Bus2Antarctica: Bogotá High School Reunion

Andrew Evans arrived alone in Bogotá in Colombia, but quickly found himself among friends. Follow Andrew’s Twitter feed @Bus2Antarctica and bookmark all of his blog posts here.

It’s a very small world after all.

I doubt any of the original polar explorers ran into old high school friends on their journeys but then again, Shackleton wasn’t on Facebook.

After a harrowing 27-hour bus ride from Cartagena, I arrived in Colombia’s capital city ready for a break. I checked into my hotel and took care of my first priority: updating my status on Facebook. There I found a new message from an old friend Sarah Debolt–someone I haven’t seen in over 16 years. Turns out she now lives in Bogotá and she’s been following my bus journey to Antarctica.

Even better, I had arrived on her birthday and she invited me along to celebrate. We met up at this completely chaotic and wildly fun restaurant with delicious Colombian food called Andres Carne de Res and there, the party began.

Way back when, Sarah and I used to sit next to each other in the back of our senior AP English class and talk up a storm. Luckily we had a very cool teacher who appreciated our constant conversation as “English” and let us ramble on (at least that’s how I remember it). This was small-town Ohio in the early ’90s; after graduation we both took off to our various colleges and destinies.

Sarah and I caught up over plates of uchuvas, patacón, and arepas stuffed with queso antioqueño before digging into some outstanding grilled tenderloin. I must say, the food in Colombia did not disappoint. Sarah’s been living and working in Bogotá for the past six months and gave me lots of great insight into everything that makes this city tick. There’s nothing better than a live-in local to show you the way, and my brief time in Bogotá was well spent thanks to an old friend. ¡Gracias Sarah!

Andrew’s bus journey has just taken him to Peru. Follow his Twitter feed @Bus2Antarctica, bookmark all of his blog posts here, see videos here, and get the full story on the project here. Photos courtesy Andrew Evans.