So, we totally and utterly, completely lucked out in Bogota. Despite yet another flight being cancelled (thanks Viva Colombia) and an unscheduled night (well, five hours) in a hotel in Lima, we finally arrived in Bogota. Our dear Colombian friends Paola and Ignacio from Hong Kong put us in touch with their friend Suki who was away for the long weekend and had an apartment we could stay in. We opened the door to the apartment of dreams. On the 19th floor in Los Rosales, the well to do area of Bogota, light filling, no, streaming through the windows, the kitchen full of only the best appliances, and we had an oven, our very own oven. And Suki had informed us we could eat anything left in the fridge and to just make ourselves at home. That we did! We didn't want to leave. And well, we basically didn’t! After a lazy morning, home made smoothies and a full english courtesy of Carulla (aka supermarket of dreams) we did tear ourselves from our beautiful nest and headed downtown. Luckily Uber works well here which is good because there basically aren't any decent public transport options, just packed commuter buses which we really weren't in the mood for. As we left the well-coiffed streets of Las Rosales, we witnessed the grittier side of Bogota. By the time we reached downtown, we cautiously made our way to the Botero Museum. Now 85 years old, Fernando Botero is undoubtedly one of Colombia’s most famous artists. His signature style depicting people and figures in large exaggerated form is unmistakable, he is the master of curves and all things round. The collection is made up of not only many of his own canvases and works on paper but a huge percentage of his private collection which he donated many years ago. I was a fan of his work before we visited but I left a true convert. The area around the museum is full of other interesting museums, The Museo de Arte del Banco de la Republica and the Casa de Moneda. The Museo del Oro is also worth a visit, we kind of whipped round it though because, well, once you've seen ten little gold figures, they all sort of merge together. Plaza de Bolivar is the equivalent to a main square with some impressive churches surrounding it but it is also dodge central, think drunken homeless men asking you for money at 11am. We went, we looked, got spotted a mile off and tried our best to get out of there with all our belongings! There are so many wonderful restaurants in Bogota, it was impossible to get round them all so, here is a list of those we tried and others we didn't make but were recommended to us by people in the know (thanks Pao and Nacho!): Prudencia Tabula Salvo Patria Mesa Franca Mini Mal El Chato Gordo Bar Rin Rin (cool bar) Abasto (good for brunch) Apache (good bar) Azahar Cafe And some good galleries too, most of which we managed to visit. The last three were sadly closed when we visited, perhaps when open the area is a little more inviting but we were quite frankly terrified whilst walking around this area, once we found they were closed, we did our best to find a taxi pronto! Alonso Garces Gallery Valenzuela Klenner Gallery NC-Arte Espacio El Dorado Sketch Flora ars+natura Instituto de Vision We had a fun morning wandering around Paloquemao Market, a must see for any foodies out there. More adventurous ones than us may also have been up for trying some of the local dishes being served at some of the stalls. We were due to get on a ten hour bus the next morning so thought it was best to skip it!
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AuthorsRob & Charlie's travelling adventures on their long journey back to London after living in Hong Kong. Four continents, twelve countries, lots of experiences. Archives
July 2017
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Robert Ware & Charlotte Nunn |