Entries about tea

Living in a city of some 8 million people, although I suspect there is much more just go to the top of Monserrate the peak of the mountain range that is Bogota to gauge some kind of idea of how big this city actually is

and how beautiful it looks from up there…

but on the other side of the peak nothing but trees it’s surreal.

With this many people this many buses this many taxis this many motorbikes it was no wonder that people here wear the same type of face masks people wear in Asian Countries, I have to admit that was somewhat of a surprise for me and I knew it was only a matter of time before I got some kind of chest problems and I did.

Weirdly enough, it came about a day or two after I had been up to Monserrate in the most ridiculously fast cable car journey I’ve ever experienced & I am NO FAN of cable cars at the best of times, I didn’t go skiing as a child, I only started using them as an adult & I just don’t like them another weird thing I’ve just realised it’s only going up that I totally freak out, my whole body starts sweating not shaking though and I have to breath through waves of nausea before we reach the top, the strange thing about this particular cable car was there were no joints between top and bottom of the mountain, the wiring started at the bottom & went straight to the top… Colombian engineering genius maybe?

Now, depending on how far the top actually is, I have been know to walk down the side of mountains rather than take the cable car down; one time I walked down the swiss alps, pre planned this beforehand because I wanted to take my camera to get some shots, I ended up taking some amazing shots for a college project and coming across this Japanese couple on a sleigh playing the flute - it was very random & I remember wondering for a minute if the vibration from the music could cause an avalanche? anyone? Also that weekend I went further down the mountain into the warm valleys just outside of Bogota it was then that I felt the familiar burning in my chest indicating that I probably needed to stock up on some wet wipes. Was it the extreme changes in altitude, so quickly that finally lifted the 2 months worth of Bogota nastiness off my chest? and it was nasty. I don’t know, but even though I had been eating extremely well is wasn’t enough to stop the build up!

It took a little bit of effort but I finally found the ingredients for a tea I made last year when a similar chest issue effected a trip to London.

Sage
Thyme
Ginger
Fresh (ish) Aloe (not super important only if you can get it)
Brown Sugar or Honey if you super healthy
Mint
Rosemary
Squeeze a lime

Put all ingredients into a teapot if you have one handy or a pan on a stove works fine as well, wait for the water to boil once it’s boiled, take off heat and let sit for 5-10 minutes then drink until you cough is gone, It's refreshing, it’s natural it’s clean I swear by it, it works!