Booming Bogota

After an unbelievable trip to Peru and Machu Picchu, we wondered how we would be able to give Colombia its fair consideration.  

Arriving late in the evening and catching a cab that drove through seemingly questionable areas, we were relieved and exhausted when we finally arrived at the attractive BOG Hotel in Bogota, Colombia's capital city.  .

And when we headed out first thing the next morning to run our typical "new country" errands (SIM cards, laundry, couriering documents etc) in the charming T-Zone neighbourhood, we were wonderfully surprised by Bogota's positive energy and vibe.  Suddenly, we excited again to be here!

Bogota is a lot bigger than we had originally thought.  With a population census tally of about 9 million and the “locals" count closer to 12 million, the city is the third largest city in the Americas, behind Mexico City and New York City. 

The best place to see the immense size of Bogota is up on Monserrate, a mountain that dominates the city center and provides expansive panoramas of the downtown core.  Originally used for religious celebrations, Monserrate is now a popular visiting spot for locals and tourists - especially on Sundays - with a church, a market, many restaurants and even a furnicular to enjoy.

Another key spot in the city is La Candaleria.  This is Bogota’s historic neighbourhood, where Spanish Colonial buildings abound and something of historical significance surprises around every corner.  Throughout the historic city, buildings are decorated with street art, often commemorating events and the city’s heritage.

The area also houses some of the cities key landmarks including the Presidential Palace, the Botero Museum, the Avianca Building, the Colon Theatre and the Gold Museum.  

Geoff particularly enjoyed the Gold Museum, which offered the biggest collection of Pre-Hispanic gold work in the world.  Gold was incredibly important to Colombia’s indigenous culture and was used frequently as offerings to the naturist gods.  Particularly memorable was the use of gold in the Welcoming Ceremony for a new Chief.  After 9 years of solitude and spiritual cleansing, the new Chief was dressed in gold jewellery and his boat filled with intricate gold trinkets.  He was then rowed into the middle of the lake and threw all of that gold overboard as an offering.   Although we appreciated the generous gesture, we had to wonder how the goldsmiths must have felt as their years of intricate and detailed work was so quickly purged into the lake.  

Although Bogota has a diverse offering of historical sites, activities and an extensive arts community, the city is actually quite new to tourism.  It is apparently only in the last year that tourists have started to visit the city in larger numbers.  This made the city feel more like a "regular living" city than a tourist town, with very few tourists roaming the town and even fewer locals that spoke English.   In fact, tourists were so few and far between that we were frequently asked by the locals to be in their photos and were even interviewed for a local paper! 

Although Bogota is still developing in some parts, it certainly feels like a city on the rise.  Having taken an aggressive and successful approach to dealing with the civil conflict (including drugs, kidnapping etc), Colombia exudes little tension or strife and feels very welcoming.  In addition, new bars, shopping centres and neighbourhoods are developing all around the city.  We ate at some great restaurants (Harry Sasson, Wok Star and a “Hole in the Wall” vegetarian joint in the city’s center were our favourites) and even waited for more than 2 hours to eat at another establishment only to be told that we likely wouldn’t get a table that evening!  A vibrant and buzzing city, no doubt.