|
  | |  |
Finding El Dorado
Entry 137 of 160 | show all | print this entry |
|
Jim had warned me not to get too excited about travelling business class with Lan Chile (on air-miles as there was no availability in economy...), but not being as used to international jet-setting as he was, I couldn`t help myself. And it turns out my excitement was justified - the lounge was very swish with a nice buffet breakfast, super-high speed internet and a couple of English language newspapers.
The plane we were on was also awesome - I didn´t get bored with playing with the controls on the seat - up/down, up/down/sideways/back massager etc - you get the picture... The food and wine was very nice too as was the movie on demand service - meant that we both were slightly disappointed when we actually arrived in Bogota. Especially as the sky had totally clouded over after we´d seen amazing scenery above Peru - including a smoking volcano we flew straight over.
We weren't quite sure what to expect from Colombia, everyone we'd met on our travels who'd been here raved about it, but then when you consider some of the horror stories you hear, it sounded as if it was going to be interesting. One of the first things we noticed in the airport was how many armed uniformed police and security guards there were around. Walking around near our hostel it was the same - lots of guns and lots of security fences with massive locks.
One of the guidebooks we'd photocopied in Santiago kind of summed it up nicely: "Home to a rich culture, stunning natural scenery and some of the continent's friendliest and most sophisticated people, Colombia offers many reasons to visit. Unfortunately, the threat of violence hangs over every aspect of Colombian life - and not only for those involved in the country's drug trade or its four-decade-long civil war. There's every reason to be cautious about a trip to Latin America's fourth largest nation - as Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano has pointed out, there are more homicides in any given weekend in Cali or Medellin than in an entire year in Norway. If that weren't bad enough, Colombia is also the kidnapping capital of the world."!
With these thoughts ringing in our ears we filed off the plane and made relatively quick headway in the immigration queue, the guy was very thorough, but quickly welcomed us to Colombia and waved us through. The same thing happened at customs. Our bags were going through the scanner and the man asked us to identify various items in our luggage on the screen and satisfied with our responses, he also welcomed us to his country.
Our first mission was to find some money, so we traipsed around looking for a cash machine and then I had the brainwave of looking for a guidebook in one of the airport bookshops. I have never been so pleased to see a copy of the Lonely Planet in my life. We found the current edition of the Colombia guide in English - how chuffed were we, especially after we`d spent days trying to track any book down.
The ride into town showed a modern city, with relatively few high rise buildings. The roads were very quiet and this we put down to it being Easter Sunday. The taxi driver knew exactly where we were staying - it seems all the backpackers in Bogota book into the Platypus Hostel. We had a welcome beer and spent a couple of hours chatting to the other travellers in the lounge. They were an odd mix of people on RTW trips, others on short holidays and at least one American getting out of the country so his "taxes could be sorted".
By the time we dragged ourselves away from the hostel it was getting quiet late in the afternoon. We didn't want to venture too far as we still weren't sure where was safe to visit after dark. We sat in a small bakery at the end of our road and had a drink and then went to a local fast food place and tried these maize flour pancake things with cheese, ham and eggs, quite nice with a beer to wash them down.
We couldn't get over how quiet the streets were - all the restaurants and shops were shut up for Easter and the only people around seemed to be asking us for money. so we took a brisk walk up the hill to the safety of our hostel and got into bed to keep out the cold. It was only 9pm.
The next day the streets were busier and so we walked around the historic centre of La Candelaria. We explored the Donacion Botero, a fantastic museum which houses dozens of works by the Colombian artist Fernando Botero. I have to admit to never having heard of him before we arrived here, but his works are great and very distinctive. His characters are all very round (apparently locals refer to him as "the man who paints fat people") - take a look at his take on the Mona Lisa and you'll see what I mean.
As well as donating a large number of his own works Botero also handed over an impressive collection of art works from an amazing list of European and American artists. Everyone from Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Delauney, Dali and Henry Moore are represented. We were really impressed by the quality of the works, the curation of the collection and the fact that it was free to get in. Definitely recommend it, even if you're not normally a museum person.
After a brief wander around the Plaza de Bolivar, the main square, which houses the cathedral and the Colombian houses of parliament among other things, we had lunch in a great converted convent - great food and great value at around $3 each for three courses. Next we decided to take the cable car up to the top of one of the two hills in our area of town.
The Cerro Montserrat is topped by a church and the previous day (Easter Sunday) hundreds of pilgrims had made the steep climb up to say mass. As Easter Monday is a normal working day here, it was pretty deserted up there, so we got to admire the views without having to elbow people out of the way.
