Colombia: Bogota and Medellin

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Bogota was my first stop in Colombia, and is a pretty interesting city. I did most of the major sighseeing on the first day, starting in the historic center, Plaza Bolivar. From there all the interesting buildings (Cathedrals, presidents residence, older buildings) are quickly covered. Entrance to museaums was also free, so I visited the Gold museum, as well as the Botero gallery, which much to my suprise, I quite enjoyed. Botero is a famous Colombian artist, who draws (and sculpts) everything supersized.

For great views of the city, I took the cable car up to Monseratte, a church on the mountains overlooking Bogota. That evening I met up with Stewart, a friend of Mike (a friend from Vienna), who has been living in Colobia for 10 years. He gave me some tips about Colombia, and invited me to a great Sushi dinner.

On My last day I visited the salt cathedral, about 2 hours outside Bogota, which is carved into the salt mountain, and about 200m undergound.

My next stop was Medellin, a city with the well deserved nickname of "city of the eternal spring". Just a few years ago it had the reputation of beeing one of the most dangerous city in the world, but they have cleaned up the city pretty well and I always felt quite safe. I took it fairly easy in Medellin, doing a bit of sighseeing, made easy by the city having cable car which is really cheap (price included in metro tickets).

My highlight of Medellin was going paragliding. For only US$40 for a tandem flight, I couldn't resist, and it really was a great experience, gliding in the air with the eagles, and my pilot even did some un acrobatics. Good fun!

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