Bogotá

I hadn’t expected much from Bogotá. Capitol cities are often crowded, bland, and soulless. We only had a day and a half in the city, but we were all very pleasantly surprised by what Bogotá had to offer!

Our hotel was in the lovely old part of town called La Candelaria. The hotel itself was the former home of an anarchist writer José María Vargas Vila, and it is lovely. Like in Morocco, the houses here often have open courtyards to provide outdoor space that is also safe and secluded from the street. It’s an architectural style that I appreciate.

We arrived very late and so we went straight to bed. After enjoying a hearty breakfast, we set out for Montserrate, the church on top of one of the city’s many hills. To get up there, you can either climb the exceptionally steep mountainside or, for a few dollars, take a funicular. FUNICULAR!!!! Anybody who knows me knows how excited I am about this option, and it was not a disappointment!

This church was nice, but the location is truly the show-stopper here. At an elevation of over 10,500 feet, the views are breathtaking. Bogotá stretches out as far as the eye can see, almost reaching for the mountains in the distance. Regardless of our religious beliefs, this felt like a very special place worthy of reflection.

After exploring the church (and discovering that our skin burns exceptionally quickly at such elevations), we descended back to town in search of lunch. Arepas were our target, as the should be for anybody in the region given how delicious they are! Melissa found a well-rated place on our path and we eat course. It was a bit odd to discover that it was a street cart vendor, but hey, why not?! For about $5 total, we each had an arepa. Salty, a little sweet, hot, crispy, and cheesy. And Ali and Anna-Sophia went to the minimart and got drinks and a snack that they said was something only I would like. I guessed mayonnaise flavored potato chips and I WAS RIGHT!!!!!!

My day really didn’t feel like it had any room to go up at this point, but Bogotá had more ways for me to love it in store. We meandered over to the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum) to see the insane amount of gold treasures that have been discovered over the years from across Colombia. No wonder the Spanish thought this was the famed city of El Dorado – people of all status levels wore gold jewelry, while in Spain, gold was exceptionally precious. And thus begins many, many years of colonialism…

Since we are in coffee country, we stopped for a delightful mid-afternoon coffee and snack. We passed through Bolívar Square which was absolutely packed with people (and pigeons). Something was going on in the area because police had blocked off several streets…not sure what that was all about.

When we were last in Colombia I learned about Botero (actually, I saw a painting of his in Buenos Aires a decade ago and loved it, but didn’t realize it was that same artist until recently). Botero’s style is adorably chubby people and animals. His sculptures are prominently displayed around Medellin, but he has a large museum in Bogotá of his own artwork and that of his private collection, all of which is in this amazing free museum. Picasso, Monet, Degas…it was such an amazingly rich collection.

For some reason, this very tall painting of a little round blue bird sitting on a tiled roof really captured my attention. I can’t say why I love it, but I do. A lot.

After a delicious dinner, we were off to bed.

Before departing for the coast the next day, we went on a walking tour of the area’s graffiti. I remembered from our last trip how gorgeous the graffiti could be, and I was eager to learn more about it. Our guide was wonderful, explaining the different artists, their messages, and the culture around street art.