Bogota, We Hardly Knew You...

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After leaving Barlovento, it was about an hour and a half along the highway to the airport, which is outside of Santa Marta on the opposite side. Fortunately we took a highway around the city and missed all the traffic.

The airport itself was, well, unique. It was completely open air. Our check in for Avianca was on the main level, all the while looking out at the ocean and feeling the near 30 degree morning heat. Also, yeah, the airport is right on the ocean. Like feet from the water. It seems like an odd use of such prime real estate, but there are mountains pretty much everywhere else, so I guess this gives pilots a nice easy approach.

Through the open air security, we once again brought all of our liquids without even having to show anyone. They did, however, take Vanessa's cuticle scissors, which we know for a fact are small enough to even be taken on a plane in Canada or the US. And also apparently from Medellin to Cartagena... So a little inconsistent, but we're at the end of the trip so we don't really have much use for them for the rest of the trip.

The boarding lounge was enclosed and air conditioned though, I guess. So that was probably for the best. We did not locate the Avianca lounge, and we don't really know how it would work anyway because once we were through security your put right into the enclosed departure area for your flight, and there's only two of those that we saw. Oh well, no free juice boxes for us this time.

The flight was late, blah blah blah South America blah blah blah, and eventually we landed in Bogota, a little tired from a series of short sleeps and awesome days. Stepping off the plane onto the tarmac we were greeted by cool, dry, air, which was very refreshing after almost two weeks on the hot and steamy Carribean coast. Mauricio would later comment that this is one of his favourite things about returning to Bogota from the coast. He's not a huge fan of hot weather, so Bogota is a good place to call home.

After grabbing some food at the airport, we agreed to share a taxi with a German guy we had met in the boarding area in Santa Marta. He seemed like an ok guy, not the type of guy we'd be long term friends with, but good enough to share a taxi with. His hostel was near ours, so it would have saved us a bit of money and maybe added a little extra security for there to be three of us.

Except that this guy really didn't seem to know what he was doing, but acted like he did. And we were just a little too sleepy and hungry to really stop and decide to ditch him. Nothing too serious though, but here's what happened.

He asked a police officer where to grab a registered airport taxi. The police officer said to leave the baggage claim and go out and to the left. He ran into a taxi driver by the exit and talked to him, and he led us to his taxi, to the right. And there were only two cabs there and it was definitely not a taxi stand.

So he ignored what the police officer said, and negotiated a price with a taxi driver waiting in the airport. We've dealt with these guys in bus stations before, and they tend to overcharge. Also, in Bogota, the taxis all have meters. You don't negotiate the price. And we knew that.

But we followed the German guy anyway because he spoke fluent Spanish and was chatting up the taxi driver. And to be fair, there was nothing wrong with the taxi driver, except that he wanted to overcharge us. We were never in any danger of being robbed or kidnapped or anything like that. It's just not fun to support someone who's dishonest like that.

39,000 pesos was the negotiated fare. After we started moving, he notified us that he needed another 21,000 pesos to take Vanessa and Ito our hostel, because it wasn't quite in the same area as the other guys hostel. And the German guy just agreed. This was bullshit, because it was all of 10 blocks. We'd taken a taxi about 100 km for 90,000 pesos in Santa Marta that morning. We'd never spent more than 20,000 pesos on a taxi the whole time we were in Bogota before. And we checked the booking confirmation email from the hostel which informed us that a taxi from the airport would cost no more than 25,000 pesos.

Alright, we'd had enough. We decided to get out of the taxi at the German guys stop and just figure it out from there. We would pay our share to not quite get to our destination and be rid of this guy. We told the German guy he was an idiot that didn't know what he was doing, and he responded by telling us it was “worth it for a safe ride” which is kind of ironic given that taking an official taxi from the official taxi stand at the airport using an official meter would be not only safe but also come at a fair and honest price. He also told us that the neighbourhood we were staying in was not safe, and the only safe neighbourhood in Bogota was where he was staying.

