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Published: November 5th 2022
Off to Bogota….with a few challenges There are many instances when we are sitting in our comfortable chairs at home talking about future travel. Needless to say, these conversations include quite a bit of real estate given the fact that we both have more free time these days. After a bit of back and forth over time, we were considering a few South American countries. Given our home location, South America is not difficult to reach, either by time or distance. In the end, Colombia beat the other choices out because we were able to grab an airline ticket for $359 each round trip. For travel perspective, flying to Bogota was about 3 ½ hours. It takes over five to fly to Seattle….you get the point.
We checked in for our flight 24 hours prior to take off as usual and noticed our flight time had changed from 820pm to 926pm. Although this was not a big deal, we had not received any notification from Jet Blue which we thought was odd, but whatever, it was only a short delay. We were ready to push back from our gate in Ft. Lauderdale when the pilot announced we were being
held at the gate until Air Force One took off. President Biden was in Florida at some speaking engagements. When the president is flying, all airspace is closed and flights are grounded until Air Force One (his plane) has cleared the area.
Originally, we were landing in Bogota at 1015pm (they are an hour earlier than Florida) …between the flight change and waiting on Air Force One we finally arrived at 1215am. As it turns out immigration in Bogota has limited resources and moves glacially slow. Additionally, flights come into Bogota all day long and late into the night. It took us one hour and thirty-five minutes to gain entry. We marveled at the number of people who got to the immigration desk and had to dig out passports, proof of covid vaccination and the dreaded immigration form which needed to be filled out online. Seriously, we’re being a bit snarky here, but we were tired and the arriving passengers had an hour and a half to get their stuff together. Ugh. Many people had to stand in the corner and fill the form out on their phones or be escorted to the mysterious door where we assume they
had computers for people without phones. Alas we finally made it to bed by 3am (4am Florida time). We had a half-day city tour planned for 9am and fortunately were able to move it back to 10am to avoid being complete zombies.
Bogota is the capitol city of Colombia, home to some 9 million people. It is also the third highest country capital in elevation, rising to some 8600 feet. Only La Paz, Boliva and Quito, Equador are higher. Since we literally live at sea level, we prepared well by taking Diamox before we arrived to ward off any altitude sickness. We wanted to do all we could to maintain our health, so we drank coca leaf tea and were forced to eat coca leaf ice cream. We haven’t lost our sense of humor! Altitude issues were abated, but at the end of our tour, we were toast.
Walking tour of Bogota After a few hours’ sleep we met Sebastian for our tour and he turned out to be exceptional. We started with a ride on the funicular (we love riding in funiculars) to Cerro de Monserrate which at 10,000 feet offers amazing views of the city.
On the morning we went up it was foggy and drizzling but it didn’t impede our enjoyment. We keep telling everyone that we are not birders, but we were very excited when we saw several sword-billed hummingbirds extracting nectar from a trumpet flower. We are not sure that is what the flower is called but we are counting on all our master gardener friends to correct us.
We ask a lot of questions so as to better understand life in Colombia. We discussed healthcare, the educational system, pensions, transportation, political structure, and historical figures. We discussed cooking, local foods and spices as well as evolution of the city and country from a historical perspective.
Colombia shares its boarders with Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. Colombia is larger than it looks on a map and we were a bit taken aback to find out that it is bigger than France, Spain and Portugal put together. The eastern border of the country is very mountainous and jungle-like…this area takes up about 40% of the land of Colombia. Sebastian, forgive us if we’ve forgotten the correct number.
We visited the church at the top of Monserrate where we saw
our second black Madonna- the first being last year in Spain. Even in the drizzle and passing fog, the sight of a major metropolitan area was a sight to behold. Back down on the funicular, we wandered the streets and took in the Cathedral of Colombia and the Temple of San Agustin…. Both were lovely. Sebastian assisted us in obtaining a sim card and exchanging money. It is interesting to note that as of this writing, SIM cards are incredibly cheap to purchase. 10 GB and unlimited talk and text for 20 days within Colombia was $7. The dollar is quite strong much to the dismay of Colombians, making this visit quite affordable. We enjoyed wandering through the market. Colombia has some amazing fruit and we tasted what we considered to be the best fried plantains we have ever eaten. Each morning at our hotel we were met with a bowel of fresh bananas, pineapple and papaya… yum.
A central meeting point in Bogota is Plaza de Bolivar dating back to the pre-Colombian era. Yes, you can find a statue of Simon Bolivar. This stately square has several magnificent and significant buildings to include the Cathedral of Bogota, the
Amazing Art in the Cafe
Cafe owned by a famous street artist. Palace of Justice, Lievano Palace, which is now city hall and the National Capitol. There are lots of vendors, tourists, musicians, and a few protestors. We saw a small civilized protest concerning the prices of petrol.
Bogota has very talented wall artists and we had read about this before our arrival. One could spend two days wandering around and not see all of it. In the past it was illegal to create wall art and if caught you could be fined. A few years back a young artist was working on a painting when he saw the police coming, he abandoned his work and ran off. A police chase ensued, and they shot and killed this young man. The city and the artists were outraged that the punishment didn’t fit the crime. Lots of discussion began. A week later Justin Bieber came to town and the police escorted him to a wall where he was allowed to paint on a wall. Rightly so, this further outraged the artists and the city. A street artist gets shot and killed and a week later a famous singer gets escorted and allowed to design a wall. Personally, we were outraged to hear
Trumpet Flower.... we think?
Ok master gardeners.... confirm or deny. this story. The wall artist waited one week before they covered over Bieber’s work. Since that time the government regulates the wall art and allows it at times after certain criteria are met. Some artists continue to do it in the dark of night as they don’t want the government to regulate their art. We also had coca tea in the coffee house owned by one of Bogotá’s finest wall artists.
