Boggling Bogota
First stop, the capital. A sprawling, polluted, but very friendly and welcoming city, at an altitude of 2640m. Arriving at rush hour (hora pico) we piled into our taxi and chatted to the incredibly friendly taxi driver, who was so interested in our lives, England, our jobs, our family (he was baffled when we told him we had no kids), politics and religion - we certainly filled the 2 hours from airport, mostly at a standstill). Finally, we arrived at our Airbnb apartment in the burbs. We had thought that it was closer to the centre, probably due to the fact that the description had said so, but the neighbourhood looked nice, with a park nearby, posh dogs being walked in the well-lit street and there was a very friendly doorman (the block had 24 hour door service). Great apartment, friendly owner handed over the keys, then we flopped into the big, comfy bed, goodnight!
Decoration on the wall in our apartment - A haiku? Maybe it'll make sense in the morning
Next day we realised how far out we were, but took to the Transmilenio, the Bogota bus metro service, which operates more like a metro, in that it has stations along the route and does not stop anywhere else. Very civilised, we thought, though very confusing - the return route has a different number and colour, even though it's the same route in reverse.... Aaargh. Thank goodness for tourism students who want to practise on clueless gringos!
Entrance to the Transmilienio station near our apartment, ordered and sedate ... For now...
However, travelling at rush hour was a different story! The usually kind, helpful and very friendly citizens of Bogota transform into sharp elbowed demons in the crush and it's virtually impossible for anyone to get on or off without doing the same. We spoke to one man who had gone four stops past the one he wanted. Just like the London Underground at rush hour.
A wander around the historic Candelaria district, where most of the backpacker hostels are located, ducking every now and then into cafes to shelter from the rain.
Inside the beautiful church
Colonial buildings on cobbled streets
Even these toilets are picturesque
Statue of Simon Bolivar, in his square. Seconds later the poor homeless guy at his feet was moved on by the police
You'd get arrested for this in Trafalgar Square these days
We took the cable car to Monserrate, a mountain overlooking Bogota
(He's looking nonchalant, but those of you who know how much Alan hates heights will realise how much of a deal this was for him!)
Little 'castle' (restaurant) at the top - note the men at work
Bogota is big!
Rio? No, Bogota - this Christ the Redeemer is much smaller than the Brazilian counterpart
Restaurant with a view (too pricey and touristy for us, though)
Belltower near the church
The gardens were alive with little birds
Street art near the bottom of the hill
We love the idea of a chocolate district!
Sunday is great in Bogota. Lots of roads are closed to traffic and Bogotanians and tourists alike don their lyrcra and walk, jog and cycle on the cyclovias.
We took a short taxi ride from our apartment to Usaquen, a little area above Bogota, which used to be a separate town from the capital, but is now incorporated. It's a great place to visit on a Sunday, for the craft market, food stalls and restaurants and holiday atmosphere.
Traditional hats and bags
More colourful traditional crafts
Not so traditional crafts (these are backpacks)
Effortlessly cool - this seller is one of the indigenous Arhuaco people
The bag across his shoulder and the natural coloured bags he's selling are made by the indigenous Arhuaca people, from the Tayrona region of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta area in the north of Colombia.
The brightly coloured bags are traditional wayuu (another indigenous Colombian people)
Handwoven hamacas
Colombian corpse brides
There are some gorgeous, very reasonably priced crafts here, sooooo tempting, but, we are travelling long, cheap and light, so resistance is all. Somehow, we managed to walk away with just a tiny bottle of calendula face oil to counter the moisture-sapping altitude and a pair of 3 quid 'Ray Bans' to replace my snapped and sewn together pair from the North Laine in Brighton. Impressive, huh? (Well, to be honest, the conversation went something like this: 'But I could wear it over my shoulder - it wouldn't need packing', 'Yes, but you already have a bag which Amy gave you in Guatemala', 'But I could fold that up and put it in the new bag, and alternate', 'But then you couldn't fit much in the new bag cos it would be filled with the old bag', 'But it's unique, and cheap, and we may not be in Colombia again'...... etc etc., so I certainly can't claim the higher ground!).
Perhaps even more difficult was leaving without one of the pets assembled in the main square by 2 different animal charities, ready to be rehomed. They both seemed to be very ethical - the dogs and cats were neutered and vaccinated and appeared to be well cared for and loved. We spent ages willing obvious animal lovers to adopt one of the dozens of dogs, from puppies found abandoned in a sack to pedigrees to very elderly pooches. We fell in love with a woolly black mongrel and, I'm sure that if we'd been able, we'd have come away with him. One little white scrap was adopted while we were there - yippee!
One of the very cute dogs for rehoming
I've always wanted one of those.... Um..... Stick things
The little old guy on the right shuffle-danced without a break the whole time we were there, looking so dour, but check the guy on the left. (No, we didn't eat in Subway)
Hey, is that Peppa Pig shopping for art in Bogota? (The diva, she could at least look at the singer)
That's more like it - she had a great voice
While we were in Bogota we caught up with our lovely friends, Amy and Dom, our neighbours in Guatemala. We met up at their hostel in Zona Rosa, a great area of the city, and began our gastronomic tour of the place in a wok restaurant, where you cobble together your own bespoke meal, starting with the type of noodle, then add veggies/meat, soup, etc etc (yum), then toddled on to a DIY milkshake bar, where you could choose the sauce and topping (I had chocolate sauce and snickers topping on the very thick shake - also yum), then on to a fancy tearoom for aromatic tea and cake, then for a drink, before going back to Amy and Dom's hostel, where we were joined by their new Sarf London friend for a delicious dinner, cooked by Dom! We miss those two and it's our ambition to be neighbours again at some point (if our waistlines can take it).
So, how was Bogota for us? Bits of it were great, but we didn't love it - perhaps if we'd been there longer and got to know it better, or stayed in a different area, also it rained quite a bit while we were there, which affected our experience. But, what made it for us was the people: so friendly and welcoming. That, alone, made our few days there worthwhile.
Next post: Medellin, city of hope and Pablo Escobar's old stomping ground
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