Columbia!

So I got the itch again and decided to pretend to be a backpacker for a quick 5-day trip to Columbia... I guess I was just missing the lifestyle/adventure/etc. and don't have time for a real trip. I had heard good things about Columbia and my plane ticket was the right price - which was enough for me.

I spent most of my time in and around Bogota - yes, most people would not want to go from one massive, crazy, dangerous city to another for their vacation, but I am a bit of an odd bird I suppose... but I would definitely argue that Bogota has DC beat in the crazy department! Bogota also has no air... 8000+ ft above sea level, coming from CO it is weird to see palm trees at altitude, but they were there. Actually the weather in Bogota is pretty great - the same temp every day, all year (65ish w/ a chance of rain). I stayed at a hostel in the center of BOG and visited many of the typical "big city" sites - cathedrals, plazas, presidential palace (even saw some DC-style motorcades, but with Landcruisers), neighborhoods, museums, etc. A couple things really stood out.

Monserrate the huge mountain overlooking the city. I took the funicular up - awesome view - smog as far as the eye could see - until the wind came and gave me an eternal view of the city and surrounding mtns.
el Museo de Botero - an amazing museum in the middle of the city with all things Botero - aka fat naked people, fat guitars, fat food, fat horses, fat fruits - you name it, Botero made it fat! But the style was very unique and I really enjoyed the museo - there was also some great impressionist paintings in there as well.
el museo de oro - If you like gold, you would love this place - it was such an impressive collection and presentation of the origins of gold in the area dating way back - unbelievable gold pieces for 3 floors...

The coolest part about BOG was Sunday... they closed down hundreds of kilometers of streets across the city and reserve them for bikers, runners, rollerbladers, scooters, whatever is moving that is not motorized I saw on Sunday. I really wanted to find a bike to rent, but apparently they don't rent them anywhere so I did enjoy the top-notch people watching sporting my five-finger shoes as I strolled down one of the busiest avenues going through the middle of the city (some 120 blks to and fro). The whole city was electric - it really felt like a holiday. Fresh-squeezed juice vendors on every corner... mmm. Not to mention vendors for literally everything else you can imagine. The funniest part was running into a massive jazzercise session in one of the parks - they had roped off this whole section with police tape and there were hundreds of people jazzercising (mostly dudes and older ladies - but no, I was not prepared to join in-haha).

I did venture out of the city to the north for a couple of the days I was in Columbia. The first stop was Zipaquira, which was a friendly little town that is famous for their massive salt cathedral (which was produced from an old sal mine) - very cool. After the cathedral del sal my challenge was trying to figure out how to get to the next town... I found many townspeople and a taxi driver to help. The bus I was supposed to take was on this random road outside of town, but after arriving there the taxi driver realized I had 3 hours to kill before the bus arrived - so he decided to show me around Zipaquria, take me to an amazing/cheap lunch spot, pick up other passergers, etc. the guy was really crazy - my favorite part was him blowing his whistle and/or honking at every Colombiana walking by and waiting for my reaction. haha! After all the time he asked me for 5,000 peso fare ($2.25) - I gave him 10,000 and made his day! Wow, only in Columbia! BTW - this taxi driver and most everyone else in Columbia spoke NO English, so if you go please practice up - I wish I would have!!!

The next little village I finally made it to was Villa de Leyva - one of the most beautiful little towns I have ever been to, all white-washed buildings with reddish roofs. I went for a nice early-morning hike here and also cruised the town with my new camera (it was a perfect place to practice with different settings etc.) In Villa de Leyva I also sprung ($25) for a hostel on Plaza Mayor, with my own room - the hot water was the main selling point!

I would be leaving out the best part if I did not discuss food/drink (possibly my fav part about travel)...

Breakfast - usually scrambled eggs with tomato and onion, bread, hot coco (and sometimes beef and potato soup) - so good and so cheap - usually $2 and not really hungry for the rest of the day... makes me re-think my typical yogurt and fruit bfast...

Lunch - same soup as bfast (or other types available) with an additional/enormous plate of food - beef, plantains, potatoes, rice, salad, etc. - also, so good and SO cheap.

Dinner - a bit more random and not a typical meal that Columbianos eat out. I did splurge on a really nice dinner my last night in an up and coming barrio in BOG - Macarena (yes, also my fav song) - this hood was written up in the NYTimes multiple times and was amazing - I spent about $25 on a dinner/drinks that in the states would be at least $75. If you go to BOG splurge here!!! It was well worth it (also, the restaurant was covered in old carousel horses and naked baby dolls - so weird - but the food was unreal).

Dranks - haha - great beer (yes, I had one or two...), aguardente (the Columbian ouzo), chicha (death-drink Columbiano - an amazing home-brew) and mostly fresh-squeezed OJ and other jugos - I couldn't get enough - literally the last two things I purchased besides my taxi to the aeropuerto was jugo...

Also, just for the record, Columbianos DON'T love Shakira (por que?!) - I'm pretty sure they think she is a sell-out... I only heard her once... que lastima...

Finally, I know Columbia is thought to be very dangerous - I did not experience this first-hand, so I say GO!!! However, as much as I tried, I did end up in a barrio "muy peligro" in the taxi driver's words when I missed my bus stop in BOG (it took this gringo about 10 seconds to realize I was in the wrong part of town and grab a taxi - if you know me, you understand the danger that was sensed if I got a cab... haha)

buen viajes!