Buenísimo Bogotá

After staying in the relatively low hills of Medellín, it was time to head to the heights of the capital city, Bogotá. This time, we decided to fly in order to avoid any chances of motion sickness on a bus. But it felt as if we spent more time on the tarmac than the actual half-hour flight. But at least we arrived without feeling ill or all shaken up like a snow globe after seven hours going around mountains. Although illegal in Colombia, the safest option to get to our Airbnb apartment was to catch an Über, without being taken for a ride, literally and metaphorically, by a local taxi driver. All around the world, taxi drivers are probably the most likely to take advantage of tourist (sure there are honest drivers but in our experience they are in the minority). And most want a monopoly on the transport industry.

We arrived to our apartment near Chapinero and quickly set out to explore our surroundings. The area was central to most tourist attractions within the huge city of Bogotá, but far enough away from the backpacker area to get more of a local experience. The city sprawls across 307 squared kilometres in the high plateau of the Andes at an elevation of 2640 metres, and with this comes much cooler weather, especially during the early mornings and evenings.
The following day, we caught up with some friends, Kadi-Riin and Magnus, who we had met in Sucre, Bolivia. After a quick hot beverage, we all joined a tour at the Gold Museum, one of the top highlights of the city. The museum contains a large collection of pre-Colombian gold artefacts as well as some pottery, stone, wood and textiles from the various cultures, including the Muisca, who inhabited Colombia prior to the invasion by the Spanish Conquistadors. Many of the Colombian tribes had been heavily influenced by southern cultures from the area that is now modern Peru.

After the tour of the gold museum, we moved from pre-Colombian to colonial times as we wandered around the historical centre. In parts, the historical centre is juxtaposed with modern street art and numerous universities, giving the city a youthful and hip atmosphere. All of the Colombian people that we have met, including some from Bogotá, warned of the dangers and highlighted the city's shortcomings, which to us seemed a little unfair; but maybe they know the city better than us. To us, we only had a positive experience. The worse part was the cooler, wetter weather. And in this kind of weather a cold shower is never desirable, although we managed to work-out the hot water system in our apartment after about three or four days. Just like an old-school safe, a few turns to the right and left and all was unlocked.

On our third day in Bogotá, we were fortunate enough to get tickets to the Soundheart Festival where Radiohead was headlining. We were very grateful for our friend, Flick, for getting us tickets and allowing us to join her partner, Andi, while he performed the magical light show, as Radiohead shined on stage. We were also fortunate to be situated under shelter (and with access to a private toilet) as midway through the performance the sky opened up and poured down buckets. We eventually had to go out into the rain without our arc and made it home safe and sound, albeit looking like two drowned rats. At the concert, there were a couple of other people who were also fortunate enough to be invited to the same area, but they mistook us for the crew and thanked us for allowing them to come “backstage” as if we were the management. Not sure if they figured out we were just there to see the show too.

Any trip to Bogotá wouldn't be complete without travelling even higher into the sky to visit the mountain-top church complex of Monserrate. At an elevation of 3152 metres, we were literally amongst the clouds with little visibility of the mega-city below. The teleférico on the way up and down to Monserrate provided great views of the city that seemed to continue way into the sunset. Once we descended the mountain, we stumbled upon the house, Quinta de Bolívar, where Simón Bolívar, the iconic historical figure who is credited with liberating South America from the Spanish. During our travels, it has felt as if we have been following Simón's footsteps, with images of him appearing in every country and what seems like every city north of Bolivia. So to see where he had slept and had eaten brought us closer to the man himself.

Before leaving Bogotá, we also had to experience one of the local nightclubs, Theatron, located in Chapinero. The nighclub was once a movie theatre but it is now more like a small city of nightclubs. Within the one establishment, there are thirteen different clubs catering to different sub-cultures and can hold up to 5000 people. While we were there a local singing sensation, Yina Rose performed to a crowd hungry to hear her hits. Surprisingly, most of the music in the main room included Western pop music from the likes of Rhianna, Kylie Minogue and Madonna. Unsurprisingly, some of the latest reggaeton songs were thrown into the mix. You know, Daddy Yankee, Bad Bunny and Becky G. After a late night out clubbing, the following day was spent recovering before heading onto our next destination.

Next stop: CartagenaRead more