Bogotá, Part One: Introduction

The Planning

For about a year now I’ve been reading so many travel articles and blog postings about Bogotá.  They discussed how exciting it has become, how interesting it is, and, above all else, how it has emerged from a long, violent period, and has become safe.  I thought about it and one evening spotted what I thought was a pretty good airfare.  A little more investigating and we decided that we’d go in June, for my birthday.

We found plenty of availability on Delta, out of National, connecting through Atlanta, and into Bogotá.  At a time when tickets to California were pricing out at over $800, the $550 airfare seemed almost like a bargain.  For the hotel, we entertained a few ideas but in the end settled on the Hilton, which opened just last November.  Normally, when traveling abroad, we stay at a local hotel; in this instance, though we erred on caution’s side, in case the city wasn’t as safe as we’d heard.

Another sacrifice we made was not staying in the historic center of the city in favor of the more expensive, exclusive, and sterile northern suburbs.  The Hilton is near the Zona Rosa, Zona T, and some of the other areas of town that are pricey, safe, and not that interesting.  But, on the bright side, it turned out to be near some pretty good restaurants.

Scouting online to determine our must-sees, we decided that we needed to see the Salt Cathedral, about an hour north of the city.  For this, because we didn’t want to rent a car, we booked a tour guide.  That was our last booking item and we were ready to fly.

Our Itinerary and Plans

Our itinerary would take us out of Washington National (DCA) at noon on Saturday, give us a three-hour layover in Atlanta, take us out of Atlanta at about 4:30, and get us into Bogotá at about 9:30 in the evening.  On the way back, our flight was out at 9:30 Wednesday morning, getting into Atlanta at about three o’clock, and into National at about six in the evening.

Preliminary plans in Bogotá would take us to a flea market on Sunday, then to the historic center.  Monday we’d do the Salt Cathedral.  Tuesday we’d play by ear.  And, Wednesday we’d go home.  At least those were the plans; what we actually did and saw, as well as photos, forthcoming.