Bogota, Colombia
After a bit of a stumble I finally made it to Colombia. I decided to take the more risky form of transportation via the bus. It much cheaper and I figured it would give me a better chance to see the city. It took about an hour to get to La Candalaria which is the location where my hostel is located. I haven't been in the country for an hour and I was already receiving the infamous Colombian hospitality. Probably, five or six people on the bus helped me to find out when to get off the bus and an older man took the liberty to walk me to my hostal. Wow, I love these people already!
Bogota is a behemoth of a city at 9 million people. It sat at 2,600m high but at that point that was low for me. For Colombians Bogota is known as a cold city. Most people will be walking around with long pants, a shirt and sometimes a coat. I was perfectly fine with shorts and a muscle shirt but then again, I am Canadian. One odd thing about Bogota and for that matter Colombia is their address system is based completely on a number system. They have calles and carreras which are avenue and streets. Instead of having names for the streets and avenues they would only have numbers. This complimented with building numbers which we're all used to. Anyways long story short, you can pretty much tell where anything is in the city right away just by looking at its address. Even in a big city! It's quite brilliant really but takes a little getting used to.
The district I was staying in, La Candalaria, is known as a student area and a very dangerous area. There are a lot of universities and a lot of bums on drugs. Although it is much better now, in the past hostels would have someone coming back to the hostel reporting a robbery everyday. Many locals I met never even been to that area their whole lives because it was too dangerous. So, the plan was to keep the eyes and ears open. I got into the hostel in the late afternoon so I decided to stroll around the area for a bit and then went for a bite to eat with a Welsh couple. The plan was to taker easy that night and get an early start the next day.
The next day a few of us were set to see all the sights around La Candalaria. We hit up the plazas, a few cathedrals and the amazing gold museum. This gold museum is the most famous of its kind. Colombia is notorious for its gold deposits. Especially the amount of gold the aboriginals had in their possessions till the Spanish rudely snatched all that up. The museum was full of jewellery, masks, armor, monuments, idols and many other artifacts. Most of these were worn by the leaders and the shamans. However, every tribe member would wear some sort of precious metal. It would be a sign of the standing in their tribe. Each metal and each type of artifact made from these metals would have their own meaning. Many of the aboriginals believed shape shifting and reincarnation. This was all tied into their strong belief with astrology. It was all very interesting but unfortunately I can't explain it all in this blog. You'll have to learn more at the place itself.
After the museum we decided to hike up to Monseratte. This is a famous church on top of mountain in Bogota. It has an incredible view from the top and we were actually lucky enough to catch the sunrise bellowing over the city. It was cloudy all day but the sun decided to peek through. The church itself was quite nice as well. As per all South American churches, there was a Jesus at a certain step of crucifiction. This guy was extra tanned, perhaps an accidental bias of the local artist? Anyways, by that point it was night fall and we had to get back for dinner and drinks.
A big group of us went out for some local Colombian food. We all ordered some big platters that we all shared. I'm happy to say, Colombians have been blessed with some incredible food. After dinner and some hialrious conversations we headed out to a salsa bar where we danced the night away. Oh man, I sure got my fair share of salsa practice in Colombia...
The next day was a little later wake up, hehe. I decided to head up to Usaquen which was a nice area that had some good shopping. Gotta buy presents eventually, right? I then checked out Parque 93 which is a beautiful park surrounded by great restaurants. After some good pricey eats I made a funny tshirt that pretty much backfired later on. Ok, if South Americans call all of us Gringos then why is it when we call our selves gringos we're all of a sudden American. Bullshit! Still made for a funny night though.
The plan for the next day was to head to the Laguna de Guativita. This is the famous lake of the legend of El Dorado. This name might sound familiar to you. It is the lake the was home to the famous aboriginal tribe that had an incredible wealth of gold, diamond and other precious stones. This tribe had a tradition to sacrifice these precious stones in the name of Mother Earth, the Sun and the mind. Bronze signified Mother Earth, gold signified the Sun and diamonds signified the mind. All three of these metals were sacrificed by dumping them in the lake. Some of these stones were even hidden in caves or buried but the large majority were dropped in the lake. This is why the lake was of great importance to the Spanish, then Germans and then the English. All these expeditions were unsuccessful to drain this massive lake. They used everything from pressurized hoses, to manual bailing to actually cutting a crevace into the mountain. The best they could do was lower the level of the lake permantely. Many artifacts were recovered however. Most are in Bogota's gold museum but some are all over the world.
