Holiday Inn Express Bogota

... Tütensuppe über Nestleeistee bis zu echtem, deutschen, dunklem, unsüßen Brot!<br><br>A propos Brot: Mireya, meine Gastschwester, die jetzt in Deutschland ist, kann gar nicht glauben wie viel Brot die Deutschen essen (&#8222;den ganzen Tag essen die Brot, zum Frühstück gibt&#8217;s Brot, zum Mittagessen und abends auch!&#8220;). Wir haben neulich mit ihr geskyped und Pato meinte daraufhin, das Brot wäre in Deutschland wie hier der Reis! =D Wie recht sie hat! <br><br>Heute ...

... und natürlich gibt&#8217;s auch McDonalds usw. allerdings nicht viel billiger als in Deutschland, aber wir sind ja auch nicht hier um Fastfood zu essen! :P Das Wasser aus dem Hahn soll man auch nicht trinken, vor allem wir am Anfang noch nicht und es schmeckt auch total nach Chlor.<br><br>Aber man muss wirklich aufpassen! Wir waren neulich essen und Reiner hatte seinen Rucksack neben seinen Beinen auf den Boden gestellt und als wir gehen wollten war er weg! Wir konnten es ...

... in. It's stark but beautiful, the lighting being everything. So having done our cultural bit for the day (week, month???) we headed onto Bogota. It's only about 30kms to Bogota city limits from Zapaquira, however, it's another 20 kms to the centre. lucky for us there are cycle paths pretty much all the way, they might be slower but they are definitely safer. We had quite a lot of rain on the way, and because of the type of road we were on that means mucky ...

... on the Colombian government in the early 1990s. Assassinations of key political and legal figures became the norm, including the infamous attack on a passenger liner (that killed several hundred passengers) because it was carrying a judge. <br><br>Colombia had the highest murder rate in the world in the early 1990s. Bloomberg had a monthly index of kidnappings in Colombia that was in the several hundreds at its peak. A man started an ...

... central courtyard. When we awoke after our restorative slumber, there was a young woman set up in the middle of the courtyard, singing and playing a Tori Amos-like ballad on a keyboard while a wiry, exotic young man dressed all in white did a slow capoeira-like dance, and another man filmed the duo. The place definitely had a kind of an artsy, bohemian feel to it. In fact, the whole neighborhood had a kind of artsy, bohemian feel. It was certainly a backpackers haven, but ...

... a, Ana Lucía Domínguez soñaba con ser parte del mundo de la actuación. Veía a Margarita Rosa de Francisco interpretando a Gaviota en Café con aroma de mujer y quería ser ...

I was picked up by my driver in Bogota and we drove out to Guatavita lake, a completely circular lake that is the source of the El Dorado legends, with multiple attempts (mostly unsuccessful) to drain the lake to recover the riches that supposedly lie at its bottom. The place was nice and quite interesting but I was out to find out if it was worth taking in - or instead choosing Zipaquiera. Zipaquiera is the home of the salt cathedral ...

Footy was great fun when we finally got in. Got stuffed around for days trying to buy tickets, and eventually got picked up at the gate for having what were apparently fake ones and had to buy more. Headed off to Zipaquira on Tuesday to see the underground salt cathedral. Impressive place. Turns out you can even get married down there if you're so inclined. Last night in Bogota was a pretty quiet one ...

Zipaquira was a place I really wanted to go to. I noticed it in the book just at the last place and it has a salt cathedral underground! It can hols 8,400 people 75m long and 18m wide underground and its made of salt!!!!!! It was eerie and amazing for me, for Sarah it was all a bit too much ...

Can´t upload pictures, I am in Cuba.... coming later... The plan was to go to the salt mines in Zipaquira, 50km north of Bogota, with a few other travellers. I wanted to go early, so as to have time left afterwards to try and get cuban cash at the bank before going to Cuba, and most importantly to book a room in Havana, as it seemed to be a condition for immigration to let you in (as anywhere else in the world actually) Taking our time to wake up, shower, internet ...