Bogota, Colombia – June 2nd – 5th, 2017

Our flight itinerary from London to Bogota took us through Orlando, which was an odd and eye-opening experience. No offense to any readers which an affliction from… I mean affiliation to… Florida, but it seemed to us that the Orlando airport is overflowing with the stereotypical American. Obese parents half-tending to spoiled screaming children decked out in Disney Land gear and plump unfriendly staff seemed to be the norm. Also, typical, was the inedible slop they called food. We literally walked around for an hour trying to find food that wasn’t fried or swimming in waxy half-dried fake cheese. The scene might have been out of a spoof on American excess, but no, it was reality. To top it all off, once we were on the plane we looked down onto the tarmac to discover our bags sitting out during a heavy Florida rain shower while several overweight baggage attendants stood around staring blankly at the soaked luggage – I guess the concept of moving the bags out of the rain was too much for them. Needless to say, the reverse culture shock was not a pleasant experience.  

   

Once we arrived in Bogota, I was abruptly reminded of why I hate taxis. Although we knew what the price should be to our hotel, Andy got a bit overzealous with his Spanish and asked, “Cuanto cuesta?” (How much?). A few minutes later, it became clear that we had somehow, unknowingly, agreed to pay over double the actual cost. When we got out at our hotel, we attempted to argue with him about the price, all while he kept our bags ransom in the taxi trunk. In the end, I recruited the hotel attendant to sort it out for us. The taxi driver grudgingly drove away with only 50% more than he should have been paid – I HATE TAXIS! In good news, the hotel turned out to be super nice!

We woke in the morning, more than a little cold – who knew it was cold in Bogota? Aren’t we near the equator? Also, why am I so exhausted?.... probably just the whirlwind trip to London… but, why do I have a splitting headache? Shamefully, the answer to these questions took us almost 48 hours to work out. It was only after dragging ourselves up almost 2,000 ft of stairs to an overlook (the whole time thinking we were extremely out of shape) followed by a timely comment from my Grandma, that we realized that the elevation of Bogota is over 8,600 ft! Besides the elevation taking us by surprise, Bogota, and specifically the Candelaria area of Bogota, really amazed us. The city is charming, lively, and clean(-ish), with really good food and friendly locals (minus the taxi drivers – oh, side note, taxi problem solved with readily available Ubers!). We also felt super safe – caveat being that you don’t stay out past dark.

Our hotel lobby and food in Bogota. 

The charming streets of the Candelaria area.

The 2000 ft. ascent up Monserrate. Since we went on a Sunday morning, the trail was jam packed with locals making their weekly pilgrimage to the catholic church at the top. We could have paid a few dollars to take a tram to the top, but where's the fun in that? 

While in Bogota, we went on two really good tours – a graffiti tour and a city tour. Both guides were passionate about what they do and whole-heartedly wanted to share their city and country with foreigners. With graffiti being “legal” in Colombia, many artists have used art as a political platform throughout the city. Most walls in the Candelaria area are covered with either traditional graffiti or street art, where the wall owner has hired the artist to create a mural. The effect is overwhelmingly beautiful (as long as you can look past the tagging which also covers most surfaces). On the city tour, we walked around the main historical buildings and learned about the politics and corruption that lead to the drug war which has plagued Colombia for the last 3 decades. Although the majority of citizens have lived through extraordinary hardship, they seem eager to move on and transform foreign stereotypes. With such an energetic and optimistic atmosphere, it was impossible not to be sucked into the liveliness of the city.

Graffiti tour in the Candelaria area.

City Tour of the Candelaria area.

The one thing we were not able to figure out in Bogota was the opening hours for stores and restaurants. Apart from the mid-day siesta which does not appear to be at any scheduled time, dinner hours are all over the map (or perhaps the plate in this case). The first night we were too early for dinner at 7pm, then by 5pm the following day, we were too late. Granted, the 2^nd night was a Sunday, and many of the locals are devoutly Catholic, but what are tourists supposed to eat in the tourist part of the city on a Sunday evening? I posed this question to the hotel staff only to receive the response that most people eat at home on Sundays. The obvious problem with this system is that in the tourist part of the city, there are tourists, and tourists have no home.