Sierra made this incredibly delicious soup by roasting tomatoes, onions, and garlic for a couple hours and then putting it through the blender. HOLY CRAP it was awesome.
People keep asking me, "Wasn't it REALLY hard to be vegan in Colombia?"
Nope.
That's not to say it isn't carne, carne, y más carne everywhere you go, but there are many good vegetarian eateries too. I found at least one in virtually every town I visited:
Girasoles in Cartagena. This is the place I went to every day while I was writing. We also went to Govinda's, which was fairly good, but Girasoles is better, and a way better value too (7,000 pesos for juice, soup, and a big plate of yum).
Albahaca in Bucaramanga. I love that all the ingredients are laid out in little plastic tubs on a table by the door, and you just choose what you want and they sauté it up for you with fresh herbs.
Restaurante Vegetariano Saludable Delicia in San Gil. Best seitan steak ever!
Mandala Arte y Sabor in Barichara. Same deal here for lunch--only 7,000 pesos. I believe they called this "vegetable paella." Nom!
A very friendly veggie café in Villa de Leyva (I can't seem to find the name by googling, but it's just north of the Plaza Mayor on Calle 12). That lentil burger with chutney was taaaaasty. Again, only 7,000 pesos, and that included soup, juice, tea, and dessert!
(You may have noticed that there is no entry from Bogotá. We wanted to try Quinua y Amaranto, but every time we went it was closed. Boo!)
Looks so yummy! Today I got into a conversation with a woman I work with about how she traveled with a vegetarian friend in Peru and all she ate was plain pasta. I responded with "that's weird because I found plenty of great food to eat there." Then she said (snottily I might add) that that wouldn't have been possible in the untouristy areas that she was traveling. Condescending much? Did I mention I really don't like this woman? She also went on a rant about how she exercises too much to be vegan/vegetarian and how it's just too boring. You work at the EPA for crying out loud! Ok I will stop.