Colombia - Bogota and Salento

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We arrived on a Sunday in Bogota and were immediately impressed by the number of people cycling. Apparently, in Bogota many streets and bus lanes are closed to cars and buses on Sundays and people take the opportunity to bike, stroll, skate in empty streets. They take great pride in the fact that Bogota has the most extensive and comprehensive network of bike paths in Latin America. It is also one of the most extensive in the world (after Amsterdam of course!).

We stayed in a really nice area, which is known for both the number and quality of restaurants and boutique stores. The downside being that it was a 45-minute taxi ride to the historic center, where most touristic sites are located. We gladly made that trip most days though, especially since there was a big fire just outside Bogota and the centre was filled with ashes and smoke.

While in Bogota, we visited the Gold Museum as well as the Botero Museum and did a Graffiti Tour, which was great. Graffiti in Bogota is really more street art. It's officially illegal, but after the police killed a young street artist in 2011 in an 'unfortunate' shooting incident, the government wanted to decriminalize street art and decided that it could be an attractive addition to an otherwise indistinctive city (architecture and point of interest wise), so they let the artists be. Also, private owners let artists use their homes/buildings, as it keeps others from just spraying tags. The result is truly amazing!

From Bogota, we went to Salento, a small village in the center of the coffee region and the gateway to Valle de Cocora, part of Los Nevados National Park, where rare wax palms grow in an already magical valley. The wax palms can get 100 years old and are world's tallest palms, which leads to an out of this world sight. The almost constant mist in the afternoons, leads to even more mystical views. We spend our days hiking, horseback riding (yes, again!), coffee tasting (also visited a plantation where we got a tour), swimming and chilling in hammocks.

On Sundays the quiet village turns into a circus, when Colombians from nearby towns come to visit. Buses, cars and motorcycles (sometimes with 3 to 4 people on them) fill the streets and hordes of Colombian families the valley and restaurants. It's actually quite an experience to be part of, but we were happy when the calm returned on Monday.

So far, it seems that Colombia has shed its violent past and drugs history (by the way, those of you who haven't seen the Netflix series Narcos yet, do so!). Also, all Colombians we talked to can't wait for the FARC and the government to come to an agreement (expected on 23 March). Wherever we went we felt safe and welcome. Colombia definitely has a lot to offer and we're only seeing a tiny part of it on this trip. Next stop, Cartagena (another UNESCO world heritage site) and surroundings...

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