We reminded him that he didn't know anything, and that we had stayed in Candelaria before, and this other neighbourhood was even safer, and we were tired of his bullshit. See ya later!

We decided to walk to our hostel through a lovely, safe part of town, to our other lovely and safe part of town.

When we were getting close, a taxi stopped and a girl asked in English “Do you know where 12:12 hostel is?” And we told her that's where we were headed. And she threw 25000 pesos at the taxi driver, who had failed to find her destination and also tried to rip her off. Throwing the amount of money at the taxi driver that you know is fair and then just leaving the taxi is a good play, especially if your bags are with you and not in the trunk. What are they going to do? You're gone, and they got the money they were supposed to.

Anyway, talking to Christine (from Denmark, coincidentally) helped get the dirty taste of our taxi ride out. We searched around the block for our hostel, whose direction even indicated that it was hard to find. Several very nice people went out of their way to ask us if we needed directions and showed us the way. Colombians are really fantastic.

We also washed away German taxi asshole with some delicious lulo flavoured ice cream we bought at a cake shop around the corner from our lovely hostel. It was pretty awesome. We hung out in the common area of the hostel and chatted with some other nice guests from Australia, the US, and England. It was fun, and we helped the English guy try to decide where in Colombia he wanted to teach English for the next year.

Mauricio was not available for dinner, unfortunately... well, he got to entertain some high powered business folk at his company I think, so it was good for him. We found dinner on our own two blocks from our hostel on the street known as Zona G, and the G stands for “Gastronomico” and it hosts many of Bogota's best restaurants. We were spoiled for choice, but settled on a highly recommended Peruvian restaurant called Rafael.

All I will say is, if you're going to Bogota and looking for a nice meal, this place will not disappoint you in anyway. Vanessa had some very tender and delicious fish, and I enjoyed some asado angus steak that melted in my mouth. And even this fancy meal in a fancy part of Bogota was still only $50. So there. I'm moving to Bogota!

With that settled, there wasn't much left to do but get a good night's sleep. We had big plans to be tourists the next day.

And we certainly were. I think it's the most stuff we did in one day on our whole trip. It started out with some breakfast baked goods, including what were our last bunuelos of the trip. Outside there was a cart selling fresh fruit cups. Yup! Can't say no!

After a stop to get coffee at a... Starbucks (ok, doesn't count in our touristy day) we headed towards the Trans Milenio to take the bus to Calenderia for the Graffiti Tour. We realized we weren't going to make it if we kept walking and took the bus, so we grabbed a taxi and just barely made it.

The graffiti tour was excellent. It definitely exceeded my expectations. There's tons of amazing street art (and it's definitely art in Bogota) all over the place that we'd seen, and our tour guide pointed out and explain many things we wouldn't have noticed on our own. It was a three hour walking tour, so it was a bit on the long side, but for free, you can't deny the value! Well, not really free, but they work for tips, and so you end up paying what you would have for a good tour anyway, but you feel better about it somehow...

This got us to about noon, but our stomach's were still full from dinner the night before, so we continued on our touristy day. We walked through some of the big plazas, and to the national police museum, where we were given a guided tour by our very friendly tour guides who fumbled there way through the English version. One year of service is mandatory, so these two gentlemen of the national police service were fulfilling their civic duty by giving tourists tours in English.

We expected to learn more of the history of the drug trade and the ongoing battle against it, but mostly it was Pablo Escobar's motorcycle, his gun, his clothes, some other stuff from his house, and then a huge room with a big gun collection. Not much history to be learned, but even if there was it would have been very much coloured by the police perspective on the whole thing. I'll read a book later.

So it was kind of a funny tour. That's the summary. Glad I did it, wouldn't go a second time.

Then we walked to an old church that was very ornately decorated in gold. It's the only church we went to in Colombia, but we might as well do one, I guess.

Then the Botero museum... which is actually connected to about three other museums in a pretty vast complex. Everything's free, so it's hard to argue, but it was midway through the afternoon, and we were getting tired, so we buzzed through just the Botero section, and I also popped into the modern art gallery before we headed back to our hostel by taxi. See how good we are at taxis? (Last reference to that German guy... ever.)

