8660 feet above sea level

jill
Nov 16, 2019
6 min read

Got up super early (4am), so sadly, no delicious breakfast from Omaira this morning. I packed up and headed outside where Ricki was supposed to pick me up...but he wasn't answering texts, so I got worried. Went ahead and grabbed a taxi that happened to drive by when I walked out. No problems getting my boarding pass from the machine at the airport, thankfully.

Juan Valdez Cafe (yes, that Juan Valdez who has been the fictional spokesman for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia since 1958) was open at the airport (their version of Starbucks...I have seen the occasional actual Starbucks in Colombia, but JVC is much more ubiquitous) so I got a small mocha and a pandebono--a small roll that has cheese mixed into the dough--delicious. At least I won't have nervous/hungry stomach this morning. I also noticed for the first time that the money here (larger bills, anyway) have a really cool 3D icon on it.

I kept hearing from people that Bogota would be very cold because it is at such a high elevation--basically a plateau in the Andes mountains--which will come as a relief after Cartagena. I had gotten to the airport a couple of hours early since I didn't know what traffic would be like, so I had some waiting to do. No water fountains in this airport, strangely. The Cartagena airport only has 8 gates for domestic flights, so we are all waiting in the same room. There are also no walkways to the plane, so you have to walk outside in the heat. Once I got through security there wasn't really any food...so I just perused the one store that was open.

Once in Bogota, I found my driver pretty quickly (he is a friend of the guy who runs the airBNB where I'm staying), then only about 30 minutes to get to the city--tons of street art along the ride. The place I'm staying is right outside the main tourist area (La Candelaria) which is convenient. Maria, the owner's mom (who speaks no English), met me and showed me around this amazing airBNB called Casa de los Colibris (house of the hummingbirds--they are painted on the outside). They have 3-4 rooms to rent...mine is the coolest, lol. It has a loft for the bed...and a hammock in front of the tv. Best of all, they have a beautiful grey dog named Luna who wears a bowtie and is super sweet. I would leave my door open so she would come visit me.

The building is multi-level, and when you go out back, there is a large garden, and if you go up the stairs to a treehouse like spot where she hangs laundry, you can see the whole city and Monserrate, the church on top of one of the mountains. It is beautiful. Tons of natural light during the day, and stunning at night.

I'm already feeling the effects of the high altitude...thankfully not too major. I have some minor headaches, and get easily winded and a bit lightheaded, even climbing the ladder to my loft. Maria made me some coffee and I relaxed for a bit, then headed out for lunch before my walking tour at 2pm. I head toward the meeting spot and BOOM--there's a McDonald's. I always like to visit them in foreign countries to see what unique items they have (ironically, I almost never eat there in America). Nothing too out of the ordinary at this one, although they did have a burger with bacon and egg on it. Some interesting names for the others--but a Big Mac is still a Big Mac.

Bogota is less touristy than Cartagena...they didn't even have a tourism industry until the past 10 years or so. As a result, there are far fewer people acosting you trying to sell you things. It reminds me much more of other large European cities or NYC--old, dirty, not as colorful as Cartagena, and lots of buildings--but FASCINATING. I've also gone from sweating buckets to wearing a jacket and a scarf. This McD's is across the street from the Inglesia de San Francisco (a large, beautiful church) which is across another street from the meeting point--Santander Park next to the Gold Museum.

Turns out, this is a pretty important intersection--on one corner is the main bank of Colombia, on another is the El Tiempo building (their anti-government newspaper), on the third is the biggest center of emeralds in the world (emeralds are a big deal here, along with gold), and on the fourth is the church I mentioned earlier (in English, St Francis church). Whenever there are large protests, they happen here. In fact, there are people on the corner right now with a somewhat permanent protest, and some of the decorations on one of the buildings are covered up with large tarps so that paint that will inevitably be thrown in the protest happening all across Colombia in a few days will not deface it. It is one of the oldest intersections in South America--481 years old.

The tour guide wasn't out as early with the umbrellas as they were in Cartagena...so I was starting to get worried. But then our guide Byron showed up...much better English than my guides in Cartagena. People walk by with llamas...and I see more big ass ants :-) A man asked me if I wanted a shoe shine...I was wearing canvas Adidas at the time.

He starts the tour with a bit of history...at one point, Colombia included Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama--a huge area of land. Seventy-two percent of people in Colombia are mixed race (a mix of indigenous, Spanish, and African mainly), 14% are African, 4% are indigenous, and 10% are white. Over 8 million people live in Bogota.

Then he warns us that the residents are still quite unused to tourists. So much so that they will sometimes follow the tour groups and just stare at them. If they speak a bit of English, they will ask you why you are here, or say hello and want to shake hands. Little kids are the best--they REALLY want to talk to you.

At about the halfway mark, we stop at a spot for chicha--which is an alcoholic drink (about 6%) made from fermented corn--and originally, the corn was chewed before it was used--in some remote parts of South America it still is. It was actually quite tasty--sort of like apple cider. Beer manufacturers are trying to get rid of it because it is their only competition, so they try to sell it as a drink for low-class people. They did an ad once that said "chicha makes you stupid."

We passed the Teatro de Christobal Colon (Christopher Colombus) which is the largest opera/theatre house in Bogota...built in 1892. Then I started seeing a lot of obleas stands (an oblea is 2 very thin waffle wafers with various sweet fillings) with pictures of Mick Jagger on them. I find out that a few years back, the Stones were in Bogota, and Jagger tried one near the Botero museum (which is now officially called Mick Jagger Obleas) and apparently loved it...so now they use him as a selling point.

Then we get to Bolivar Square--a HUGE square and the center of their government. All around me are the building that houses Congress, the Mayor's office, a cathedral, the archbishop's office, and the Palace of Justice. Like my guides in Cartagena, Byron either doesn't use Escobar's name (or whispers it), and doesn't want to use the word cocaine either. Everyone here is very embarassed by the country's past, and don't want to talk about it...they are incredibly proud of where the country is today and would prefer people concentrate on the present.

Then we finish the tour at the Gabriel Garcia Marquez Cultural Building. I'm getting tired and quite hungry, so I head back to the airBNB (pretty much everything I want to do here is walking distance, which is great since there is no subway here...only buses...and a very confusing system of them). It was getting dark by then, so I asked Juan David, my host, if there was anything nearby and if it would be safe to walk there. Lucky for me, it is. The area is mainly residential. I stopped at a diner called Monserrate's and had a sub with chicken, vegetables (finally), olives, and queso. The guy who brought it suggested the pimenton sauce (they had lots of different kinds and in Spanish so I didn't know what I was getting)...which turned out to be a really good pepper sauce.