Bogotá, Part Eight

Part Eight:  Sightseeing About Town

On our final day in Colombia, we decided to do what we set out to do the first day before the Death Taxi interrupted our plans:  see the old quarter of Bogotá.  Of course, getting to the old quarter and back presented a challenge, as I refused to get in another one of those seatbelt-less, death defying yellow taxis.  Getting there would be easy:  we could just get one of the hotel taxis; getting back would be more of an obstacle.

The front desk quoted us a rate to get to the old quarter of about $13.  "Do you want him to wait for you?"  Stupidly, we answered "No."  We should have just agreed and kept the driver for the day.  (Not to spoil the story, but, in the end, this is what we did anyway.

The driver seemed very nice.  He was a cautious driver.  Did not speak a word of English, but that was okay:  we were just going four miles.  On the way he stopped by a park that had a to-scale, topographically-correct map of the country.  The photos below do not convey the model very well, but one gets the idea.  It was a dated display and desperately in need of maintenance, but a neat idea nonetheless.

Us

Colombia, to scale

Andes

We loaded back into the car and headed up, stopping at an overlook to take in the cityscape.  It was then, when he was asking a young-ish woman if she spoke English, that I realized something was up.  She did not speak English, so back in the taxi.  Next stop was the base of Monserrat, which, of course, was not our destination.  We had planned to so up the mountain but not just then.  The driver found someone who spoke English.  The guy conveyed that the driver wanted us to go up the mountainside while he waited.  "How much does he want to charge us?"  I asked.  The fellow translated back "About $35 per hour."

We talked quickly about it, wondering if we were going to be cheated and thinking through the pros and cons.  We decided that, even if he charged us $50 an hour, it was worth having him at our disposal and not having to deal with the dreaded yellow taxis.  So, done deal; we bought our ticket and made our way to the funicular and up the mountainside.

Bogotá is itself already really high up; Monserrat is even higher, at more than 10,300 feet/3100 meters.  The funicular is quite a ride and not for those who are afraid of heights, or of rickety, old conveyances that look like they may not be very well maintained!

What are you seeing here?  Hard to tell!  You are looking at the tunnel through which the funicular passes as it burrows through the mountain to reach the top

Atop the mountain, one sees the city but then turns to see more mountains, lush vegetation, and nothingness

Looking southward.  It is hard to tell, but one sees buildings and development almost as far as the eye can see

Bogotá's downtown core

Looking northward, toward our hotel

Philip, with the city at his back

And, standing in the same spot as I was to take the previous photo, I just pivoted and snapped this shot.  The two could not be more different

Obligatory, South American, mountaintop statue of Christ

The church atop the mountain

Only from this perspective does one get a real sense of just how large and sprawling Bogotá is

Bogotá, stretching as far as they eye can see

The city's old quarter, from above

Model funicular; notice how steep the rise of the vehicle is

One notices pretty quickly how much thinner the air is atop that mountain!  We lingered for only about twenty minutes before heading back down, where we found the driver waiting for us.  I already liked this arrangement!

He drove us next to the old town, parked, and proceeded to walk us around the city and point out landmarks.  We had a guidebook, so we pointed to the things we wanted to see and he took us to them. He suggested other things, some of which we saw, others we just skipped.  We were so glad that we had decided to take up his offer!

Bolívar Square

Cantankerous Colombian llama

Bogotá's main cathedral, Capilla del Sagrario 

Bolívar Square again

Streetscape; I took this one mainly to show how quickly and dramatically the mountains rise from the city

Inside the cathedral.  In most places I have been, major churches are open and can be gone into.  The only way we made it in here is that they had just had a service.  We actually almost got locked in

Colombia's Congresso building

These buildings are very typical of what one sees in the old quarter.  Notice the beautiful balconies

Watch out!  Yellow taxi!

Us, in front of the Presidential Palace, between two guards.  We were reluctant to get so close to the gate, but the driver insisted

Not sure who decided on this color scheme

Inside.  Yikes!