So that was our big day. And we had a bit of time to lay down for a nap before Mauricio came and picked us up in his fancy car to take us to Andre Carne de Res!

If you've ever read anything about restaurants in Bogota, this place comes up a lot. And with very good reason. There are two locations. One is outside town in Chia. This is the original location, the biggest location, and still the best... but closed on Thursdays. So we went to the one in Bogota proper, and pretty close by in Zona Rosa.

So take everything I describe about the one in Bogota and multiply by 10 and that's the one in Chia. Really, if the one in Zona Rosa is any indication, and the one in Chia is supposed to be better, try to go to that one! Mauricio tried to describe the atmosphere there, but it was mostly indescribable. People just let loose and go crazy. It sounds like a lot of fun for a weekend outing, and like you might not remember much towards the end, or how you got home.

That's not to downplay the Zona Rosa location at all, which is a worthy substitute for those of us with bad timing. Thursday's are pretty toned down relatively speaking, but it was still pretty busy. Oh, and it's about five stories tall. Five stories of just restaurant. Every floor is a different party, and they have TV screens that show what's happening on the other floors so you can go join in the fun if you feel like it.

They have musicians and actors, and the fun starts before you're even in the door. There was a guy pretending to be a bullfighter, and he wanted Vanessa to be the bull... who chickened out, so I stepped up and charged at the red cloth he was waving. A few passes, and some cheers from the mock-actor crowd earned me a high five.

Then we actually went inside. A band travels around and plays for different tables, and at the end a guy throws big confetti and it lands everywhere. On your plate, on the food, in your drink. It's pretty silly.

An actor goes around pretending to see his ex-girlfriend at one of the tables (who is just an ordinary guest, not an actor) and is very upset to see her with, “Him? You left me for this guy?” There was also a musical number that broke out on the stage, and people on other floors were dancing to the music.

So that's a taste of what it's like. I'm sure it's a bit different every time, and I'm sure a weekend is crazier, and I'm sure Chia is even crazier.

Mostly though, it was great to see Mauricio one more time before we headed home. He explained all of the special dances you do to the Colombian pop songs, and it sounds pretty fun. If only it were a Friday or a Saturday, maybe we would have partaken.

After dinner, Mauricio drove us up into the mountain where you can see over norther Bogota. With the lights, it was pretty nice. But also chilly, so we headed down.

Plus it was after midnight, so we couldn't keep Mauricio up all night, since he had to work. And we were really tired too. So we said our goodbyes when he dropped us off. I'm lucky to have such a great friend who is just as excited to reconnect after 10 years. I hope we can visit Bogota again to see him, and drag him back to Canada for a visit! There's a lot of people that would love to see him again.

Feeling happy, I slept like a baby until the next morning.

It was our last half day in Bogota. We moved slowly and just enjoyed it. We didn't try to go anywhere or do anything, we just walked around the neighbourhood a bit and had breakfast at a nice French restaurant.

Reflecting on the taxi ride to the airport, we decided we really liked Bogota as a city. It's big, and has a bad side, but it's got a lot more going for it, and a lot of interesting places to see and things to do. We felt safe everywhere we went (tactically staying out of the dodgy areas), and found everyone to be super friendly. When I go back to Colombia, I will definitely go to Bogota.

And we will definitely go back to Colombia some day. There's such a huge variety of things to see and do, and the people are awesome. Five weeks wasn't enough. I need five months. Or five years...

But it was time to go home. And we still had a friends wedding to look forward to and two nights at the fancy pants Palliser hotel in Calgary.

I hope we get to keep taking time off like this. Five weeks is enough to really hit the reset button, and relax, and completely forget about work, and real life. I'd prescribe it to anyone. The more time the better...

Where to next?

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Photos

Cool Temporary Wall
Eventually, the murals fade away over time, unless maintained.