Monkeymouse74's travel blogs:
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Bogota madness
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Well, Ive finally made it to the mad place that is Bogota!
And I have to say, I love this city! Im staying in a fantastic hostel called Platypus where most of the gringo travellers stay here. Its one of those places that you intend to stay for a few days and end up being here for 3 months. As have several of the characters that Ive met!
Now check this out for crazy....
On the plane over here I read a manuscript of a book that is going to be published later this year. Its called Marching Powder and is the story of a guy called Thomas McFadden who got thrown into San Pedro prison in La Paz, Bolivia for drug smuggling. It was given to me as I had intended to visit this prison (you can do tours inside the prison). Now this isnt your ordinary prison. Its pretty much run by the prisoners and it contains shops, doctors, pharmacies, dentists, etc and families come and live with the inmates (the children and spouses can come and go as they please). When you go into prison you have to buy a cell and buy your food from the shops inside the prison which are run by the prisoners. Anyway, sounds crazy and I definitely intend to visit this place (you can bribe the prison officers to let you inside and the inmates give you a guided tour). So, I was reading this book on the plane and was amazed by this guys story of how he survived in this prison and the stuff he got up to. When I got to the hostel in Bogota I ended up having a conversation about La Paz with a couple that have been inside the prison. So I was telling them about how I had read the book about this Thomas McFadden character. And that was when Warren, the bloke sitting on my right said "oh yeah, I know Thomas, we are going round to see him in a couple of days. Fancy coming?"
So thats how I ended up at Thomas McFaddens Bogota apartment (drinking far too much rum) and hearing about life inside San Pedro prison! Oh, and the time he met Osama Bin Laden and other various crazy tales. Anyway, hes now teaching English here and is going to be flying over to Australia to promote the book in June. He´s one crazy character....
So, life in Bogota..... we have visited a few cool places - underground cathedrals carved into salt mines, art galleries, museums etc, however the nightlife here is fantastic and as a result I havent seen nearly as much as Id have liked to (due to long lay ins after lots of late night boozing!)
The people here are great, always up for a party (and obviously Im not one to turn down a chance to party!) and Im going to head up to Cartegena on Monday for some sunshine (its been a bit cold here to date)
Anyway, enough of my hungover rambling. Write to me and let me know how you all are! Take care
Amanda x
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