Day 66 & 67
Today I'm in: Bogota, Colombia
I'm copping out a little bit on Day 66. Basically I woke up, went to the Antofagasta airport, flew to Santiago, spent about five hours in the LAN lounge drinking cocktails, watching movies and surfing the web, then got on a plane and spent another six hours flying up to Colombia. The only real bit of excitement occurred when the passenger sitting next to me dumped his drink (which, from the smell/looks of things, was some kind of amaretto and cream) all over my legs and seat. Looks like I'll be doing laundry one more time before I head home...
We touched down in Bogota at about 10:30pm. The streets looked very, very quiet - Bogota is a massive city, one of South America's largest (alongside Sao Paulo, Rio, Buenos Aires, Lima, Santiago and Caracas) but it was deserted and a little sinister looking by the time I got to the hotel.
I woke up the next morning to gray skies and intermittent drizzle. Bogota sits in a valley between mountain ranges, and even in the summer sees a lot of cloudy weather and cool temperatures (it barely rose above 60 degrees while I was there.) Umbrella in hand, I headed out to see the La Candelaria district where my hotel was located. La Calendaria is Bogota's historic center and features a lot of steeply rising streets, brightly painted tile-roofed houses and small inns and shops. Getting around is pretty easy thanks to Bogota's easy-to-navigate street numbering system (calles run east-west, carreras run north-south and house numbers are based on your distance from each numbered intersection) and La Candelaria is small enough that wandering is pretty straightforward. I found the Plaza de Bolivar, the city's pigeon-filled main square (with a statue of the eponymous libertador in the center) and spent a few hours strolling the area.
For lunch I stopped into Quinua y Amarato, a small storefront shop with a team of women who work in an open kitchen preparing all sorts of dishes, each of which revolves around quinoa, the Andean grain, in some way. I had a nice set lunch with a quinoa cake, cilantro cream soup, coconut rice and salad, all for a very agreeable price. Colombia is a less expensive place than Chile or Brazil, although Bogota is the largest and therefore priciest city.
Outside of La Calendaria, however, Bogota seems to sprawl for mile after mile of brown-and-gray sameness. Maybe it was the soggy skies (after lunch the rain picked up and it came down pretty hard for the rest of the afternoon) or a little bit of travel fatigue setting in, but I had a tough time warming up to the city. Unlike the night before, there were plenty of people around - throngs of them on the streets - but despite the backdrop of misty green mountains, the city leaves a little bit to be desired, aesthetically speaking. Things have improved a lot over the past few years, however - the TransMilenio bus rapid transit system has taken a lot of cars off the streets, the entire city center is closed to traffic on certain Sundays, and bike lanes and wider sidewalks have proliferated, making it a more pedestrian-friendly place.
After sunset I jumped in a cab and headed up to the Zona Rosa, a fashionable area north of downtown that's full of restaurants, shops and bars and is home to some of the city's swankiest apartment buildings. At Casa, a very laid-back bar on a side street, I met up with Camila and Heinrich, two friends from Michigan who are originally from Colombia and who have moved back now that we've all graduated. It was great to catch up with them and get some tips on things to see, foods to try and general ways to make getting around the country easier. I'll see them again when I pass through Bogota in a week or so, and hopefully will get to see a bit more of the city with their help.
Today I'm in Cartagena, on the Caribbean coast, where my friend Evan has joined me - but that will have to wait for tomorrow. For now, it's been a long (and very hot) day - Cartagena isn't quite as cool and green and placid as Bogota - and it's time for bed.
Today I'm in: Bogota, Colombia
I'm copping out a little bit on Day 66. Basically I woke up, went to the Antofagasta airport, flew to Santiago, spent about five hours in the LAN lounge drinking cocktails, watching movies and surfing the web, then got on a plane and spent another six hours flying up to Colombia. The only real bit of excitement occurred when the passenger sitting next to me dumped his drink (which, from the smell/looks of things, was some kind of amaretto and cream) all over my legs and seat. Looks like I'll be doing laundry one more time before I head home...We touched down in Bogota at about 10:30pm. The streets looked very, very quiet - Bogota is a massive city, one of South America's largest (alongside Sao Paulo, Rio, Buenos Aires, Lima, Santiago and Caracas) but it was deserted and a little sinister looking by the time I got to the hotel.
I woke up the next morning to gray skies and intermittent drizzle. Bogota sits in a valley between mountain ranges, and even in the summer sees a lot of cloudy weather and cool temperatures (it barely rose above 60 degrees while I was there.) Umbrella in hand, I headed out to see the La Candelaria district where my hotel was located. La Calendaria is Bogota's historic center and features a lot of steeply rising streets, brightly painted tile-roofed houses and small inns and shops. Getting around is pretty easy thanks to Bogota's easy-to-navigate street numbering system (calles run east-west, carreras run north-south and house numbers are based on your distance from each numbered intersection) and La Candelaria is small enough that wandering is pretty straightforward. I found the Plaza de Bolivar, the city's pigeon-filled main square (with a statue of the eponymous libertador in the center) and spent a few hours strolling the area.
For lunch I stopped into Quinua y Amarato, a small storefront shop with a team of women who work in an open kitchen preparing all sorts of dishes, each of which revolves around quinoa, the Andean grain, in some way. I had a nice set lunch with a quinoa cake, cilantro cream soup, coconut rice and salad, all for a very agreeable price. Colombia is a less expensive place than Chile or Brazil, although Bogota is the largest and therefore priciest city.
Outside of La Calendaria, however, Bogota seems to sprawl for mile after mile of brown-and-gray sameness. Maybe it was the soggy skies (after lunch the rain picked up and it came down pretty hard for the rest of the afternoon) or a little bit of travel fatigue setting in, but I had a tough time warming up to the city. Unlike the night before, there were plenty of people around - throngs of them on the streets - but despite the backdrop of misty green mountains, the city leaves a little bit to be desired, aesthetically speaking. Things have improved a lot over the past few years, however - the TransMilenio bus rapid transit system has taken a lot of cars off the streets, the entire city center is closed to traffic on certain Sundays, and bike lanes and wider sidewalks have proliferated, making it a more pedestrian-friendly place. 
After sunset I jumped in a cab and headed up to the Zona Rosa, a fashionable area north of downtown that's full of restaurants, shops and bars and is home to some of the city's swankiest apartment buildings. At Casa, a very laid-back bar on a side street, I met up with Camila and Heinrich, two friends from Michigan who are originally from Colombia and who have moved back now that we've all graduated. It was great to catch up with them and get some tips on things to see, foods to try and general ways to make getting around the country easier. I'll see them again when I pass through Bogota in a week or so, and hopefully will get to see a bit more of the city with their help.Today I'm in Cartagena, on the Caribbean coast, where my friend Evan has joined me - but that will have to wait for tomorrow. For now, it's been a long (and very hot) day - Cartagena isn't quite as cool and green and placid as Bogota - and it's time for bed.
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