Blogs from Bogota, Colombia, South America - page 9

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South America » Colombia » Bogota December 16th 2014

Ah Colombia! Long near the top of my list of places I wanted to go, and Vanessa and I were finally taking the plunge after finagling five precious weeks off work. Our trip this year is over Christmas (again) so it's high season (again). Like last year's trip to the Philippines, we're excited to experience the Christmas festivities in another country. The Philippines comes alive at Christmas, and we expect Colombia will have a similarly festive atmosphere. Travelling at high season can be tricky and requires a bit more booking ahead, but we were fine in the Philippines so we're hoping to do just as well in Colombia. Only one way to find out! The first leg of our journey took us to Toronto. Unfortunately, due to the scheduling and availability of flights, we had to ... read more
The Bike Tour Begins
Hiding From the Rain
University Grafiti

South America » Colombia » Bogota November 18th 2014

Medellin After a huge few days trekking the jungles we took our very tired and mosquito-ridden bodies to Santa Marta and prepared for an overnight bus to Medellin. Overnight transportation is the best! Host to extreme political and civil unrest since the 1920s and more recently the home of ultra right paramilitaries, devout left anti-government hardliners and the center of the cocaine industry for the 80s and 90s, Medellin was a violent hotpot that saw over 200,000 kidnappings and 30,000 disappeared in the decades leading up to 2002. Despite this violent recent history Medellin is one of the great recovery stories of Columbia. With the death of (Juan) Pablo Escobar in 1992 and a hardline government crackdown on the cocaine industry throughout the last two decades the city (and country) is now one of the most ... read more
Plaza de la Luz, Medellin
Botero's statues decorate Medellin
View over Bogota from Cerro de Monserrate (3200m)

South America » Colombia » Bogota September 27th 2014

We arrived in Bogotá after a long day bus from Salento. We were standing in the taxi line at the bus station when a young guy from the military started chatting and showing us photos of life in the military, including the vast array of weaponry they use and paradrops they completed. He was home for the weekend to see his son. The Colombians are the most friendly and welcoming people we have met in South America. We signed up to do a cycle tour of the city as we had heard good things about it and we enjoy city cycle tours as they are a great way to see a city. By cycling you can cover so much more ground than walking but still stay close to the action. As it was Sunday, Bogotá had ... read more
Cycle time
It's great having closed roads
In the park

South America » Colombia » Bogota September 6th 2014

Rano navstivim museo Botero s kamaratom z hostela, Carlosom. Odtial zbehneme na Mercado de frutas. Skely zazitok. Kopec neznameho ovocia. Najviac mi tu okrem sladuckeho manga chuti lulo a guanabana. Chcem kupit avokado (aguacate) a predavacku zaujima, kedy ho planujem jest. Vyberie take, ktore bude v onen den spravne dozrete a makke. Poobede ideme ku dalsiemu kamaratovi zBogoty, ktory nam pripravi Ceviche (studeny pokrm z morskych plodov) so smazenym banananom (patacon). Ako predjedlo zelene mango so solou a korenim, pokvapkane limetkou. Mnam! Inak so solou tu zvyknu jedavat aj marakuju, kokos a dokonca aj pomaranc. Carlos z Mexika si dava sol a cierne korenie este aj do piva. Sol tu ide celkovo dost na dracku. Boli sme pozriet aj male mestecko Zipaquira, nedaleko Bogoty, zname solnymi banami (salinas). V podzemi sa nachadza velka solna katedrala (Catedral ... read more
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South America » Colombia » Bogota September 5th 2014

Dojmy z Bogoty? Obrovske mesto, ani z vyhladu na kopci Monserrate nedovidet na koniec. cele mesto obklopuju hory. Udajne by trvalo autom viac ako 6 hodin prejst cez mesto zo severu na juh pocas dopravnej spicky. A ta je tu 24/7. Bogota nema metro. Zdrziavali sme sa len v turistickej casti Candelaria a blizkom okoli. Aj z toho mala vsak mozem potvrdit, ze som azda v ziadnom europskom meste nevidela tak kvalitny street art ako prave tu. Que lindo! Navstivime muzeum zlata (Museo de Oro). Smiesne vstupne 3000 pesos,v prepocte asi 1,20 €. Zo vsetkych smerov na nas volaju Gringos - tymto terminom sa tu oznacuju turisti z US. Ale v podstate ktokolvek, kto hovori anglicky. Existuje niekolko verzii, ako vzniklo toto oznacenie. Mne sa najviac pozdava ta verzia, podla ktorej, vzniklo slovo v dobe, ked ... read more
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South America » Colombia » Bogota September 3rd 2014