That night we decided to hit the same Salsa place we went to on Wednesday. This time it was full out salsa night. Whew, I better get my dance shoes on. Man that dance is a workout!
Saturday was pretty chill. I checked out a little more of La Candalaria and planned the rest of my Colombia trip. That night we amassed a crew at the hostel decided to hit up everybody's favourite party spot, Zona Rosa. This is a party area in Bogota that is going on from Wednesday to Saturday with tons of bars and discotecas. We almost got stopped up by some efffed up bum that tried to pull out a shank on us. Luckily he was too effed up on crack and we just pushed him away. We ended up a pretty cool discoteca that was fairly packed. Out of no where these three guys in giant costumes came in. They were Tony the Tiger, Buzz Light Year and the other was some type of bear. And I'm talking about full out mascot costumes, not something they made themselves. I was kind of tripping out at the time, haha. They even went up to the stage to dance with the band. Haha, good on them!
I decided to stay on extra day so I could watch the local futbal game with some friends. It was Bogota versus the precious champions, Cali. Cali was a heavy favourite but we decided to go for the local guys. As soon as the Colombian anthem went on everybody lifted arm in the air. I was a bit surprised about this because it look exactly like a Nazi rally in seconds. But what the hell, when in Colombia...so I joined in. Don't worry guys, I was told this is a normal Colombian custom when their anthem is playing. No Nazis about it. The quality of soccer was dramatically less than Argentinian soccer but it was still entertaining and the home team won! Wooo!
That night a huge group of us went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner. We all had incredible meals, wine and champagne. I had the best wine I've ever had. Even better the Trepeche in Mendoza! After the dinner we went out to the pub to share some drunken stories. It's those type of nights that makes you want to go to hostels. Where you have a huge group of different cultures sharing amazing stories. It really is a treat to be immersed in so many cultures at one table.
Bogota...check! Next stop, San Gil...
Bogota is a behemoth of a city at 9 million people. It sat at 2,600m high but at that point that was low for me. For Colombians Bogota is known as a cold city. Most people will be walking around with long pants, a shirt and sometimes a coat. I was perfectly fine with shorts and a muscle shirt but then again, I am Canadian. One odd thing about Bogota and for that matter Colombia is their address system is based completely on a number system. They have calles and carreras which are avenue and streets. Instead of having names for the streets and avenues they would only have numbers. This complimented with building numbers which we're all used to. Anyways long story short, you can pretty much tell where anything is in the city right away just by looking at its address. Even in a big city! It's quite brilliant really but takes a little getting used to.
The district I was staying in, La Candalaria, is known as a student area and a very dangerous area. There are a lot of universities and a lot of bums on drugs. Although it is much better now, in the past hostels would have someone coming back to the hostel reporting a robbery everyday. Many locals I met never even been to that area their whole lives because it was too dangerous. So, the plan was to keep the eyes and ears open. I got into the hostel in the late afternoon so I decided to stroll around the area for a bit and then went for a bite to eat with a Welsh couple. The plan was to taker easy that night and get an early start the next day.
The next day a few of us were set to see all the sights around La Candalaria. We hit up the plazas, a few cathedrals and the amazing gold museum. This gold museum is the most famous of its kind. Colombia is notorious for its gold deposits. Especially the amount of gold the aboriginals had in their possessions till the Spanish rudely snatched all that up. The museum was full of jewellery, masks, armor, monuments, idols and many other artifacts. Most of these were worn by the leaders and the shamans. However, every tribe member would wear some sort of precious metal. It would be a sign of the standing in their tribe. Each metal and each type of artifact made from these metals would have their own meaning. Many of the aboriginals believed shape shifting and reincarnation. This was all tied into their strong belief with astrology. It was all very interesting but unfortunately I can't explain it all in this blog. You'll have to learn more at the place itself.
