Our air transit from Medellin to Bogota is fairly smooth, even on the budget airline ‘Wingo’. On the flight, Alex and I are sat separately (due to budget) and a young Spanish-speaking lad on my row tries to make conversation with me. I just about manage to communicate where we’ve been on our trip so far, where we are going after Colombia and what we’ll be doing in Bogotá!
Landing in Bogotá and exhausted with public transport, we take a Cabify taxi across town to our Airbnb. The traffic in Bogotá is so congested and slow that our taxi driver changes gear and steers with one hand while watching a film in the other! We arrive at our spacious Airbnb for the next two nights after dark and in an unknown neighborhood. We scramble to get some shopping done before it gets too late and are delighted to find a large supermarket mainly stocking fresh fruit and veg. A nice change from our struggle to find anything fresh in parts of Argentina and Chile. We enjoy a tasty chicken and veg stir fry and head to bed.
Mountains are There to be Climbed
One of the most popular tourist activities in Bogotá, and indeed recommended by the young lad on the plane, is to climb Montserrate. A 3200m tall hill that overlooks the truly massive capital of Colombia. After another uneasy public bus journey, we arrive at the start of the footpath and begin our ascent. There is also a funicular providing a much easier journey to the top, but we’re too stubborn and tight for that sort of thing.
The climb is challenging but we’ve done this kind of thing plenty of times on this trip. It’s popular with locals here too and people twice our age hop, skip and jump up the steep path for some exercise. Around halfway up is a small village of shacks selling refreshments to tired gringos.
Along the pathway there’s locals selling fresh fruit juices and snacks, endless shouts of ‘Mango/Pina/Maracuyá/Jugo’ seems to be as natural as breathing is to them. Reaching the top we see a massive white church indicating we’ve made it to the summit. Christmas lights and decorations galore, a giant FELIZ NAVIDAD ensures everyone knows it’s Xmas time. We take a couple of minutes to catch our breath in the calm oasis of the church pews. It seems the only place you might find some silence in Latin America is in a church and even then it isn’t guaranteed!
We have a bit of a wander around outside the church where there are a few food sellers, despite our best efforts we can’t find any selling empanadas for a little pick-me-up. There’s a bustling souvenir market too, all the way up here! Conscious of the dark clouds rolling in we take a couple of shots of the cityscape and head back down.
Once again wanting a break from the stress of public transport we Cabify home for pretty much the same cost as the two buses it took to get here. We get back home just in time as the heavens open and a large storm sets in for the next couple of hours.
A Night on the Downtown
We’ve decided to be cultural tonight and have booked tickets for The Nutcracker (On Ice) at the Teatro Colon. Arriving in downtown in time to get a couple of drinks beforehand we make our way to the BBC bar (Colombian brewery, nothing to do with the TV corporation). On the way there, we notice the streets are even more chaotic than usual with bumper-to-bumper cars, dozens of mopeds and an equal amount of bicycles trying to make any progress down a one way street. The pavements are packed too and at some point we end up following a tour group through a barricade, past a huge snaking queue of elderly folks. We soon realise we’re in the wrong place and have somehow joined the queue for a local concert for the elderly citizens of Bogotá who are known affectionately in Spanish as ‘The Ancients’. We retrace our steps and fight through the dense traffic, eventually arriving at the cervecería. We enjoy some craft beer and some tense games of shithead, cultured.
Well oiled, we head to the theatre, it’s an impressive building, especially in this rundown area of town. There are some beautiful remnants of colonial architecture around and the street is lined with pretty Xmas lights.
We’re sharing a box (the cheapest seats together we could get) with three older Latinas, who are really sweet and considerate to try and give us the best chance of an unrestricted view for our restricted view tickets. The performance is impressive, pirouettes and gymnastics (on ice!) never ceases to amaze. It’s flawless and the snowy scenes make us feel festive for the first time in a while. The costumes are a little bit pantomime and the choice to represent the nutcracker toy as a floppy knitted felt figure amuses us no end.