Ani neviem, kde zacat. Tak asi pekne po poriadku. Juznu Ameriku som tuzila navstivit vzdy, odkedy si pamatam. Nikdy na to vsak nebola ta spravna prilezitost. Vzdy so si nasla vyhovorku, ako sa tomu vyhnut. Tento rok mi vsak uz ziadna dobra vyhovorka nenapadla a navyse, sef mi necakane schvalil neplatene volno v praci. Fu, co teraz? Okrem toho som pod vplyvom prebudzajucej sa cestovnej horucky kazdemu v okoli narozpravala, kam sa chcem vybrat – z tohto sa uz viac nedalo vycuvat. S priatelom som sa rozisla pred necelym rokom a samej sa mi do sveta nechcelo. Najst medzi kamaratmi niekoho, kto by chcel absolvovat 4-mesacne putovanie po Juznej Amerike, kazdy druhy den si hladat nove ubytko, spat na poschodovych posteliach (shared mixed dormitory) medzi 12stimi neznamymi suputnikmi, rano si davat studenu sprchu a po skromnych ... read more

South America » Colombia » Bogota September 2nd 2014

In Bogota per Flieger angekommen und sogleich in die Unterkunft im Norden der Stadt. Als erstes merke ich, in Bogota haben die Strassen nur Nummern. Alles ist sogut als möglich schachbrettmässig aufgebaut. Mit einer Zahlenkombination kommt man also hier an jede gewünschte Ecke. Völlig anders als Brasilien sieht es hier aus, die Gegend meiner Unterkunft erinnert mich mehr an eine englische Vorstadt. Die Strassen, die Backsteinhäuser und Shops in den Wohnviertel. Wenn die Palmen nicht wären ich würde sagen ich wäre in England. Die ersten Tage hatte ich volles Programm verschiedene Museen wie das Museo del Oro oder das Museo Botero, welches die speziellen Gemälde des Malers Fernando Botero zeigt. Ausserdem besuchte ich die grosse Stadtbibliothek und die schöne, farbige Altstadt La Candelaria. Dicht dahinter drängt sich der Hausberg Monserrate. Ist man mit der Seilbahn oben ... read more
Ausblick über Bogota
Fast wie in England
La Candelaria

South America » Colombia » Bogota July 28th 2014

Température : 10 degrés pour la première fois, nous utilisons nos duvets la nuit !) Barbe d’Armand: terminado ! Nous avons testé le barbier local… une tondeuse à blanc et le tour est joué en 3 minutes…! Monnaie : le peso (1 000 pesos valent environ 40 centimes d'euros) Nous restons 3 jours à Bogotá mais ne passons malheureusement qu’une seule vraie journée à visiter la ville. Après avoir perdu le chargeur de tablette, Armand oublie sa carte visa dans le distributeur de l’aéroport (“ pour le meilleur et pour le pire”, disait-on il y a 2 mois? J) donc nous passons une bonne journée à écumer tous les bouibouis électroniques de la ville (en vain) et à passer des coups de fil à nos banques depuis les petits vendeurs ambulants dans les rues qui te ... read more
Mirador de Montserrate

South America » Colombia » Bogota July 24th 2014

Jesus Cristo! We did it, we did it.... the ship has landed, Bogota is here. What an incredible opportunity this be. Lou Gehrig said it first but shit is it true, i feel like the luckiest dude on this whole damn planet right now. It has been 48 hours but what a trek already. La Candelaria district where we are living is beyond any words that people have thought up yet. tiny streets with motorcycles and mini whips are everywhere, with fresh fruit stands on each and errrry corner. our hostel is already home. Diego, the heemie who runs the place is an ex-student who wants us to see everything that bogota has to offer. the hostel is filled with travelers from all over. the french group seems to keep to themselves for the most part ... read more

South America » Colombia » Bogota July 1st 2014

We zijn er weer klaar voor! Exact 24 uur nadat we thuis de voordeur achter ons hadden dichtgetrokken, kropen we gisteren oververmoeid in bed. De kinderen hadden het schitterend gedaan. Ella had even 'gepowernapt' op de vlucht naar New York. Cas vond zelfs dat overbodig. Tot zijn immens plezier zat er een juf van zijn school bij ons op het vliegtuig én kon hij zo goed als ongelimiteerd naar films kijken. Dat hij er geen lap van verstond, deerde hem duidelijk niet. Ook tijdens de vier uur durende transit leken Casper en Ella onvermoeibaar, maar zodra we op het vliegtuig richting Bogota zaten en de motoren begonnen te ronken, verzonken we allemaal in een min of meer deugddoende slaap. Onze eerste ontmoeting met Bogota verliep niet meteen vlekkeloos: onze guest house bleek een grote groep aangenomen ... read more
Plazoleta Rosario
Eerste stop
Hmmm!




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