Bogota, Colombia

The last stop on my journey is Bogota, Colombia.  Most people's initial reaction to this was, "Why would you go there?! Its so dangerous!" Well, I did do some research and it's a little dangerous in that there are some really desperate people there, but the whole getting kidnapped by FARC is pretty unlikely in the centre of Bogota.

My first surprise was the sheer magnitude of the city - there are over 8 million people living here - I thought this was going to be just a medium sized town. My second surprise was the temperature. I don't know why, but I thought it would be warm in Bogota...it's in Colombia; Colombia is full of jungles...no? Well, Bogota is 2625m above sea level, so it's wee bit chilly, especially compared Nicaragua! Third surprise: my hostal. This is by far the coolest hostal I have ever stayed at. It is located in the Candelaria neighbourhood, which is where Bogota's history began. Outside it's just a big iron gate and a hall. When you open the inner door you enter into a court yard with colourful hammocks and flowers. There are 3 courtyards in all, and the rooms line the outside. In the middle, between the first and second courtyard is the kitchen - with a great big wood stove keeping the room warm. Then, in between the second and third courtyard, is the dormitorio (where I stayed). Its an adobe building with pristine white walls on the inside. The covered hallways are cobblestone, the ceilings are exposed beams, and the floors in the rooms are old wood planks. Beautiful. The staff were always smiling and happy to lend a hand and there was an unlimited supply of tea and coffee. But back to Bogota...

Palace of Justice

After dropping off my bags and putting on a sweater, I tentatively ventured out...it does have a bad rap after all! The ladies at the hostal gave me a map of the area, and it was still light out, so I did my standard recon mission of the surrounding area - starting with the main square, Plaza de Bolivar. The plaza has the Palace of Justice (where the supreme court is) faced by the Congress building, and on the other 2 sides we have the Mayor's seat (called the Liévano building) and opposite that, dominating them all, is La Catedral Primada. There is a sad and ironic story to the Justice Palace, it is the 3rd building that has been built there - the other 2 were destroyed; once in 1948 during a riot and again in 1985 when guerrilla group M-19 took hostages there. The building was destroyed when the army was called to free the hostages. The irony is that the current mayor of the city, working in the building right next to the Palace of Justice, was once a member of the M-19 guerrilla group.

That artist I don't remember..

After wandering the streets for a while the skies opened up and there was a massive deluge (these were an almost daily occurrence I would soon learn). I stood under an overhang for 15 min with many others who had been caught without their umbrellas. I checked my map and saw that I was not too far from the Botero museum so I ran between the raindrops to see what Botero had to offer the world of art.  Fernando Botero is known for painting fat things. No matter what the subject matter his figurative style is fat. I have to admit that although his colours are beautiful and the work is clean - it just doesn't float my boat. As an aside, I did see some of his earlier works in the National Museum and I preferred that. Luckily for me there were other artists in there as well, Picasso, Chagall, Monet, Degas, Dali...you know all the big names! There were a few rooms dedicated to South American artists - one in particular that I couldn't tear away from...did I take a picture of his name so I could remember it? No. sigh. I wandered the gallery for a few hours and when I left the rain had stopped and the sun was saying goodnight.

I went back to the Hostal, hoping I could find someone who wanted to come out to dinner with me, as I was told not to wander the streets alone at night. Luckily, there was a British lady there who was hungry enough and who knew a great Mexican restaurant around the corner. There we had a lovely dinner and no mishaps to or from. Was all this just fear-mongering? Was it all just exaggeration?

Catedral Primada