Bogota, Colombia

29th July – 31st July 2017

​Arriving at the airport in Cartagena ready for flight number four, we realised we hadn’t printed our boarding passes and there was no wifi to download them – I think we’re getting a bit too comfortable with travelling now. We kept our cool and went to the check in desk and smiled nicely; we passed over our passports and hoped for the best. Obviously we couldn’t understand a word she said to us (and Ruth always makes me take over at this point because I understand a tiny bit more than she does) so I just kept smiling and showed her a reservation email on my phone. She smiled back and handed us a boarding card and our passports. I’m not sure how we got away with it because the three English travellers next to us were having a disjointed conversation with their check in lady and they had to pay to get their boarding passes printed. I think we got lucky with that one!

After getting a taxi to the hostel and dropping our bags off, our first mission was to find Ruth a new raincoat – and it definitely was a mission! We got a taxi and Ruth tried to point out on her phone where she wanted him to take us, except it was written in English and (obviously) the driver only spoke Spanish. He took us to a place where he recognised on Ruth’s map but that wasn’t right, so he took us to another place on the map which again wasn’t right but we decided to get out anyway and walk (as Ruth didn’t think it looked that far). We were trying to figure out which side of the park we were stood, then realised we were still miles from the shopping centre. Another taxi ride later and a walk around the huge shopping centre, we had a new raincoat and a happy Ruth. We also used this opportunity to get ourselves something a little more exciting for our tea, as we’ve eaten only pasta for tea since arriving – so we opted for chicken and rice instead!

The taxi ride on the way back was eye opening. The drivers over here have no patience or courtesy for each other – they beep at each other, pull out on each other and leave turns until the last minute. We did make it back in one piece though, fortunately, and were able to check in and settle a little bit before exploring the latest city.

We didn’t know much about Bogota and the internet didn’t really inspire us so when we went out for a wander, we were just guessing as to where to go and what to see. We walked down streets and at each corner would look around at the options before choosing the prettiest or most interesting looking street to walk down next. We ended up in a little square called the ‘Plaza Chorro de Quevedo’ and had a sit down. We just happened to arrive at a perfect time as a man approached us and told us he was about to start a free walking tour and it was in English! Once we set off on the tour, we didn’t look back. The stories he told about the culture and history of the city were inspiring – it also explained a lot about what we have already seen earlier this week.

The tour began with looking at the culture of the city and Julian (the guide) explained how he wanted to inform us about Colombia’s good points, as well as the bad stigma it already has.

Bogota is the second biggest urban art city in the world (behind Berlin). It is covered with attractive looking graffiti which is all legal in this city. This came about because one man was caught doing graffiti one day, by the police, and because they didn’t like him (the graffiti artist was on the left sided party and the police on the right sided party), they shot him dead. The mayor at the time wasn’t happy with what happened and released the story into the press. After this, people were be able to take their graffiti plans to the council, if the council approved, they would provide the person with the resources to carry out the graffiti in the city.

We were told about the Spanish who came over, trying to take control of Colombia as they thought Colombia would the golden country, full of gold mines (this is the reason for the gold colour in the flag). Before the arrival of the Spanish, the women were the ones who had power and control over the men; this changed when the Spanish took over. It is believed that the native people of the Andes (The Inca Empire) then created a flag which was a square shape with seven colours in a diagonal patchwork – this was to show equality, as there wasn’t one side bigger than the other.

Carrying on the tour, we were taken into a shop which was down the narrowest street in Bogota (just off from the Plaza where the tour started) and told about Chicha (a traditional South America fermented drink made from corn). Sweetcorn is a native food to South America and the Chicha is used at important ceremonies such as marriages or baptisms. The Chicha was persecuted by many people as they tried to get rid of this tradition. The Spanish were one group of people who tried to go this. They thought that it was a symbol of identity and wanted to destroy it to use wine as a symbol of religion. Simon Bolivar (a native Colombian and a Mason) was the next to try and persecute the Chicha. This was because the soldiers drank it the night before a battle and didn’t wake up to fight; they were then surrounded by the Spanish and lost. Bolivar believed that the soldiers became drunk from the Chicha and this is the reason they didn’t wake up. The Germans were another group who tried to get rid, as they wanted their beer to be used instead. They created signs and adverts to warn people against the Chicha and propaganda to promote their beer. We were able to try some Chicha in the shop we went in – it wasn’t completely awful but I could only manage one sip!

From here, we went to a local market. In the market we were able to try some fruit grown locally. It was exotic and I tried it all, but the look of the guanabana did put me off, as it looked like a fish eye. I also tried feijoba which was very tasty, although very sour tasting. We were also able to sample a smoothie made with mango and guanabana, which again was very nice.

