s a fine with me. Major crimes, drugs, and kidnappings are way down over the past decade, thanks to a concerted government effort to make the country safer.

The city is every bit as bustling and energetic as Bangkok, Mexico City, NYC and Hong Kong. The weather has been ideal for walking 18 holes in the Andes: mid-60s with a light breeze. And the food has also been amazing.

In the half-way house of La Cima Golf Course, high in the mountains, they serve a banana leaf-wrapped, steamed tamal stuffed with a mixture of corn masa, onions, garlic, rice and chicken. It’s as big as a Pecos cantaloupe–and it costs about $2.

Back in the city, my playing partners and I followed a round of golf at the Country Club of Bogota with drinks in the clubhouse–and my first taste of aguardiente, the National drink of Colombia.  Aguardiente is a liqueur with a mild, floral, anise flavor without the harshness you associate with Uozo from Greece.

Up next: Medellin.

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