Bogota Pt. 2

Kris and I are safely back at home now, where I'm at a much more comfortable place to blog about the remainder of our trip! I thoroughly enjoyed Bogota, although I will admit, leaving America always instills in me a sense of homesickness, as I always acutely remember everything that I love about my country when I have other places to compare it to. That certainly doesn't lessen my love for traveling, though.

Wednesday brought us some fantastic new adventures. Kris and I ventured out to Zipaquira (long ago inhabitants, the Chibcha, named the village for its abundance of salt), a small village about an hour north of Bogota known for its salt mines. Within a mountain within minutes of the village, there is an underground salt cathedral (Catedral de sal) that is quite unlike anything I've ever seen in my life, or am likely to ever see again. Driving out was an adventure in and of itself. We decided to go with a tour company because we were unsure of the likelihood of getting an Uber back to Bogota following our trip. And, the bus to Zipaquira only goes out on Saturdays. Our tire busted on the way out, but likely we were able to get the spare changed and stop for snacks at the gas station, selecting a number of different junk foods to try just for the sake of trying them. 

 Zipaquira itself is amazing. The tunnel in is coated in layer upon layer of salt crystals, and there are dozens of sculptures of crosses, angels, and Jesus carved into the salt. There is an actual cathedral there where churchgoers attend Sunday mass, a cavernous room containing a representation of one of Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine chapel carved from marble, and larger than life crosses. It's incredibly difficult to describe, but I've included pictures here!

I fell asleep on the ride back, try as I might throughout my life to be an early riser (and always failing). When I awoke it was raining, and Kris and I decided to jump off the van at one of the stops north of our hotel last minute. The proceeding next few minutes in the pouring rain attempting to figure out the bus schedule in a foreign part of the city were somewhat stressful. Then, as the bus arrived, we realized that we would have had to buy a loadable card to get through the barrier - we hung back, unsure of what to do, when a woman pulled out her card and scanned us both in. "Muchas gracias", we told her, as she smiled and sat in the back of the bus. I was really touched by her kindness to two foreigners who clearly didn't understand the system. We hopped off at the Botanical Gardens with an hour left before close, wandering the lush landscape and labyrinths of trees, cacti, and flowers. The weather in Bogota is odd - it was 48 degrees and we could see our breath, but it was the balmiest 48 I've ever felt in my life, as the humidity was also 89%. It hardly felt cold at all, but my hair curled wildly regardless.

We were incredibly hangry, having skipped lunch in our rush to get to the botanical gardens in time, and grabbed dinner at a hole in the wall place called La Cuchinita, which boasted what the locals said was the best Ajiaco soup in Bogota. 

Our last day in Bogota, we hiked it back to Candalaria, and ate breakfast at a place near Bolivar square called La Puerta Falsa. I realized I'd ordered WAY too much food when my cafe con leche came with a piece of bread, an english muffin, and cheese, followed by the tamale I'd ordered that was the size of my head. Altogether though, all of THAT was about $6 USD. We wandered Bolivar square, paid $3 to take photos with a pair or llamas, fed the pigeons our leftover bread, and I haggled for some earrings at one of the local markets, before making it back to our hotel for checkout.

All in all, I'd still say Bogota is definitely worth seeing. I do wish I'd planned this trip with more than 3 weeks preparation, in order to better practice Spanish and lay out a better itinerary, as there was a lot of the city that we didn't have the time to see. But for a whirlwind 5 day spring break trip to South America? It was stellar, and Kris and I learned so much more about the world, new cultures, and how much we (still) adore free water.

Adventures in Bogota!

I don’t normally blog about my travels, however, I guess since it’s the Lenten season, I feel the need to express my excitement and thoughts over this trip in some manner. As many of you may know, Kris and I are (currently) in Bogota, Colombia, and this was somewhat of a last minute, whirlwind, haphazardly thrown together trip planned over the course of 3 weeks. Lest you think I’m a total procrastinator, I DO generally like to meticulously plan trips, but Kris and I were totally undecided over what to do during spring break this year. It WAS going to be New York... and then Denver... but lo and behold, I was online in bed one evening, and just happened to spy $260 round trip tickets to Bogota. I feel as though my planning self wars with my highly spontaneous self at times - this is one scenario in which the spontaneous side won out, as I pranced down the hall of our condo singing how cool it would be if we went to a foreign country on a different continent, because I mean, they were cheaper than pretty much any domestic flight. So why NOT experience something completely new, right? South America has honestly never been on my radar, but suddenly I was pretty thrilled with the thought of planning a rather vast undertaking of a trip.