As the last part of the cultural bit of the tour, we went to a coca shop and tried some coca leaves and coca tea – again this wasn’t a drink I particularly enjoyed so I gave the rest to Ruth, but at least I tried it. Julian explain how the coca leaves are healthy and good for you but with added chemicals people use the coca leaves to make drugs such as cocaine. It was interesting to hear that the first drug dealers in Colombia were actually Americans who grew marijuana in the northern parts of Colombia and exported it to Miami – this only began in the 60s. This product was then developed, and cocaine then became the next best thing. The cocaine industry had a value of 100 billion USD and the Colombian cartel fought against the Colombian state – with the cartel winning. The violence then got worse in the 80s when the Medellin cartel battled against the Cali cartel – Medellin invited Cali to a football match, and then killed them all at the end. This then exploded into a huge civil war with the state becoming involved. Pablo Escobar (leader of the Medellin cartel) eventually ended up in his own mansion built prison where he eventually went insane and began killing his life-long friends. There are many rumours around the how Escobar died: the locals first heard that Escobar had killed himself (which the Colombians still like to believe), then later down the line a friend came out and said he was responsible for Escobar’s death and then the Americans made a film with a different theory. The industry now is much more widespread and less violent. The Colombians believe that the media are the ones who could be to blame for all the drug use and violence, as people use the films and television programmes as an example.

 

Next, we went walking through the streets of Bogota learning about the history of the city. From photos Julian had, we were able to see the difference in the city in just a few decades. We went to Bolivar Square, where there is a statue of Simon Bolivar in the centre, we walked to the President’s house and up to the richest parts of the city. It was strange to see that as we were stood outside the houses of the richest, in the distance on the mountainside were lots of favelas – apparently there is no middle class in Colombia, there are rich people who are really rich and there are poor people. The richest houses were built on the top of the hills when the Spanish took over to show the natives and poor that they were watching over them. We were shown that you can identify the richer houses by them having multiple numbers above the front door. We even found an Irish pub, which is probably the strangest thing I saw in Colombia!

To end the tour, we went to a coffee shop and tasted some of Colombia’s own coffee – apparently the best coffee in the world. I did try it but I still am not a fan of coffee. Colombia is now the third biggest producer of coffee in the world, behind Brazil and Vietnam. The shop smelt so good and the man who worked there showed us how to make fresh coffee, starting from the coffee beans.

As the tour ended, a few other people from the group were going up Monseratte (a view point overlooking the whole of Bogota). We were originally going to go here on our second day but decided it would be nice to see the sunset up there and thought it would be safer to go with others, so we went with them. It was a cable car ride to the top of the mountain, where we got off and had stunning views of the whole city. We seemed to time it almost perfectly – we did just miss the sunset but it was still light enough to take photos. By the time we had finished taking photos in the light, the sun had completely set and Bogota was just as beautiful in the dark, with all the lights.

 

 

After getting the cable car back down the mountain, we decided it would be safer to get a taxi back to the hostel (this was the latest we has stayed out so far and it was very dark by now). There was a taxi outside, so we got in, only when we were already on our way, the driver said he was booked out and we apparently weren’t his customers. He carried on taking us anyway but when we got to the hostel he would only take card payment and our cards wouldn’t work, so we had to faff about finding change for the cash we had, because it was cash or nothing at this point. We eventually sorted that out and got inside the hostel where we cooked our exciting tea, chilled for a while and then went to bed.

Day two in Bogota began with our first lie in of the trip! Although I was awake from about 5am, I didn’t get up until 7.30! We stayed in the hostel most of the morning: we got breakfast and relaxed – trying to catch up on some chill out time. This was the first real day of rain so we weren’t really persuaded to go outside but we still wanted to do some more exploring, so we eventually got ready and went out. As I was doing my first clothes wash of the trip, my clothing choice was limited today, so ended up in my fluorescent leggings, which actually aren’t bad, until they are paired with my blue raincoat – I definitely cheered up a rainy day in Bogota with my clothing choice.

We set off with only one thing on the itinerary really and that was to visit a tourist souvenir market. Ruth had researched one (Pasaje Rivas Craft Market) and it was a real hidden gem. We wandered around the market multiple times trying to find the best deals for a applique patch for my backpack (I’m trying to get one from each city I visit and so far I’m off to a good start!). I also did my first bit of bartering with the stall owners and got a great deal!

From here, we really had no idea what we wanted to do next. We had had such a good tour with Julian we felt like we had seen the whole of Bogota. We just walked. We could just about see the top of the mountain where Monseratte is but it was a very cloudy day – we were glad we went up when we did!

The graffiti art in Bogota really interested us, so we walked back to the Candelaria (the main centre) and wandered up and down the streets looking at the different art. There were a few places from the tour that we wanted to revisit and look at again in more detail and at our own pace. We found the tour start point in the Plaza Chorro de Quevedo and worked our way back through the streets. We found a little café on the narrowest street in Bogota and stopped for a break – it was also nice to do some people watching out of the window.

From here we wandered some more, finding new streets and new places of interest (including a theatre which was placed strangely close to the favelas, not far away on the mountainside). We found our way back to Bolivar Square where we wandered into the stunning cathedral that was in there. On our way back to the hostel, we found more streets and more markets to wander round – it was a nice way to see the city in a relaxed way.

In the evening we did the usual relaxing and eating before an early night ready for the next destination. We had new roommates in the hostel who we chatted to about their trip; they were now the second set of people who were shocked with our opinions of Medellin – we are beginning to think we saw the wrong part and missed the beautiful side of the city, oops (maybe it needs another chance one day)!

Colombia is the second most culturally diverse country in the world (behind Brazil) and it has been amazing to see the three cities we have and notice how different they are too. I would be interested in seeing other cities within Colombia to see how they are similar or different to the ones I have seen, but for now, I’m off to Ecuador.

To travel is to live, Katie x