Colombia's Cloudy Capital: Bogotá

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¡Hola Bogotá! Perched at 2800m, this colourful capital city is a mishmash of architecture - from the charming, shabby colonial streets to the dull, grey towering financial buildings. Not exactly a place you visit for the weather, the high altitude brings cooler days and cooler nights.. and the rainy season was beginning! Oh boy!

Arriving bleary eyed after a sleepless 11+ hour flight, we decided to embrace the local taxi rank instead of our dearly loved Uber. Lucky for our new driver, she was the first victim to practise our very little Spanish on, which she happily entertained. Sadly she was totally useless as a taxi driver and we spent 15 minutes of 30 minute jouney roaming around the dark, lifeless, narrow streets in the early hours. She FINALLY got us to our destination, but not before managing to reverse into a post during a jerky 6 point turn back up the street, and massively ripping us off on the price of the journey.

The cobbled historic downtown of La Candelaria is where most travelers gravitate and Sal and I were no exception. BoGo was a delightful hostel, with high security and friendly staff. We napped on a small, couch in the dark corridoor at 5am and waited for the sun to rise. Fortunately, a random man during his nightly trip to the toilet saw us and provided us with his spare duvet. What a great guy!

A striking feature of Bogotá is it's colourful graffiti clad walls, and a trip to this city wouldn't be complete without the famous graffiti tour. Which we enjoyed with Tullio, a tall and majestic Brazilian from our hostel who became our friend and trusty translator for our next 24 hours in Bogotá.

During our stay, we got acquainted with the city, ate traditional treats (unripe shredded mango, arepas de huevo (fried corn cakes and eggs), and delicious sopa (soup)), got the gravity-defying funicular up to Monserrate (3200m) mountain for a literally breath taking but cloudy and beautiful view of the city and beyond. Our highlight overall included the sighting of our very first South American llama.. wearing a saddle! Who knew you could ride llamas?! Our lowlight was experiencing the ice cold showers BoGo hostel provided. Boo! Oh and the sunburn I experienced through thick cloud.. HOW?! Only Day 1! Typical!

Our time in Bogotá was short but sweet.. sweet like the fresh fruit and juice vendors on the corner of every street. Yummy! But Sal and I were both in a hurry for the hot sun and cool tropical vibes of Santa Marta up on the north Caribbean coastline... Bring on the next stop! Hurrah!

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Photos

Monserrate Mountain (3200m)
Our view from the BoGo Rooftop Hostel

Graffiti Tour 1
Hummingbirds are a common theme in graffiti in Bogotá – at 147 species, Colombia has the world's largest hummingbird diversity!

Graffiti Tour 2
This artwork was spray painted by a well respected university lecturer, who goes by a different name in his work out of fear of losing his job

Graffiti Tour 3
Endogenous woman with traditional apparel - slowly becoming lost in time, this artist expresses traditional Bolivian ways through his work