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Published: February 18th 2010
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As if I wasn't high enough already (Bogotá is at about 2.5km above sea level), yesterday I decided to go a little bit higher - about 500m higher I think.
Monserrate is the mountain that towers over Bogotá. On the top of the mountain is a 17th century church and the usual tourist stuff (restaurant, cafe, market selling tourist trinkets etc).
So yesterday I set off at about 10am to try to take in the view of Bogotá before the clouds set in. I got as far as the hairdressers. I tried to get my hair cut before I left London but I ran out of time. I felt pretty bad because the hairdressers was a funky young place and the girls were creating these works of art on the heads of the customers around me - and I just asked for a buzz cut. I could see the disappointment etched on their faces when I'd finally found the spanish (with a liberal dose of sign language) to explain what I wanted. Still they were very nice and 30 minutes later I set off a few grams lighter for my trip to the mountain.
The route to the
Looking up the hill
Hmmm, that seems a bit high. foot of the mountain passes the university - a veritable hive of activity with hundreds of students sitting on the grass outside and doing what university students do. There's a great vibe to the area. After the university the road climbs steeply (really, way too steeply) to the cable car station.
There are three ways to get to the top of Monserrate - a cable car, a funicular railway or a 90 minute trek by foot. The funicular was closed. Of course, I took the cable car - what did you expect? Total cost for the round trip was 14.000 COP if I remember rightly - so about £5-ish.
There's a sort of holding pen prior to boarding the cable car with a really pretty garden (see pic) which makes the wait a little more interesting.
The actual journey up takes about 3 minutes and the whole time you can't help but be transfixed by the amazing view that unfolds below you with each passing second.
Once at the top, the view is astounding. I really didn't realise just how big Bogotá is and it's really not possible to take in the full view of the city from one
The funicular from the cable car
It's impossible to capture just how steep this looks in real life. position.
Wandering up a steep set of steps to the church I could feel the sun burning the back of my neck. The coolness of the church was blessed relief (forgive the pun).
There's not actually so much to do once you get to the top other than have a look around the church, wander up and down the market and grab a bite to eat - the restaurant seemed pretty expensive for my tastes so I grabbed 3
empanadas (sort of a mini deep fried cornish pasty is the best way I can describe it) from the cafe. And with that, I took the trip back down in the cable car.
So, I wandered back past the university and parked myself up on the grass outside to take in a spot of people watching and to work out where I was going to go next. I decided on the Botero museum (that which was closed on Tuesday) and head off in that approximate direction. On route I stopped for a quick beer at a "pub". Sitting on the shelf were a bunch of tall recepticles which are apparently called jirafas (giraffes!) which you fill with draught beer and
take to your table - a posh version of a jug of beer, I suppose.
Sitting there, I got talking to a local guy called Cristian who offered to show me around the town a bit which was really good - he has a great knowledge of local history. I kind of got a free tour guide 😊
And this is the thing that strikes me about Colombia - everybody is so friendly that it's difficult to imagine just why it gets such bad press. Of course, there are problems here but all my experiences so far with people have been nothing but great.
The Botero museum is small but beautifully formed and there are some great pieces by
the artist himself as well as a few pieces by Picasso, Klimt etc.
After that we wandered to the (nearby) Plaza Bolivar which is surrounded by the cathedral and the national government buildings. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me at this point and I'd like to get some shots so I'll try to get some photos today and write about it later.
And that's it really. The rest of the day involved resting a bit before tucking into copious
quantities of the local loony juice (
aguardiente Antioqueño) - I don't remember much after that 😊
Hmmmm, this has been quite a long post and I'm getting short on battery so I'll leave it at that I think.
Hasta luego
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anita
non-member comment
Hey
sounds like you had a lovely day.. It's great you met someone to take you around. Nothing like befriending a local. Great photo's too.. keep the posts coming. It's great reading what your up to! Mind the deep fry stuff..or you'll need an extra seat on the plane home. LOL