Okay, so – here we are, in Bogota. So much stuff to do.Where to start? How about a freshly squeezed fruit juice for a dollar? Or maybe have a delicious lunch including soup, juice and some excellent meat for 2,50$?
Well, in fact, we spent our first night watching Mr Bean. :) Always reminds me of happy family afternoons and/or evenings in front of the TV. ;)
Bogota’s weather is pretty annoying these days. Usually the day starts off sunny, but before noon clouds cover the sky, announcing the daily afternoon rain. After dusk the rain stops, even though the clouds remain… Temperatures are freezing cold, around 15-20°C. Not as hot as some happy chappies would imagine December in Latin America, but well… ain’t no use in complaining, as Bryan Adams already knew.
And we don’t complain anyway. Went to a tourist office to gain a deeper insight into the stuff to be done. Some Colombian school kids were around as well. After like two minutes their teacher approached us to shyly ask if these kids were allowed to greet us! Sooo cute! Well, of course they were. And then we had to teach them how to say “hi” in German, answer questions about our home countries, our current mission and our destiny. Sooooo cute! That teacher explained that these kids don’t meet to many gringos, but they were astoundingly curious. And cute. ^^
The streets here are already covered with Christmas decoration, Santa Claus runs around and asks money for pictures taken with him, and we even found a totally overpriced kind of Christmas market, selling art, local craftsmanship and a lot of senseless stuff. Doesn’t feel like Christmas here at all. Even though at least the temperatures are kind of winterish.
So – how to spent cold, grey & rainy days? We started off at the Museodel Oro, the gold museum. Besides loads of gold treasures from what many people refer to as the “El Dorado” (a pile of gold and other valuables the Incas sunk in a nearby lake to sacrifice it to their gods), we had the honor to see a special exhibition about former Latin American cultures, like the Mayas, Incas and Aztecs. Incredibly interesting! Did you know, that even these days there are actually more people speaking Nahuatl (the indigenous Maya language) than Swiss German? *hahaha*
Another pretty stunning, though unfortunately these days totally touristy sight is the salt cathedral. Some 2 hours out of town, a former salt mine transformed time after time into a cathedral, as mine workers started to build some crosses into their dug-outs – in case the mine should start tumbling down, they could still send their last prayers up to heaven. These days, the whole mine converted into a three-storey-high tourist attraction, including a 3D-movie cinema, a dug-out featuring a light show that could easily transform into a discotheque on week-ends as well as souvenir shops and even a café! Incredible. In my opinion, this place is totally exploited and therefore spoiled. A shame. But – it’s still quite impressive to look at what these mine workers built up down there! :)
The next day, after some exhausting hike, we enjoyed the marvelous view from a hill nearby above Bogota. Massive.Absolutely massive.
Of course, we also had check out the nightlife in such a huge city. And, hey – I’d call it totally terrific! Well – on week-ends. We went out Saturday night to find some 11 blocks (!!!!!) incredibly crowded with people, bar after bar, club after club. Unfortunately, as gringos we weren’t as beloved as we could have wished for, but hey – life ain’t a kids birthday. The main problem is, that obviously many Latinos can’t handle our unbeatable charm, and just don’t know how to react when encountering some guys as good-looking as us. ;) So, whenever all those lovely ladies pushed us over to the dance floor, we found enough other dudes trying to build up a barrier between them and us within minutes… well, well, jealousy is just for losers… ;) I still got my first, private “How to dance Reggaeton in Colombia-“ lesson. ^^
Believe it or not – we went to that same area some three days later, just to find it completely dead! La Villa had its famous “Gringo Tuesday” celebrations going on – but the rest of the street was empty! Weird story… No clue where all those party animal had gone…
All I can say for sure is that we were gone the next day as well. Off to Neiva, some further eight hours to be spent in a bus. It was kind of sad to leave, as after six days we had found “our crew”, some fun people to hang out with. But you never know – paths always cross twice, they say…
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