Sebastian took us past the Presidential residence, but the photos are not great as they are doing a lot of restoration and yardwork. There were bags of supplies under tarps which ruined the view. When we went back the next day it was a bit better as we were able to take photos of the guard. In addition to people guarding the residence it is not uncommon to see lots of police and military with guns around the city. We are told it makes the locals feel more secure. Violence is part of Colombia’s past, so this provides some haven of safety.
In one of our photos, you will see llamas for the tourists. We had to chuckle as llamas are not indigenous and they bring them
in to make money on the tourists. All travelers will concede that they always spot the odd way to make money for the street vendors.
Our last day in Bogota we wandered on our own.The city has a nice vibe and the people are friendly. It was a beautiful sunny day and we opted not to return to Monserrate to see the city view better because we really enjoyed the mysterious look through the fog.
We did go to La Puerta Falsa a restaurant made famous by Anthony Bourdain. We always try to go to these locations when traveling. We miss Anthony and his shows. Sebastián was polite and smiled when he said the food wasn’t that good and he had other places to recommend. We commented that once Anthony shows up the quality of a restaurant goes down afterward. He smiled and said he didn’t think it was good before Anthony’s visit. We shared a tamale, and it was pretty good. Perhaps we enjoyed it more thinking of a life ended too soon…..
Museums Bogota like many major cities has many museums and we only touched on a few. We managed to get to three
of them; the Gold Museum, the Botero Museum and the Museum Claustro D San Agustin.
The Gold Museum was surprising in the number of pieces that have been discovered and restored. Many of the artifacts were from the 1600’s and tell the stories of the past. We learned of shamans and their assistant animal spirits. We read stories of great chieftains and priests who made offerings to the Gods. For instance, legend has it that the El Dorado ritual was performed on occasion when a great chieftain went in a raft into the middle of a lake and threw emeralds and gold into the water. Later some of these were found.
Belief in transformation was substantial in the past. Some transformed themselves into condors, eagles, toucans, and parrots, they acquired not only showy beaks and plumage but extraordinary powers of flying high, sharp eyesight and hunting skills.
Shamans, chieftains, and priests had responsibilities of guarding and transmitting information. They studied mythology, sacred plants, astronomy, and ritual practices. Symbolism was of great importance to guarantee the well-being of society. The objects we viewed at the museum were beautiful. As an added bonus, our entrance fee was waved as
we are seniors…..we’ll take it!
The Botero Museum Fernando Botero is a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor, born in Medellin. His artistic style depicts figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political criticism or humor.
When first viewing his work, it was interesting, unique and yes rather humorous. Once you’ve seen 200 of his works, they begin to be repetitive. Many of the paintings had the same face whether male or female. We wonder if they were self-portraits because the faces resembled the artist. We had little exposure to Botero before this and were happy to have the opportunity to experience a Columbian artist. This museum offers works from some of the great masters like Picasso, Dali, Monet, Degas and Renoir so it is well worth the visit. Once again to our surprise, there was no entrance fee to see these works of art.
Museum Claustro De San Agustin This museum was another we’ve viewed which display man’s inhumanity to man. Located near the Presidential Palace within the University of Colombia, it depicts through many photographs the brutality and suffering inflicted by FARC during its 50-year campaign of terrorism. Founded as an agrarian and
Obligatory Photo
We're tourists, what do you want? anti-imperialistic faction, it employed kidnapping, murder, illegal mining, extortion and drug trading. FARC was reputedly responsible for the murder of some 220,000 people. The actual number is subject to debate as many people simply disappeared.
The photographs, while not horribly graphic, depicted the pain and suffering of the indigenous and country people who were subjected to this terrorist organization. It was quite sobering to view and reminds us of the factions in world history who were exceptionally brutual….and ultimately unsuccessful.
Where we stayed: Hotel Casa Deco located in La Candelaria district, the historical quarter.
We enjoyed the rooftop terrace.
Restaurant recommended:
Recommendations: The majority of our travels around the world we have booked and planned ourselves- back when we were back packing around SE Asia and beyond. Since then we’ve have had two travel agents that were extraordinary. Angeline has retired and we miss her terribly… she sent us to some amazing countries. Nadia doesn’t specialize in South America but will use her when we head back to Africa or on an expedition trip. I hate to admit but we would prefer to use a travel agent as we don’t like
Fighting FARC
Terrorist organization that killed tens of thousands of innocent Columbians. planning the transportation between cities unless it is Europe and you can take the train. On this trip we are using Journey Latin America for the first time and so far so good. Our agent Millie has been cheerful, communicative, and responsive. Journey Latin America is located in the UK and offer many tours but also private trips as they have done for us on this adventure. For the most part we aren’t backpackers anymore as we want our own bathroom. On occasion we book into an amazing castle or an upscale hotel but generally we want a mom-and-pop small hotel with charm. We will ditch a travel agent when they try to squeeze that last buck out of us placing us in something fancy or with a lot of rooms. We travel a lot and need to keep our trips moderately priced.
Journey Latin America Millie Davies.
Millie.Davies@journeylatinamerica.co.uk 0208. 600 1899
If you call Millie please let her know we sent you! She is great to work with.
Our guide in Bogota was Sebastian and he was marvelous. +57 3002465922
You may be able to contact him directly. He was extremely helpful.
While
we are away we'd love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below.
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peter wilson
non-member comment
a new follower
just got our first notification. i had never thought about going to south America. sounds interesting. loved the comment about being closer to Bogota than Seattle. we can get to Europe faster than we can get to Newfoundland!.