Colombia - Bogota 2

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Suzanne here...

We landed back in Bogota during the day, so this time we could get the bus. We'd had the foresight to save two journey's on our tu llave card so it was all very easy. Although if you don't have one apparently it's possible to ask another passenger if you can use theirs and pay them the money. We caught the M86 bus - Google doesn't seem to recognise it, but in fact it departs from right outside arrivals and is clearly signposted. We did have to get off the bus at El Dorado for some reason, just to get right back on the same bus minutes later.

Arriving back to Chaperino all felt very familar and we found our hotel easily. I say hotel, it was actually a hostel, albeit in a private ensuite room. We'd have returned to the first Bogota hotel, but the price had gone up massively. So we were in Hostel Republica, conveniently even closer to Dynasty bar. It was ok. I do think we are getting a bit old for hostels. The music was loud, and terrible, and we're not really interested in talking about yoga and spiritual enlightenment thanks. But it was fine for a couple of nights.

We ended up at a little areperia for dinner, for a pork arepa and a mango juice - cheap and tasty. Then we went to a rock bar called Abbott y Costello. It was pretty big, and oddly looked like a saloon or country and western bar. It was almost empty, although it be fair it was a Thursday. There was another couple, eating each others faces off, a couple with the man in business dress doing the occasional bit of cringeworthy awkward air guitar, and a man in a suit with his tie loosened, sitting on his own, manspreading as he watched the videos. It made me slightly uncomfortable (although he wasn't doing anything wrong) and I realised it was because he looked for all the world like he was waiting for a lapdance. But, the music and the sound system was excellent and once we'd settled down, and the guy behind the bar had warmed to us, we enjoyed it. I would recommend it, but think it's probably better on a Friday and Saturday.

After a while we decided we both wanted to return to Dynasty. It had been a couple of weeks since we were there but the guy still remembered us, and our drinks order. It was another great night, although I was still a bit poorly so we left at about 12pm.

The next morning, after breakfast (where we kept to ourselves, ate and ran) we headed for Monserrate, the church on top of a hill overlooking Bogota. There was a bit of confusion when a random man trying to help gave us duff information about which bus stop we needed. You pay to get through to the platform so once inside we couldn't walk away without losing the fare. Fortunately David worked out that we could get a different bus for a couple of stops, and then switch to the bus we wanted at a stop along the route.

Monseratte was good. The cable car was disapointing. I love cable cars and it was the main reason for going up. But we were packed in like sardines. The view of Bogota from the top more than made up for it though. Breathtaking. Literally in fact, as even though I had more or less acclimatised to the altitude, this was (obviously) even further above sea-level. We stayed a while enjoying the view, and some empandas. Back in Chaperino we had a wander around the area before heading back to the hostel.

That night we ate at Smoking Burgers, which was pretty good. Then we went to another different rock bar, called Open Light. It was great, but the opposite problem of the night before as this bar was absolutely packed. Annoyingly I think we'd have been better going the previous night. Still, good music and friendly.

Obviously we then went to, you've guessed it, Dynasty bar. As it was a Friday it was much busier. A woman we'd not seen before approachedus to take our order, but before she had the chance to ask us what we wanted, two cold Aguila's materialised in front of us! The service is so damn good, and welcoming. We were very glad we decided to go back.

We had a few beers and were enjoying ourselves when a group came in. Everyone seemed to know them. They were all trying to squash around a tiny table to our left. Seeing there was an empty table to our right we scooted along, pushing our original table up to theirs to give them more room. It's nice to be nice. They thanked us, and we got on with drinking and chatting among ourselves.

After about half an hour one of them lent over to talk to us. Within a minute he was offering us Jack Daniels and after another he'd asked us to join them. Turned out they were a Colombian metal band called Ursus. The guy who spoke to us was called Felix, and was the singer. They were a great bunch, friendly and welcoming and just good fun to be with. I'll admit, drinking with a Colombian metal band is not how I'd seen the night going. In fact we'd planned an earlyish night. But God, it was fun. Chatting, laughing and singing together, we felt part of the group in no time. None of it quite translates in the cold light of day. I mean, why was it so hilarious that we were having a 'conversation' with one of them by taking it in turns to call up the wikipedia entry of various bands we liked then booing or cheering each others choices?! It just was. They were buying all the beer, and sharing their whiskey. Felix was quite adamant that as guests we should not have to chip in. But, being British we did at least insist on getting a round in. He also gave us his number with instructions that if we ever needed anything, including a place to stay, we should call him. Actually, David got talking to another guy, not with the band, who said much the same thing. This was because he saw us singing along to Manowar and he came over to say hello and give the Manowar salute with us. Our experience of Colombians has been that they are incredibly gracious to visitors.

It was about 2am when we reluctantly left, after probably the best night of our entire trip. In an echo of our first night in Dynasty, Felix told us to get a taxi, warning that Bogota was dangerous. But given that the hostel was a three minute walk away we felt we'd be alright, and we made it safely back to the hostel.

The next day we woke up feeling pretty ok, considering. After a quick breakfast we checked out and caught the bus to Portal Norte. Unfortunately it seems that everything has changed recently and our guide book and even web search had given us outdated information. A nice man pointed us in the direction of the new (temporary?) bus station. However after ten minutes walking with no signs we lost faith and began to walk back. On the way we spotted a bus with our destination - Tunja - on it. As I pointed at it, the driver spotted us and stopped, and in a moment we had jumped aboard. It continued the way we had originally tried and did indeed reach the bus terminal. But it was at least 20 minutes walk away, we'd never have persevered that long without knowing for sure where we were going.

The bus journey was fine. Unfortunately the young bus conductor seemed very anxious to help us and quite worried that we could not communicate. He kept talking to David in Spanish and looking pained when he didn't understand. It was making us worry a bit, even though we couldn't imagine what it was we needed to discuss. There was also some godamn awful music blasting out. Luckily (?) once we got going properly this changed to some bonkers film dubbed into Spanish. From what I could work out, a young boy was threatened to a ridiculous amount of time in juvenile detention for some minor misdemeanor. But then instead he was sent to live with his Grandad who got him a dog. I rested my eyes for most of the rest of it, looking up just in time to see (**spoiler alert**) the dog being run over.

Once in Tunja it was a quick walk around the corner to a mini bus going to Villa de Leyva. It was easy enough, although I was squashed in the back next to a man who couldn't sing but tried anyway, and David on a makeshift seat at the front. But the journey was not too long and the scenery was stunning. Before long we had arrived.

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