So here we are, with 3 weeks of crammed Spanish in a highly unfamiliar country. My thoughts are mixed - there’s the overall thrill (Bogota is incredible, and if you never plan to go, I’d highly recommend you put it on your travel list). There’s the panic (mi espanol es malo) and there’s some general skeevy areas that we’ve learned to just avoid. My purse has an anti theft feature on it and we have to be generally watchful, because the city is known for pickpocketers. And even the smallest undertakings require a lot more energy in general, because I find not many individuals speak English here (nor do I expect them to), so it’s a little nervewracking to go to markets and get street food. But overall, this experience has been massively enriching. I can’t describe the kind of fulfillment I feel from witnessing new sights and experiencing completely new things. It also continues to give me appreciation for my American passport, and how precious my citizenship is to a country that I criticize often, but am actually extremely blessed to belong to. My travels in Europe as well as my experiences in South America have made me realize this. Maybe it’s because simply nothing compares to the feeling of belonging, but there’s so many things we take for granted in America. Central heat and air. Free water at restaraunts. Free bathrooms, and nice ones. The expectation that most hotel rooms have warm showers, coffee makers, and internet. All of these are things not necessarily guaranteed here, which has given me a lot of perspective on how other people live and my own unique privileges. My experience with the people of Bogota has been mixed - in general, people have been nice, although we’ve gotten the occasional shit talking that we’ve caught glimmers of in Spanish, which to be fair, I’ve found I stick out like a literal sore thumb with my green eyes, blonde hair, and very pale skin - plus, to mention again, my bad Spanish. But I can’t fault anyone for that, honestly. I can see why tourists - and American ones, no doubt - can be unwelcome, especially given our current political climate today. I am striving to be respectful as well as to not expect anyone to speak my language while here. And I am cherishing the opportunity to educate myself on different cultures. All that being said, here’s some photos of our experiences thus far! Also, please excuse any typos - this is all getting posted from my phone!







Day 1 consisted of arriving at around 12:40 pm local time (Colombia is in the central time zone; and actually only about a 5.5 hour plane ride). I always feel like a little kid of planes! We flew over Cuba and Jamaica, both of which I caught glimpses of. And flying in to Bogota...what an experience! I’ve never witnessed such rolling green hills. England was green, and Ireland was too. But this was GREEN. Bogota itself has one of the highest altitudes of any capital city. It’s nestled somewhat within the Andes, and it’s sprawling. It seems to go on and on. Our cab experience was fairly sub par (we’ll stick to Uber next time, I highly recommend you familiarize yourself with the money as well as somewhat decent Spanish before hopping in a cab here), and I think we were both generally a little stressed out, having started the day at 4 am and then being grilled by customs in Spanish, finding an ATM to get Colombian pesos, and finding our hotel. We had dinner in a really cool, religious themed restaraunt, and successfully ordered in Spanish, and then slept FOREVER.

Day 2 consisted of hiking Monserrate, an incredibly steep mountain with a cathedral built on top hundreds of years ago. It’s also prudent of me to mention that, with the altitude being what it is, it’s already hard to breathe if you’re from, say, Florida. Even the LIGHTEST bit of exertion makes you winded and it’s generally harder to breathe. Add climbing 3000 extra meters up an extremely steep mountain of stairs and you have a recipe for stopping every 5 minutes lol that hike was worthwhile but hella miserable. But hands down one of the COOLEST parts of Bogota (see photos). Got a pretty gnarly sunburn because I forgot sunscreen. And there’s cool shops set up along the way. Plus bathrooms costing about $600-1000 pesos to use (about .50 c USD).

Following our hike, we took the funicular down, and then explored La Candalaria (Bogota’s Historic district), tried our hands at haggling at some markets, saw the Bolivar museum and plaza, waded through the biggest sea of pigeons I’ve ever seen in my life, saw a llama, and then took a nap and ate at the hotel because we were WIPED.

Day 3 (today) consisted of Museo del Oro preceded by an amazing breakfast ft. a tamale larger than my head (Day 2 consisted of chocolate y queso, which in Colombia, you place the cheese into the queso), and general exploration of the city. We attempted a trip to Paloquemao market, but the way there was so sketch, we unfortunately decided to turn around, and ended up exploring more of Santa Fe and the local parks instead. We also ate dinner at a really authentic hole in the wall place, and felt a lot more comfortable talking in Spanish! Our hotel also has a sauna and steam room + a pool, so we spent the rest of the evening relaxing our sore muscles from yesterday’s hike. We still have 1.5 more days in Bogota left to go, and I can definitely say, it’s an experience I will always cherish and never forget!