After the museum we decided to hike up to Monseratte. This is a famous church on top of mountain in Bogota. It has an incredible view from the top and we were actually lucky enough to catch the sunrise bellowing over the city. It was cloudy all day but the sun decided to peek through. The church itself was quite nice as well. As per all South American churches, there was a Jesus at a certain step of crucifiction. This guy was extra tanned, perhaps an accidental bias of the local artist? Anyways, by that point it was night fall and we had to get back for dinner and drinks.
A big group of us went out for some local Colombian food. We all ordered some big platters that we all shared. I'm happy to say, Colombians have been blessed with some incredible food. After dinner and some hialrious conversations we headed out to a salsa bar where we danced the night away. Oh man, I sure got my fair share of salsa practice in Colombia...
The next day was a little later wake up, hehe. I decided to head up to Usaquen which was a nice area that had some good shopping. Gotta buy presents eventually, right? I then checked out Parque 93 which is a beautiful park surrounded by great restaurants. After some good pricey eats I made a funny tshirt that pretty much backfired later on. Ok, if South Americans call all of us Gringos then why is it when we call our selves gringos we're all of a sudden American. Bullshit! Still made for a funny night though.
The plan for the next day was to head to the Laguna de Guativita. This is the famous lake of the legend of El Dorado. This name might sound familiar to you. It is the lake the was home to the famous aboriginal tribe that had an incredible wealth of gold, diamond and other precious stones. This tribe had a tradition to sacrifice these precious stones in the name of Mother Earth, the Sun and the mind. Bronze signified Mother Earth, gold signified the Sun and diamonds signified the mind. All three of these metals were sacrificed by dumping them in the lake. Some of these stones were even hidden in caves or buried but the large majority were dropped in the lake. This is why the lake was of great importance to the Spanish, then Germans and then the English. All these expeditions were unsuccessful to drain this massive lake. They used everything from pressurized hoses, to manual bailing to actually cutting a crevace into the mountain. The best they could do was lower the level of the lake permantely. Many artifacts were recovered however. Most are in Bogota's gold museum but some are all over the world.
That night we decided to hit the same Salsa place we went to on Wednesday. This time it was full out salsa night. Whew, I better get my dance shoes on. Man that dance is a workout!
Saturday was pretty chill. I checked out a little more of La Candalaria and planned the rest of my Colombia trip. That night we amassed a crew at the hostel decided to hit up everybody's favourite party spot, Zona Rosa. This is a party area in Bogota that is going on from Wednesday to Saturday with tons of bars and discotecas. We almost got stopped up by some efffed up bum that tried to pull out a shank on us. Luckily he was too effed up on crack and we just pushed him away. We ended up a pretty cool discoteca that was fairly packed. Out of no where these three guys in giant costumes came in. They were Tony the Tiger, Buzz Light Year and the other was some type of bear. And I'm talking about full out mascot costumes, not something they made themselves. I was kind of tripping out at the time, haha. They even went up to the stage to dance with the band. Haha, good on them!
I decided to stay on extra day so I could watch the local futbal game with some friends. It was Bogota versus the precious champions, Cali. Cali was a heavy favourite but we decided to go for the local guys. As soon as the Colombian anthem went on everybody lifted arm in the air. I was a bit surprised about this because it look exactly like a Nazi rally in seconds. But what the hell, when in Colombia...so I joined in. Don't worry guys, I was told this is a normal Colombian custom when their anthem is playing. No Nazis about it. The quality of soccer was dramatically less than Argentinian soccer but it was still entertaining and the home team won! Wooo!
That night a huge group of us went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner. We all had incredible meals, wine and champagne. I had the best wine I've ever had. Even better the Trepeche in Mendoza! After the dinner we went out to the pub to share some drunken stories. It's those type of nights that makes you want to go to hostels. Where you have a huge group of different cultures sharing amazing stories. It really is a treat to be immersed in so many cultures at one table.
Bogota...check! Next stop, San Gil...
posted by Kean @ 8:05 PM
1 Comments:
At 7:31 AM,
Unknown said…
First!!! yeah!!!!
Nice piece... I can tell the colombian air and spirit got into you. I'm colombian and it feels awesome when someone enjoys my country as you did.
Do you know about PoorButHappy.com?? People from all over the place that have been or plan to go to Colombia. More friends for you. Kudos!..
Post a Comment
<< Home