Bogota, Colombia

Bogota, Colombia

We decided to try and sort out a double room as we had the laptop on us now, and I didnt fancy leaving it in a room full of strangers. The guy at the desk, who had greeted us the night before managed to be of some help. He tried helping us sort our room out and also gave us some travel tips for when we got to the states. He told us how he had originally supposed to be in Bogota for a month but had some how got stuck working in the hostel, as the owner Álegria was never around. The hostel was literally running itself. No owver insight, no reservations actually worked and the cleaner appeared to be manning the reception desk, but she spoke no english, so was of no use. Nothing inight but a load of hippies and hammocks.

We headed to the main square Plaza Bolivar for some much needed breakfast. The hostel had stated on their webiste it was included, but they forgot to mention that this meant they just left a loaf of white bread and a slab of butter. Obviously I wasnt tempted.
We hadnt been told about it, but the Colombian Bike Tour was on that morning, with the route running right through Plaza Bolivar.

We ended up in a small restaurant near the plaza and noticed someone eating what looked like a plate, with plantane leaves wrapped around some rice.. So Jake was brave and ordered ´Tomale´ a typical Colombian dish. I stuck to bread.
We explored the city, confused by the mapping system. We walked through a busy packed out street, which reminded me of Florida St in Buenos Aires. Mobbed again by some old guy trying to sell me what looked like the hook end of a coathanger, we took a parallel street and stumbled across Parque Nacional. Butnot before I ran into the entrance of what I thought was a musuem, but actually ended up being a church. I got the fright of my life when I poked my head around the door to see a coffin being carried towards me. I´d walked in on a funeral service, needless to say I ran out still needing the toilet!

We headed back to the hostel, to change rooms, but there was actually nobody at all running it. Some guests at the hostel were helping out to run the place, but they had no idea. Our double room was never going to happen, and with no sign of Alegria the owver, we packed our bags and left without paying to a cheaper hostel a few blocks away.

For dinner we decided to head out to La Puerta Falsa, recommended in the travel book. It wasnt much to look at, but the staff were friendly. We ordered some Tomales which were nice but not filling. I felt abit lost walking around Bogota as the accents were different to the spanish we had become accustomed to in BA. But I was excited about trying all these new things again after 6 months in Buenos Aires.

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