On the shortest of Bogotá stays – the curious case of the coffee-bean ashtrays.

It was a short flight from Lima, Peru up to Bogotá – the capital of Colombia. We had just one day here, and it was a strictly business one at that – alas, no tourism this time. No shots of unusual nature or off-the-beaten-path spots either. But here’s something that always makes me smile in hotels in Colombia ->

“Elevators? What’s so amusing about them?”…

Noooo. It’s what they tend to have installed next to elevator doors in hotels: ashtrays!

“And what’s so amusing about that?” – I imagine comments from the… impatient.

It’s what’s inside the ashtrays.

Sensing tempers fraying and blood pressures rising, amusement factor – approaching!…

Smoking in public places has been banned for ages now – in pretty much every country I happen to pass through, and for a long time too! – well, except for in China, where people still occasionally light up in restaurants. But I don’t think that’ll last much longer.

Here in Colombia of course smoking is banned too – yet the ashtrays are still firmly in place in hotels by the elevators…

Right. Look closely ->

The ashtrays aren’t filled with sand or little pebbles – they’re filled with… coffee beans!

I’ve already marveled at this once before… way back in… let me see now… 2010 (before my English blog was born) ->

Ok, coffee-bean ashtrays aside, I could tell you about the business side of things here in Bogotá, but I fear that won’t be all that interesting. But I do need to note that it happened. So… here’s a press release to prove it!

Now for a few smartphone snapshots out the window of the… armored Land Cruiser they were driving us around in – yes, Colombia has its own particular security/safety situation… Photo credits go to my travel companion, SK ->

We stayed in a nicer part of city – with views like this from my hotel window:

And that’s it for this quick spring business trip to Latin America! Things are going pretty well for us here, and it’s only going to get better – I promise! Accordingly, there’ll be plenty more trips to the continent for me, so it’s win-win for me personally too ).

P.S. At Bogotá’s airport, I had strange déjà vu moment. It’s basically identical to Lima’s airport in Peru – same gate numbering, same layout of the business lounges. You could easily forget which country you’re in!