Advertisement
Arriving in Bogotá on the evening of 2 May - the 71st birthday of my darling sister Karen - it was good to settle into our accommodation which is Marian and Juan David's beautiful apartment. They are kindly letting us stay there during our time in Bogotá while they stay with Marian's parents which is very sweet of them and for which we're eternally grateful.
After a blissful night's sleep we woke up to a rainy day but, apparently that's not unusual as it rains a lot in Bogotá. But, despite he rain, it seems like we're very rich here since one Australian dollar equals 2175.74 Colombian Pesos!
Bogotá is the third highest capital in South America at 2640 metres about sea level and was founded as the capital of Colombia by the Spanish in 1538.
Together with Juan David we had a bit of a shopping morning visiting the main shopping centre in Bogotá to buy a new backpack. Then we called into Marian's parents apartment to pick Marian and Sienna to head out for lunch at a lovely Thai place. From there we walked to the Hacienda Santa Bárbara, a mall built around a colonial casana
(a large old farm house built in 1847) and which makes a great combination of historic and modern architecture. Still wet and miserable Juan David drove Marian and Sienna back home and then took Kev and I to the best hair salon in Bogotá. It was an unusual place to say the least; situated in a six storey building the barbershop was on the second floor while the women's hairdresser and nail salon was on the sixth. But first things first, once in, we were offered a drink which was all part of the service; Kev chose Scotch on the Rocks, I chose a coffee and Juan David went for water. The whole thing was quite an experience! And Kev came away with a groovy haircut while I'm now sporting a lovely set of coloured nails!
On our second day in Bogotá Marian decided to stay home with Sienna while Juan David took us on a sightseeing tour of some of the interesting places in his home town which entailed us walking our little legs off again. We started off visiting Simpn Boliver's house.
Simón Bolívar was a South American soldier from Venezuela who was instrumental in the
continent's revolutions against the Spanish empire. Born into wealth, Bolívar was sent to Spain for his education, soon deciding to immerse himself in the political sphere in Europe. After France invaded Spain in 1808, he became involved in the resistance movement and played a key role in the Spanish American fight for independence. In 1825, the "Republic of Bolivia" was created in honor of the inspirational leader, hailed by many as El Libertador (The Liberator). He died on December 17, 1830 in Colombia.
From there we walked through some parts of the city which are being beautified, calling into the building which houses an apartment JD owns and which he rents out.
We then met JD's dad Armando at The Mint which holds the first gold coin minted in the Americas in 1621 as well as some 1,700 pieces including lots of old presses and the like.
From there we went to an Art Gallery which seemed to be next door to The Mint which has, amongst other treasures, lots of the sculptures and paintings of Fernando Botero who is a Colombian artist and sculptor. Born in Medellin, his signature style, also known as "Boterismo", depicts people
and figures in large, exaggerated volume, (in other words fat!) which can represent political criticism or humor, depending on the piece. He is considered the most recognized and quoted living artist from Latin America and his art can be found in highly visible places around the world, such as New York City and in Paris.
Then, walking past the Teatro Colón we came across lots of journalists, photographers, security peronsel and police only to discover that they were waiting for the President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and members of the United Nations Security Council to come out of the building opposite the theatre. Ambassodor Elbio Rossselli, President of the Security Council was amongst those who had travelled to Bogotá to witness first-hand the challenges and progress of the hard-won peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army, known as FARC-EP, the culmination of four years of talks which ended half a century of conflict. Such an historic moment called for us to have a cup of coffee in the café next to the theatre to watch the delegates leave. It was while there that we decided to buy tickets for that night
The best chocolate and biscuit shop in Bogotá
One of the many little shops in Hacienda Santa Bárbara to see La Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia performing pieces from Alberto Ginastera (with soloist Agnés Clément from France on the harp) and Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Op.14. It turned out to be a great night after a hair-raising drive through the busy, busy, busy Bogotá traffic to arrive at the theatre on time.
But before the theatre excursion - joined by Marian - a late lunch was followed by a visit to the Gold Museum which we'd visited five years ago but which has been re-furnished since then before we said our goodbyes to Armando and headed back home to get ready for our theatre visit.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.086s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0633s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mobile Hairdressers Melbourne
non-member comment
Great post and great content. Thank you so much for sharing this post. For more info visit here-Mobile Hairdressers Melbourne