Aug 10 - 13, 2013 - Bogota, Colombia
Aug 10:
I left Santa Marta around 5pm and was planning on a 17 hour ride to Bogota. It only cost me $70,000COP (~35US). I had debated on taking the 1.5 hour flight, but I decided against it. The flight would have been about 100US but I want to drag out my visit to South America as long as possible and I also wanna have a chunk of money with me as a bit of a back-up in New Zealand as well. So, I am going to try my best to lower my daily budget.
Anyways the 17 hour ride ended up being 19 hours but I made it in one piece. And awesomely enough my friend from Lexington, Rodrigo, put me in tough with his friend Camilo that lives in Bogota. I talked with Camilo and he offered to pick me up from the bus station and to let me stay at his place during my visit to Bogota. Ill say it again, I love travel friends.
Camilo, his brother, and brother's girl friend picked me up and we headed to food festival that Bogota has on certain weekends. We walked around looking at and smelling all the wonderful food stalls set up in the park. After making a full circuit of the festival I decided on a regional dish of frioles. But it wasnt just frioles....it came with a lil bit of everything in it. Plantains, avocado, chicharons, cheese, and im sure something else that I have forgotten. Tasty! I couldnt fit the huge portion in my belly....I could however fit a crepe with nutella, bananas, and strawberries! Yum!
We walked around an area called the T-zone a lil bit. Its a retail and pedestrian area within the city.
They then took me to their home and I got to shower and rest a bit. That night I joined Camilo and 2 friends to a free performance by the Canadian Cirque Eloize. It was an amazing show. Similar to Cirque du Soliel. They had folks doing some intense poll and cloth dancing, a guy doing some cool tricks with a giant hula hoop, a guy and a gal doing some intense gymnastic and balancing tricks and the last was a trampoline act. We had dinner and then headed back home. I think we were all a bit tired.
Aug 11:
Woke and joined Camilo for his Sunday walk through town. Every Sunday the city of Bogota closes off a major road and allows only pedestrians, cyclists, skaters etc. We wandered through the neighborhood and walked along the road for a while. Before we really got going though we stopped at a lil shop for breakfast, empanadas from Camilo's hometown. One had a chicken inside and the other (which looked more like a sombrero than a typical empanada) was filled with chickpeas. Once again, tasty! Also, along the way Camilo got an arepa con huevo (arepa with egg) for me to try as well. Soon after the arepa stop it began to rain and it continued to rain all day. It made for a perfect day to chill at the house.
Aug 12 :
On Monday the guys had to work so I ventured out to the La Candelaria part of town. After a slow start I arrived around 11am and walked a bit through the streets. I stopped for lunch and had Ajiaca, another local dish. Its a potato and chili stew with chicken and avocado.
Then headed over to the cable car station. Here is where you can head up the little mountain in Bogota to a place called Monserrate. This was my favorite part of the day. The city of Bogota itself is already at an elevation of 2600m (~8500ft) and the Monserrate mountain sits at the edge of the city and takes you up to 3200m. The view is amazing! And I had such great weather for a fine view over the city.
Its finally happened. After nearly 11 months of traveling the world I finally got robbed...or conned rather. The cab driver that took me back from Monserrate to La Candelaria pulled a fast one on me. Grrrrr! First, he told me that he would take any 1000 or 2000 notes (the smallest bills Colombia has) because there are a lot of fakes in the city. I immediately wonder what kind of person counterfeits a bill worth 50cents or a dollar...but...ok. I hand the guy a 20,000 note and when I think he is getting change he turns back around is shows me a 2000 and says thats what I handed him. I still hadnt caught on at this point so I kinda think thats weird and take back my 2000 and hand the guy a 10000. He does the same thing again, he turns around and tells me I only handed him a 1000. And thats when I realize what he is doing. I said something to him about it and that he has my money and Im mad at this point. And of course he continues to act like he has no idea whats Im talking about. But he does and then he starts getting mad AT ME!?!?!?!? So I just get outta the car and slam the door. Hah. In hindsight there was a couple different things I could have done, like threaten to get the police or ask him if thats something his mother taught him (guilt trip). After being upset about the situation for about 30 minutes I wrote it off as a small loss. Its was only $15US and it could have been much worse. I'll count myself lucky if I can travel for more than a year and only have 15 dollars stolen from me.
I joined a free walking tour around the area. Haha, the tour was in spanish...but Im determined to learn the language so I though what the heck, Ill give it a try. I understood some of the information given and at least got to see all the important stuff around. I have to concentrate so hard to understand what people are saying. My brain was very tired at the end of the tour. :-)
I had a coffee and a snack to rest my feet. Then headed back to the house.
For dinner we went to a place called El Corral. I had a HUGE delicious burger and onion rings. Are you getting the theme of my visit to Bogota?!?! Food! Tasty tasty bad for me food!
