May 25, 2011
I made it to Colombia safe and sound. And no, I haven't been kidnapped yet for those of you who are worried about me getting snagged by some guerrilas. I made it out of the airport and to my hostel a few nights ago and have been exploring Bogota since then.
First of all, I have to give props to the awesome hostel that I am staying in right now. Hostel Alegria (happiness) is a great place. It is pretty quiet but has some people here, really friendly staff, free breakfast, fireplaces, wifi, and great mattresses. I am going to be sad to go from here. I have been very, very happy here! If anyone ever comes to Bogota, this is the spot. The first day I was here, I pretty much just walked around and explored the city a little bit. Glenn was arriving that night, so I didn't want to go to any museums or sites withlout him so that we didn't duplicate. I wound up checking out a free art museum and walking around the main square and historica center of the city. Bogota is actually an awesome, awesome city. There are parts taht look like a small colonial Spanish town, there are parts that are modern with clean streets and expensive shopping malls, and there are parts that look like they come straight out of 1970s or 1980s Europe. I really like the mix of style. The people are friendly, and the food is pretty good. I ate a ton of food on the first day becaue I ate barely nothing the day before. Arepas, corn cakes that are usually stuffed with cheese, have become a favorite. Anything with carbs and cheese you can't go wrong with. Walking around, however, I found myself a little shocked with the prices here. They are not as high as what you would find in Europe or the US, but coming here from Ecuador was a shock. Things are nearly double the price of what they were there! I guess I am going to have to budget a little more than expected.
Glenn arrived without problem that night, and we went to sleep soon after he got here. The next morning, after mowing down on the free breakfast, we headed up to the hilltop observatory of Monserrate, which is reached by either a cable car or incline that goes up over the side of the mountain that flanks Bogota. The ride up was nice, and the views from the top were pretty good. Unluckily, we got somewhat of a smoggy day, so we were not able to see the whole city, but it was still an impressive site. After that, we grabbed a cheap (and actually not very tasty) lunch at a local comedor and headed over to the gold museum. It consists of thousands of pieces of gold from the pre-Colombian period. It is impressive and amazing to think about the indigenous peoples actually wearing the earrings, breastplates, headdresses, and wrist cuffs! I think within the past couple of years the collection has gotten pretty damn valuable, especially now that gold is at around $1,500 an ounce. We headed back to the hostel after that because we were whooped from the day. We grabbed a few delicious empanadas from a store across the street from a university for dinner, and I actually went to bed at around 9:30!
Today, because of the such early bedtime, I started stirring at 6:30 this morning and finally got out of bed a little before 7. I hung around, had a few cups of coffee, and caught up on the news. A nice relaxing morning before another day of heavy walking a museum-ing. We headed out first to the Botero museum, which holds a large collection of a Colombian artist who likes to paint fat people. Even if the person is not obese in real life, he still paints them that way in his portraits (such as the president and first lady of Colombia!!). The museum is so interesting because of how different his painting and sculpture are from pretty much anything else I have seen. After a quick look at the coin museum, we then walked up to where the Plaza de Toros (Bullfighting ring) is located a little bit north of the main square and where we were staying. Up there, we checked out the outside of the bull ring and then headed into the National Museum. It was also a pretty impressive collection of Colonmbian history, but after about an hour of being in there I got museumed out. I like them, but you can only take so much in a day. So, we headed out and had one of the best lunches I have had here yet. It was again just soup, some rice, plantains, pasta salad, and a piece of meat, and a limonada (lime ade), but it was well seasoned and they had a spicy cilantro sauce to put on everything which made it about 10 times better. Well worth the $2.50 that we spent on it.
Glenn and I were both tired from walking and doing a little bit of shopping by then, so we decided to find a place to have a beer. We found a little spot with dollar beers. We wound up having 3 each, but after leaving we found out that the waitress had been serving us the more expensive ones...but they still wound up only being $1.50. Not a bad price. We finished out the day by hitting up the same empanada shop from last night. We deciced to eat in the shop, which has one of the best selection of dipping sauces I have had! Grayson would have been in heaven I think! There was guacamole, sweet and sour, a ranch like sauce, ketchup, a ketchup-mayo based sause, and a green tomatillo sauce. They were all out in big tubs with a big dipping spoon in each, so there was a lot of doubling dipping going on among everyone in the restaurant, but germs are something I worry less and less about as I am traveling. I ordered the "taco ranchero," not really knowing what was in it...it just sounded good (a taco in Colombia is similar to an empanada in the fact that it is deep fried, only different shaped with different fillings). The first bite revealed some really savory chicken. The second bite, however, was a shock. Not only was there chicken, but there was a hot dog with cheese wrapped around it! After the 4th bite, there was another surprise! GROUND BEEF! Could this taco get any better?! 3 types of meat and cheese and dipping sauces out the wazoo? Freaking awesome, greasy, and satisfying dinner. I am sitting at the hostel now waiting for about another half an hour to take a cab to the bus station. We are heading on an overnight bus from Bogota to Armenia (not the European nation), and then another short ride to a coffee-producing town salled Salento. I am in search of the best Colombian coffee to bring home with me. We are staying about a mile outside of the city on an eco-farm that a Canadian couple in Ecuador suggested that I go to - La Serrana. Same price as accomodation here in Bogota, but it is supposed to be really nice and it offers excursions to organic coffee farms, horseback riding, free breakfast, and easy accessibility to hiking. More about the overnight and the new town soon!
"I had some dreams, the were clouds in my coffee; clouds in my coffee..." - Carly Simon
Nothin like a great cup of Colombian coffee to enjoy while reading the news in the early morning.
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