Today was a pleasingly uneventful travel day back to the US during which my cameras remained packed away. I decided to post this video depicting some of my overland travel from earlier in the week. Our caravan spent hours at a time for several days traversing the Bolivian altiplano, and this clip gives a pretty good sense of what that was like. This particular stretch was not very dusty. Other sections were so bad that I had to fashion a mask from my neck buff and still could taste the sand on my teeth.

The reward for all the jaw rattling, airway choking, driving was arriving at locations like the one below.

I arrived in Boston just after 9 PM, and Jeanine was there to greet me. It is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I was delighted to see her. As it happens, Jeanine leaves for North Carolina tomorrow with Maya to visit my sister Mayela. She said we were like two ships passing in the night. I think it would be more accurate to say that we were like two ships docking in the night 🙂

After a good night’s sleep, I left my hotel to explore Bogota on foot.

Monserrate, my first destination, is an iconic 3,152-meter mountain, topped by a 17th-century sanctuary dedicated to “El Señor Caído” (The Fallen Lord). Known for breathtaking city views and as a major pilgrimage site, it is accessible via hiking trail, cable car, or funicular, which is the option I chose. The peak also offers restaurants and a flag-draped artisan market.

Located at the foot of Monserrate in Bogotá, the Casa Museo Quinta de Bolívar is a colonial-era estate that served as the residence of the South American liberator, Simón Bolívar, on and off for ten years between 1821 and 1830. Today, it functions as a museum dedicated to preserving his personal legacy and the history of the independence movements. Surrounding the house is the Jardín Bolivariano, recently declared a Cultural Landscape and a national historic garden.  

I spent the remainder of the day on a random walk, enjoying the sights and sounds the city has to offer. I spent the remainder of the day watching the NASA YouTube channel coverage of the Artemis II launch from my 7th-floor room in the pictured Hotel Oceania.