International Dance Day

As most of you already know, I love dancing. It's one of the few things––together with horseback riding––that make me forget completely about the world around me when I'm doing it. It makes me fly to another world, while making me feel happy and relaxed.

Today is the International Dance Day, and I could definitely not let it pass unnoticed in my blog. So I decided to search my laptop for some old pictures from my dance group's performance back in October, during the Contemporary Dance Festival in Bogota.

Love,

Photography: Diego Castellanos

Experimenting Photography

When I went with my sister to the theatre festival, I also had the chance to experiment new photography techniques, and getting to shoot pictures that looked somehow different than usual.

Although I must say this was a sort of difficult task for an unexperienced photographer like me, I managed to shoot three pictures I love. What I like about them is that they almost look like watercolours, so it's hard to tell if they really are pictures or if they are actually paintings. What do you think?

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Theatre Festival

I usually moan about how the cultural scene in Bogota is so small and useless. But I must be honest and admit it's actually quite good––although you have to really engage and search for the events that are taking place all over the city––and it's been improving lately.

One of the things I believe has contributed the most to the development of a cultural atmosphere in the city is the Theatre Festival, which occurs every two years. This time, it took place during the past two weeks, and I loved going around the streets with my lovely sister to see some of the shows.

Love,

Travel Diaries: Rome, Day 3

My third day in Rome was very busy, so I didn't have much time to be a tourist and do many fun things. It was also very cold and rainy, so I am actually thankful I got to spend most of the day inside!

For the lunch break during my conference, I went with my new Italian friends––and some old friends as well––to a wonderful pizzeria that was just a few blocks away from the conference centre. This place was very colourful and wonderful, which made me feel in a fairy tale. From the moment I saw the place, I fell in love with it! I had pizza prosciutto, which is one of my favourites. Anything with prosciutto is always on my fave list!

We strolled back to the conference centre, and got to see some of the magic of the streets in Rome... Which happened again when we were going back to the hotel, exhausted after a very long working day!

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Travel Diaries: Rome, Day 2

I've always been a true believer that, if you come to Italy, you should eat like you're in Italy! And one of the most important characteristics of eating in Italy has got to be the quantity of the food... Which means eating several starters, a primo piatto––aka pasta––, seconds piatto––meat and its friends––and dessert. Oh, and bread to eat the sauces you leave behind. And wine, of course!

I must confess that around 6pm on my second day in Rome, I was going to call it a pretty boring one. I woke up around 8:30 to attend a meeting, and then I had only a little over an hour to stroll around the streets near the hotel. I loved it because it's a very quiet neighbourhood––which actually reminds me of where my best friends lived in Paris during their gap year and makes me want to move there right now––but it's not the most touristic thing to do.

During the afternoon, I had to attend the opening ceremony of the conference I'm participating on––the whole reason why I'm here, actually––and that was it. As soon as it finished, I was told we were going to Taylor's Restaurant. They called it that way because nobody knows it's actual name and Taylor––one of my travel buddies––loves it!

We walked for around an hour, trying to find this wonderful place. It's really near to Campo dei Fiori, and it's actually called Trattoria der Pallaro. It's owned by a wonderful cook, who apparently loves us. She even gave hugs to one of my friends!

The meal was huge. But also amazing and very Italian! We started with some prosciutto, olives and bread. We then had some lentils with fried fish and cheese. The first dish was pasta––naturally! It consisted of some paccheri cacio e pepe and something I would call paccheri al telefono––although I might be wrong. We then had some meat––something similar to pork, I'd say––, salad, and mozzarella di bufala. We ended up with a lemon desert, which was absolutely delicious!

We then went back walking to the hotel, trying to digest all this food. And off to bed, after one of the best meals I've had in a very long while!

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio