Bogota Colombia - 3rd August to 6th August

Flew into Bogota, the 2nd August night...........and It is as expected - a facinating city !

There is much friendliness and politness all around right from the officials at the Airport to the people on the street. Going through immigration & customs was a super courteous and efficient excercise that made us instantly like the country.

Bogota is certainly a diverse, sopisticated city with great mix of people - the women are very beautiful, charming and always appear well dressed. The men are charming too but the women just seem to outshadow them.

We are staying in an old colonial house turned into a Bed & Breakfast, with a lovely yellow courtyard onto which most of the rooms open. The house is called La Casona Del Patio Amarillo. Our first personal encounter here was with Alejandro, the receptionist, on our arrival at night. He joked and fooled around about everything the minute we met. He is very helpful and full of detailed information, given in his own version of English.

Orienting oneself in Bogota is very easy. The Eastern Andes run along the eastern edge of the city, and rise straight up along that edge. The Avenues (Carerras) all run parallel to this North-South Range and the Streets (Calles) run perpendicular to the Range


On our first morning (3rd August), we took the local bus into the old historic city centre called "La Candelaria" and walked our way through the busy winding, intriguing streets, with churches, museums, cafes, hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Ate colombian food and drank various versions of coffee. The entire atmosphere is vibrant and you can feel the culture & spirit here in Bogota. Even in the churches, like the San Francisco Church with its gilded alter - the oldest in Bogota, there is such a sense of acceptance of others.


Botero's Art Museum in La Candelaria is brilliant. Letay had a relaxed time here and found Botero's "fat" style extremely entertaining. Even his sculptures have this fat essence. The museum is part of an old rambling house & the mint with a good area to relax and have a coffee whenever we needed a break. Visited the upmarket restaurant area "Zona G" for dinner. Great atmosphere and restaurants but not where we would like to be in Bogota.

On the second day (4th August) too, we couldn't stay away from the La candelaria. Visited the Gold Museum, with "tons"of gold artifacts from the pre-colombian peiod. Ate Ajiaco, the local Bogota Soup made of chicken & 3 different types of potato, at one of the oldest operating restaurants called - La Puerta Falsa, operating since 1816. We also had a taste of the trendy alternative - at Cafe Para Dos, a cafe near one of the many universities in La Candeleria, where all the juices and coffees are served with some sort of alcohol in them, and most of the seating is on cushions on the floor. Great place for Letay to recharge, lying on the floor drawing and us to read.

On the Saturday 5th August, we took the Funicular up to the top of one of the mountains in the Andes and had a fabulous view of the city from there. There is a cable car too. We met Angela and her children that afternoon. Angela is a Colombian friend we met in Nigeria. Her two children were in Letay's school in Nigeria too.


Took the Transmilenia Bus north. This bus service almost operates like a Metro, with stations and platforms, tickets, etc, but being a bus is an efficient easy method of mass-transport without the huge capital needed for a metro. Very Impressive service.

It was good to see the Northern Suburbs too and visit "Angela's Bogota". We went North to a town called Chia to a bakery called "La Montaga", operating since 1945, and ate fresh Pan de Yuka (Bread made of Tapioca) & . These were brilliant and are just as Angela had them as a child. It was a great experience seeing Bogota through Angela's eyes.

Went later to the Zona Rosa's "T Zone", which is a great area of paved walkways for pedestrians and cyclists - with restaurants, cafes & bars. Cycle paths go all the way from the North to the South of the City. The current Mayor is very progressive and has certainly given Bogota what many other cities around the world do not have. He even wants to turn one of Bogota's oldest golf clubs into a public park.

On Sunday 6th August, we went with Angela and the kids to Zipaquiera north of Bogota; the old Salt Mining town. Visited the impressive Cathedral 180m below the ground carved from an underground Salt Dome. The walls, floor ceiling and carvings within the Cathedral are all of salt. It is absolutely facinating. Church services are held here on Sundays and it can hold upto 8000 people.

Then went for lunch to the Iconic "Andreas Carne de Res", in Chia North of Bogota. Calling it a restaurant is certainly a super understatement. It has been a part of life here for years. Nothing can quite describe it well or do it justice. It is like dining with a circus, whilst they are performing for you and serving you at the same time, with the circus decor designed by both Picasso & Dali. What is even more facinating is that people are all close together, not like in some huge Barn Restaurant. Today being Sunday, they were about 3000 people, with 400 people doing the serving. The food is very typically Colombian, with great South American Bar-B-Que. We drank juices mad of exotic Colombian fruit that do not exist elsewhere (The ever enthusiastic Angela even took us on a tour through a fruit section of a market to educate us on the various types).

Nothing appears straight forward in the design of this restaurant and yet there is so much thought for detail. Dining midst orchestrated chaos would describe it better. With barely 2-3 feet between tables and waiters running around with steaming dishes, there were still dancers, cyclists delivering love letters, and even the dead Simon Bolivar being paraded on a horse. In all this chaos was very precise organisation. Medics immediately appear if anyone had too much to drink. Lost children are delivered back to tables even before you realise they are lost. Certainly a one of a kind in the world and an experience to be part of the "Beautiful People" in Bogota, but perhaps far from the poorer reality of South Bogota.

Tomorrow monday 7th August, Colombia is at a standstill with the inaugral re-instatment of the current President.

We leave Bogota on the 8th (tuesday)early morning by bus and head up north towards Cartagena, stopping in Barichara, Giron, Santa Marta and finally Cartagena. On the 16th we fly to Leticia, to the Amazon Forest region and then travel along the Amazon by boat to Iquitos (Peru) on 20th August.