Street Performances and Protests

We arrived in Bogota early in the morning, around 5:00am, after a tumultuous and frigidly-cold overnight bus. We had arrived almost an hour earlier than scheduled because the bus driver was pretty adventurous. While we waited at the bus terminal for sunrise, it was too early to go to our hostel, we a met an elderly couple (the wife spoke some English) who had children abroad and welcomed us to Bogota by treating us to a cup of coffee. This is what Colombia is like. A complete stranger has approached us, welcomed us to their country and shared their hospitality in some form. This has been our experience in every city or town we have been to so far. And, this is why I know we will definitely come back to Colombia.

The taxi driver at the bus terminal gestured us to followed him, so we did. When you are carrying your life in a bag, you are acutely aware of how long you have to walk to get to your next stop. We both were wondering where this guy had parked and then we arrived at his car, not a taxi, parked just outside the bus terminal. It was all the same to us, as long as he knew where to take us. And it was a interesting ride, looking out the window at this new city and the rising sun, while listening to “Can't Touch This”, and a whole bunch of other classics! He had good taste in music and took us right to the doorstep of our hostel.

Casa de Quevedo, our hostel, was probably the best one we have stayed at in terms of location. Near the Plaza del Chorro de Quevedo, a meeting place for street performers and the university crowd. We were always entertained at night, whether it was someone playing their guitar, circus performers or a comedy show. The Spanish was beyond us in the comedy shows though. The only down side, everyone around us seemed to inhale cigarettes by the pack and it was always smokey in the hostel and outside. We tried asking them to smoke outside but when the hostel owner does it, you can't really do much.

The Plaza del Chorro de Quevedo is historically very significant. The red wall monument, commemorates the twelve structures that were part of the original settlement of the city. But now it is where university students, tourists, and hippies get together to listen to music, talk, sing, drink and smoke-up.

With lots of good restaurants and bars, Candelaria area was a great place to stay in Bogota. The area was also very walkable and many of the sites to visit were nearby. We only had to walk a block or two to Ron y Parrilla, a restaurant with great food that attracted the lunch-work crowd and university students. We went back again but the line-up was too long and Ramanan was too hungry to wait. I think that is why I really liked Bogota, every place we ate at served delicious meals!

Unlike the cities in Ecuador, it didn't feel like church overkill in Bogota. The yellow Candelaria Church, the symbol of the area, was bright and cheerful. The Plaza Bolivar, named after Simon Bolivar, who liberated most of South America, was filled with protesters and tents, intent on getting their message about the democratic process and the environment out. There was a free concert later at night, with the same themes as the protest. Near the Plaza Bolivar, are the elegant parliamentary buildings, but at almost every entrance point, the is security checking your bags and purses before you can pass through. We were thinking of how different this was, compared to parliament in Ottawa, and also almost every other country we have been to so far in South America.

We headed to the Museo de Oro, on a rainy afternoon, to see the world's largest collections of Pre-Hispanic gold artifacts, made by the different societies that lived in the region of Colombia before Europeans arrived. The exhibit shows the progression of the mastery of the skill of metal working, from the earlier to later more sophisticated methods. Between the two floors, there is a lot of gold here! Many of the pieces on exhibit are really quite stunning. One of the most interesting features of the museum is that it was originally Colombia's Central Bank. Now renovated into a museum, the doors of the exhibit on the second floor are the actual doors of the vault.

After the museum, we strolled through that part of town until sunset. That's when we discovered the Bull Fighting Stadium. But to Ramanan's disappointment, the last fight was in 2012, and they no longer allow bull fights. Only one year too late! A city can look really different at night and we waited until the sunset to see the brightly lit cityscape of this high altitude city.

Four days in Bogota flew by quickly. We are in the feeling-no-guilt-for-not-doing-much-after-six months-of-traveling mood, so we just hung out in the city. From Bogota, we would be flying to Leticia, a small city in the Colombian jungle and from there to Brazil.