As we still had some time before the museums shut we marched from the bottom of the cable car to the Casa de la Moneda. This is also free to visit and gives the history of money in Colombia. It might sound like quite a dry topic, but it traced the history of the Spaniards arriving and their search for the famed El Dorado. There were also loads of the old machines on display and it turns out that most of their presses and things were made in Birmingham!
We had a very nice dinner at the only restaurant open near our place. We sat at the heavily barred window and looked out over a small square. It's painfully obvious where at least part of the motivation for crime against foreigners here comes from. While we were eating I watched three different people come along and empty the rubbish bins scavenging for anything they could find to eat or sell.
On our second full day in the city we decided on a day trip out to a town called Zipaquirá. It's about 50kms north of the capital and is home to an underground cathedral carved out of salt. We'd been told it was quiet beautiful and we were both quiet intrigued so we took the Transmilenio express bus to the northern-most station and caught a local bus from there. We arrived just in time for lunch and as we happened to be passing a Japanese restaurant we decided to give it a try.
Don't ask me why, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. We should have know that it wasn't going to be authentic Japanese cuisine when we noticed that non of the staff and certainly not the cook looked even vaguely Asian and we were given knives and forks instead of chopsticks! Well that and the fact that all the dishes listed seemed to come with chips.
We had a thoroughly bizarre time of it, especially when the woman who brought us the menus asked us a very long complicated question and when we apologised and said we didn't understand her, brought over this old man. He proceeded to read the menu very loudly and slowly in Spanish to us. On reflection we think he was maybe asking if we'd eaten Japanese food before, having tasted their version of it, we wish we'd been fluent enough to say we'd never had Japanese food quite like his before!
After leaving the restaurant we walked via the beautiful main square, up the hill to the salt mine. We got shown around by a really interesting guide who'd taught himself English. It was clear they still don't get many non-Spanish speakers here and so the tour was half him telling us about the cathedral and half him asking about life in the UK. When we told him that the sight of so many guns in Colombia made us a bit nervous as the police in Britain aren't routinely armed, he almost fainted in shock. When we explained the thinking behind it though he saw the sense in it.
It was a really informative tour, both for what we learnt about the site (opened in 1995 after another 50 year old cathedral was deemed too dangerous, 180 metres underground, built right next to the working mine, but they only dynamite at night) and what we learnt about our guide's life and his country.
Our last day in town was set aside for posting a mountain of Argentine souvenirs back home and visiting the world famous gold museum. We left the hostel just after nine with about 11 kilos of stuff to send back. I had an inkling it would take a while to get it sorted and I wasn't wrong - it took nearly two hours. I'm only sorry we didn't take the camera so you won't get to see the lovely Andrew, our own personal helper, who abandoned his desk to come and help resurrect an old cardboard box found in the corner of the Post Office when Jim failed in his mission to buy one down the road. He was ever so friendly and helpful, although Jim did think it was quiet mean to send him off twice - once looking for said box and then again to buy rolls of tape and parcel paper.
The whole process of sending the package was quiet long and it's the first time Jim has had to give all his personal details as well as a thumb print as proof of ID! I just hope after all the fuss the parcel actually makes it home. We're not convinced that such a large box with Colombia plastered all over it is going to make it passed customs, but here's hoping.
We were starving by the time we finally waved goodbye to Andrew and his two colleagues who'd helped with the taping of the box and various other bits of advice, so we hurried back to the hostel to pack our bags, check out and then go for a late breakfast. We went to this lovely little juice bar at the end of our street called Mora Mora. It's staffed by two lovely ladies who seem new to the job. They look really nervous if more than two people sit down at once. Jim came back laughing the first day we visited as they had to unplug the juicer in order to plug in the till. All very amusing, but believe me the breakfasts are worth waiting for.
Suitably full we walked the short distance to the gold museum, on the way encountering map sellers, various touts and, a first for us, emerald salespeople. They open little bits of twisted paper to show off tiny green gems - we weren't tempted though as for all we know they could be bits of glass. The museum is being expanded at the moment so we weren't sure what we'd see. We needn't have worried though as the displays were fascinating - we took the audio guide which took you on a geographical and chronological tour of the country. It was a real highlight of our trip so far.
After the museum we had just enough time for a snack before getting a taxi to the airport. Jim had found us some (relatively) cheap flights to Cartagena, so we were off to see the Caribbean coast and hopefully some sun.
Latest Comments (1)
|
My jealousy is beyond description (reply)
Apr 18, 2007 11:41 EST by cathrionas
I have been back for 2 weeks now and really miss the feeling and experiences you describe. South America must be next for me. It sounds like you are loving travel every bit as much now as you did when I was with with you in Laos! Keep the stories coming.
Bye for now,
Cat
|
 Post a new comment |
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Colombia or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
38 votes 