Aug 10:
I left Santa Marta around 5pm and was planning on a 17 hour ride to Bogota. It only cost me $70,000COP (~35US). I had debated on taking the 1.5 hour flight, but I decided against it. The flight would have been about 100US but I want to drag out my visit to South America as long as possible and I also wanna have a chunk of money with me as a bit of a back-up in New Zealand as well. So, I am going to try my best to lower my daily budget.
Anyways the 17 hour ride ended up being 19 hours but I made it in one piece. And awesomely enough my friend from Lexington, Rodrigo, put me in tough with his friend Camilo that lives in Bogota. I talked with Camilo and he offered to pick me up from the bus station and to let me stay at his place during my visit to Bogota. Ill say it again, I love travel friends.
Camilo, his brother, and brother's girl friend picked me up and we headed to food festival that Bogota has on certain weekends. We walked around looking at and smelling all the wonderful food stalls set up in the park. After making a full circuit of the festival I decided on a regional dish of frioles. But it wasnt just frioles....it came with a lil bit of everything in it. Plantains, avocado, chicharons, cheese, and im sure something else that I have forgotten. Tasty! I couldnt fit the huge portion in my belly....I could however fit a crepe with nutella, bananas, and strawberries! Yum!
We walked around an area called the T-zone a lil bit. Its a retail and pedestrian area within the city.
They then took me to their home and I got to shower and rest a bit. That night I joined Camilo and 2 friends to a free performance by the Canadian Cirque Eloize. It was an amazing show. Similar to Cirque du Soliel. They had folks doing some intense poll and cloth dancing, a guy doing some cool tricks with a giant hula hoop, a guy and a gal doing some intense gymnastic and balancing tricks and the last was a trampoline act. We had dinner and then headed back home. I think we were all a bit tired.
Aug 11:
Woke and joined Camilo for his Sunday walk through town. Every Sunday the city of Bogota closes off a major road and allows only pedestrians, cyclists, skaters etc. We wandered through the neighborhood and walked along the road for a while. Before we really got going though we stopped at a lil shop for breakfast, empanadas from Camilo's hometown. One had a chicken inside and the other (which looked more like a sombrero than a typical empanada) was filled with chickpeas. Once again, tasty! Also, along the way Camilo got an arepa con huevo (arepa with egg) for me to try as well. Soon after the arepa stop it began to rain and it continued to rain all day. It made for a perfect day to chill at the house.
Aug 12 :
On Monday the guys had to work so I ventured out to the La Candelaria part of town. After a slow start I arrived around 11am and walked a bit through the streets. I stopped for lunch and had Ajiaca, another local dish. Its a potato and chili stew with chicken and avocado.
Then headed over to the cable car station. Here is where you can head up the little mountain in Bogota to a place called Monserrate. This was my favorite part of the day. The city of Bogota itself is already at an elevation of 2600m (~8500ft) and the Monserrate mountain sits at the edge of the city and takes you up to 3200m. The view is amazing! And I had such great weather for a fine view over the city.
Its finally happened. After nearly 11 months of traveling the world I finally got robbed...or conned rather. The cab driver that took me back from Monserrate to La Candelaria pulled a fast one on me. Grrrrr! First, he told me that he would take any 1000 or 2000 notes (the smallest bills Colombia has) because there are a lot of fakes in the city. I immediately wonder what kind of person counterfeits a bill worth 50cents or a dollar...but...ok. I hand the guy a 20,000 note and when I think he is getting change he turns back around is shows me a 2000 and says thats what I handed him. I still hadnt caught on at this point so I kinda think thats weird and take back my 2000 and hand the guy a 10000. He does the same thing again, he turns around and tells me I only handed him a 1000. And thats when I realize what he is doing. I said something to him about it and that he has my money and Im mad at this point. And of course he continues to act like he has no idea whats Im talking about. But he does and then he starts getting mad AT ME!?!?!?!? So I just get outta the car and slam the door. Hah. In hindsight there was a couple different things I could have done, like threaten to get the police or ask him if thats something his mother taught him (guilt trip). After being upset about the situation for about 30 minutes I wrote it off as a small loss. Its was only $15US and it could have been much worse. I'll count myself lucky if I can travel for more than a year and only have 15 dollars stolen from me.
I joined a free walking tour around the area. Haha, the tour was in spanish...but Im determined to learn the language so I though what the heck, Ill give it a try. I understood some of the information given and at least got to see all the important stuff around. I have to concentrate so hard to understand what people are saying. My brain was very tired at the end of the tour. :-)
I had a coffee and a snack to rest my feet. Then headed back to the house.
For dinner we went to a place called El Corral. I had a HUGE delicious burger and onion rings. Are you getting the theme of my visit to Bogota?!?! Food! Tasty tasty bad for me food!
No comments:
Post a Comment