Singing from our supper?

We're still not sure if it was the warm air, the town's vacation-type spirit or the delicious mixed drinks we enjoyed but...somehow after dinner one night... we made a split-second decision to go for a horse-drawn carriage ride.  

There are seemingly hundreds of carriages around this small town...it must be one of the most popular things to do in the old city!    

Feeling comfortable about the fixed price for the ride, we climbed in the carriage only to be joined one minute later by two guitarists who unexpectedly hopped in too and began to serenade us. 

Their musicality was questionable but their enthusiasm admirable and we bopped along to their tunes for the next 20 minutes. 

Somehow, none of the other carriages had any singers...

Worried about the quickly elevating music costs because the two guitarists just kept singing and refused to leave the carriage, we decided to end our trip a bit early.  Luckily, with limited cash in our wallets, we could do little but shrug when they told us they deserved more than the already-generous tip we had given them.

Balmy Cartagena

It is hard to believe that Cartagena is only an hour flight from Bogota because the weather here is completely different.  And so we quickly shed our layers to take advantage of this glorious mid-30 degree weather!

The most famous part of Cartagena is its historic walled-city, which contains seemingly endless streets of well-preserved colourful colonial architecture.  

This UNESCO heritage site is too small for Cartagena's 1 million inhabitants so the city has expanded well-beyond the historical city walls.   

Nonetheless, there is lots of activity within the historic center, such as:

• Dance and street performances in the numerous squares around town, including the "men-in-black" fisherman who were represented in at least 4 areas within the city walls and were an unexpectedly huge tourist hit.

• Sunset drinks on the city wall while overlooking the water. 

• An evening ritual at the Santa Clara Sofitel, once a monastery, where two “monks” wander through the hotel waving incense, lighting candles and saying a prayer in the crypt that is still open to the public,

• Walking tours of the city and of the Church of St. Peter Claver.  The Church documents the life of Jesuit Priest Peter Claver who worked tirelessly in the early 1600s to protect and defend the rights of the newly arrived African slaves. 

• Wonderful drink mixology at both El Baron and the Santa Clara's El Coro Bar Lounge.

You don’t need a long trip to Cartagena but with the beautiful weather and the inviting historic center, it is a lovely place to visit! 

Healthy Sundays...

Bogota started a great trend that has caught on across much of South America and beyond.  

On Sunday mornings and holidays, the city holds Ciclovia.   This Spanish term means "cycleway" and the ritual does just that.  From 7am to 2pm, the city closes off some main driving streets in the city to create a 121km cycling, running and walking path for the community to get out and use.  And they do!  Even on a rainy Sunday like we experienced, lots of sporty people were out making the most of the trail. 

In addition, many entrepreneurs took advantage of this weekend event by setting up food and drink stalls along the way.

The traffic still had nearby roads to use although, admittedly, they did seem quite backlogged.  But from what we understand, traffic is always bad in Bogota, often requiring 2 hours to get across the city. Perhaps these biking and walking trails actually allow people to get there faster?!? 

Our destination that Sunday was Usaquen, a delightful part of town with high-quality independent restaurants and an innovative weekend craft market.  Unfortunately, the market had to compete with rain and a Colombian football game that day, making it much quieter than usual.  But what we missed in action at the market was made up for in the nearby square where hundreds of locals, wearing patriotic yellows shirts, had gathered to cheer on their beloved football team in the Copa America championships.     A sporty city that loves its sports...

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.