Cutting it Fine
The next morning I decide I’ve built up enough courage to try and get a haircut in Latin America again. The high school student who cut my hair in Bariloche didn’t take enough off the top but I was too traumatised to try and communicate any more technicalities in Spanish. I tell Alex I won’t be long and head out. I’ve picked out a place just down the road, according to Google it’s open, it’s good value, it has good reviews and … It no longer exists as I discovered in the pouring rain. Plan B. I find another barbería a few minutes away. I communicate I don’t have a booking and the guy says that’s fine, take a seat. I’m waiting 45 minutes and the only two people in there are still having their haircut. I’m beckoned upstairs and immediately explain to the barber I don’t speak much Spanish ‘No hablo mucho español’. He nods and I show him the Google translate for ‘two on the sides and back, short on top’ again he nods, I show him a picture of myself with a hairstyle I’d like, a final nod of approval. Of course as soon as I sit in the chair he bombards me with questions, unfortunately I’ve not yet reached the barber section of Duolingo so there is a lot of ‘No se’ (I don’t know) and shrugging from me. To be fair, the chap is really nice and is trying his best to communicate with a clueless gringo. I make it through and even refusing a beard trim (despite his best efforts to give me one) I’m in the chair for 45 minutes. The haircut even finishes with a short massage from some bizarre handheld machine. It’s a good service and it seems like locals would spend at least half a day in here! After paying 25,000 pesos (£5) and tipping my guy, I scamper back to the Airbnb. Poor Alex is white as a sheet when I get home, I’ve been gone almost two hours while she’s been locked in the flat by herself watching the clock tick closer towards check-out time, the cleaner knocking on the door to get in, replaying all the horror stories of Bogotá in her mind, and no way to communicate with me to find out I’m fine and dandy enjoying a shoulder massage. There’s barely time to eat the rest of our food, pack and get out of the door before our midday check-out!
As Good as Gold
For the afternoon, we head back down town to the Museo del Oro (museum of gold). There are free secure lockers for us to stash our huge bags and the entrance fee is a measley 5,000 (£1) each, win win. The museum is pretty fascinating, displaying the history of gold and other metals, metallurgy, smithing and the importance of metal ornaments, sculptures etc across time. We spend a couple of hours in here and agreeing our brains can’t absorb any more information we head to our hotel next to the El Dorado airport.
After the usual travel chaos, not being able to find our way out of the bus station for 15 minutes and queuing 30 minutes to check-in at our hotel, we’re quite hungry! We find a local fast-food joint just around the corner called ‘Gru station’ it is indeed themed around the Minions villain… For reasons unbeknownst to us.
We head back to our hotel to wait for Lottie’s arrival at 11.25pm. Time drags a little but eventually we’re getting on the shuttle bus to the airport and nervously join the crowd of people awaiting the arrival of their loved ones. Despite trying to spot her from afar, Lottie appears out of nowhere looking happy and well and we have a big hug! Over 4 months since we last saw each other in person but she’s here now and an exciting new chapter of the adventure begins.
Blitz of Bogotá
Never ones to take it easy, we’ve decided to show Lottie a bit of Bogotá with the bit of time we have before our afternoon flight. We enjoy a huge continental breakfast at the hotel, including mini-pancakes, banana toast, blackberry juice, hams, cheeses, cereals, fruits and even steak!!
We take a cab into town and explore the plaza Bolívar, walk past a beautiful church that looks like it could be made of gingerbread and grab a coconut lemonade in a local cafe.
Next we head to the museo Botero featuring work of the famous Colombian artist we learned about in Medellin as well as his donated collection of art from across the world.
Alex has picked out a spot for an early lunch, a 200 year old cafe that Antony Bourdain put on the map for Westerners. We queue for a while as there is only seating room for about 30 people, during this time a vagabond dressed as Einstein harmlessly bonks us on the head with a paper bag, smiles and asks for money. Welcome to South America Lottie! The girls enjoy a tamale while I have another local speciality of ajiaco (a traditional soup, also featured on another Netflix series Street Food Latin America).
After that’s done we hop in another taxi and make it back to our hotel with a whole one minute to spare until the shuttle bus leaves!
At the airport we finally give in to the endless amount of Dunkin’ Donuts we’ve seen throughout South America. Lottie tries the dulche de leche (similar to caramel) filling while Alex and I share an Oreo topped flavour.
Next stop … Cartagena!
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Adventure – climbing mountains, figuring out yet another public transport system, almost joining a concert for the ancients, actually enjoying wandering around downtown Bogota and feeling a lot safer than in Medellin.
Excitement – the incredible graffiti all around the city we see on our rides around town, witnessing the equivalent of Ride London in Bogota with the roads shut to allow people to cycle freely… at 6pm til midnight on a weekday evening!, seeing the locals playing Sapo in the local shop-come-bar, our first all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast, proper hotel pillows.
Trauma – waiting for a bus in sketch-ville, worrying James would never return (Alex), rushing to make it back to the hotel for the shuttle to check-in for our flight.
1 Comment
Some more amazing pics, I’m not sure who your hair cut was most traumatic for, but glad it turned out alright in the end 😊. Lovely to see the three of you together, having s good time. Enjoy your Jungle Trek X