Colombiano in Indonesia
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| Friendship Across Countries |
Last weekend, me and my friends welcoming our beloved friend from Colombia. It was a short trip to Jakarta, yet it felt special because he is the only person from Bucaramanga, Colombia, that at last can visit Indonesia. We never thought that anyone we knew could really come and visit us in Indonesia.
As you all know, Indonesia and Colombia are separated on two different sides of the world. Not just by continent and the ocean, if you look at the globe carefully both countries are located opposite each other. It is so far away, 18.998 Kilometers to be precise, and it takes 21.11 hours to flight. Because of that matter no wonder that the flight ticket is so expensive. So when one of our Colombiano friends Camilo decided to come and visit us, we were so excited. It is indeed a rare moment after nearly four years we finally meet again.
Unfortunately, he only spent the weekend in Jakarta. But lucky him, because there is the city anniversary festival and this year the governor has decided to hold a special event to celebrate it. On the first day, we went to a rooftop bar in Kosenda Hotel to enjoy the city night ambiance. We enjoy our time by talking and laughing, remembering things that we have experienced together. We also spent that night video call with his parents; that had treated us nicely during our time in Colombia
On the next, we took turns accompanying him in exploring the city. The journey starts with eating in a famous noodle restaurant Bakmi Gajah Mada. Then we went to Ennichisai, a Japanese annual event in the Blok M area by MRT; the latest public transportation of Jakarta. I told him that the MRT was built for four years and how proud we are as Jakartans to have mass public transportation. FYI, Colombia didn’t have an underground MRT, just a Metro above the ground in Medellín.
Ennichisai was full of thousands of people, Japanese, Indonesian, and other international tourists. It was a lively event, with so many different Japanese street food stalls, anime, and games store. Many people were also wearing cosplay that really striking just like the anime character.
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| Celebrating Jakarta's Anniversary in Monas |
After a couple of hours, we finally meet our fellow friend Adit. Then we continued our trip to Monumen Nasional or known as Monas. It is the iconic monument of the capital. We took Trans Jakarta Bus to go there and continued by Grab car because the road was blocked due to the event that will be held that night. Another FYI, Trans Jakarta Bus was adapted from Trans Milenio in Bogotá so he wasn’t really impressed much.
I was so exhausted because of the heat, and so was Camilo. Well, the weather between Jakarta and Bucaramanga is similar, but here in Jakarta, it is so humid that can cause heavy dehydration. The high level of gas emissions because of so many vehicles is making it worse.
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| Noche de Español |
After the sun goes down, we booked a taxi to our friend’s house in West Jakarta. She held a welcome party for Camilo. It was such a pleasant time because we had a mini-reunion together. It’s been a long time since we gathered around two years ago. We all spoke in Spanish, talking, laughing, and feeling a bit nostalgic. In 2015 when we lived in Bucaramanga, we used to hang out in Carmen’s apartment in Soto Mayor. I think we used to hang out in her kitchen and living room almost every single week.
On Sunday morning, my friend took Camilo out for another city tour. They decided to go to Old Town and explore China Town with another foreigner that speaks Spanish. After a long walk, we met in a shopping center on Lotte Avenue to have dinner. We decided to grab some sushi in Sushi Genki. We’ve gathered for the last time before we drop him off at his hotel. It was his last day in Jakarta and Indonesia.
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Camilo and Us Enjoying Feria Bonita Bucaramanga in 2015
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