Strolling the streets of the old quarter

Within an hour or so we had seen most of what we wanted to, so it was time to head to our final destination:  Museo del Oro.  Every guide book we read or saw on Colombia listed this as a must-do.  Neither of us are that interested in this sort of thing, but there are some things you see when you are somewhere, whether or not you are too keen on them.  I mean, even someone who has no interest in politics comes to Washington without seeing the Capitol and the White House.  We gave ourselves about 45 minutes and set up a rendezvous spot with the driver.

Just thought this was a neat photo; not even sure what it is

There were several instances of this sort-of display, showing us where the wearer wore everything

Doors to get into the vault

I hope someone told him that he needed a bit more than just this outfit!

Outside the museum

We were ready to go back to the room.  The drive back was just fifteen minutes or so.  Along the way the driver was sorting out what we owed.  We were not sure if we were going to get cheated or not.  We did not think so, since, if he did, we could complain to the hotel and they would presumably take some action.  We decided that anything south of $100 we would pay without question, even though we though we owed about $70.  He quoted us a figure of $62.  For 3 1/2 hours we thought that was great.  And, he was such a nice, friendly man.  We paid him $75 and were happy.  In fact, when we got back to the hotel, we asked if we could have him drive us to the airport the next morning.

After we got back to the hotel, we walked back down to Zona Rosa.

On the way to the Zona Rose:  taxis ... and horses.  I'd rather ride on that cart than in one of those yellow taxis!

Bomb-sniffing dogs are everywhere in Bogotá, including at our hotel.  This was one of two that worked at the Hilton.  This poor fellow was quite old and seemed ready for retirement!

Back at the hotel we freshened up and then went for our best meal of the trip, at LaDespensa Rafael.  Really an excellent meal to celebrate my birthday.  After a fine meal, it was back to the room to pack and get ready for the flight home.  Next up:  checking out, getting to the airport, and trip thoughts.

Bogotá, Part Seven

Part Seven:  Day Two, Zipaquirá

After we finished with our tour of the salt mine, we headed back to the town that is the cathedral's namesake:  Zipaquirá.  It is a small, quaint place that is fairly unremarkable.  Our first stop was lunch, which was included in our tour.

Zipaquirá, from the parking lot of the Salt Cathedral

As with other parts of South America, meat is the main thing people eat in Colombia.  And, they eat lots and lots of meat.  We wheeled up to the entrance of the restaurant and there was a grill, almost out on the street.  The tour guide ordered for us, though I did ask for just a half portion:  I could see what other diners were getting and I knew that I could never eat that much food, and I did not want to waste it.

What came out first was soup, which, for me, was the best part of the meal.  Colombian food, from all I could tell, has almost no spice whatsoever.  In fact, there was a dish of "hot" sauce on the table.  I reached over to use it and was sternly advised by our driver and guide both that it was "very, very hot."  It was not.  In addition to the tasty soup, there was a lime-based drink served, something akin to lemonade, but not quite.  Very good.

We finished eating, loaded back into the vehicle, and headed for the town square.

The town square looked like a smaller version of the one in Bogotá, with a church and some municipal buildings.  Mountains rose up around the town.  Stray dogs lazed about in the square.  And, just then, we hear a crash behind us.  There were stone pilings to keep traffic off of the square and some woman had ran into one, and with enough velocity to rip it out of the ground.  Funny.

Looking down one of Zipaquriá's streets, just off the main square

Cathedral, on the main square

Traffic is also of the animal-drawn sort.  Notice the stone pillars.  This is before the woman came through and nailed on of them

Looking across the square, with the fog-shrouded mountains rising up behind

Another shot of the square

Another shot of the square

Another shot of the square

Another shot of the square

A couple of stray dogs, in a state of extreme relax

Philip, in front of the cathedral

Another of the square

Cathedral

This is the cathedra's steeple:  notice the grass and vegetation growing atop it

One of the finer structures on the square

Another from the square

We were only at the square for about fifteen minutes before it was time to head back to Bogotá.

After a day riding as a passenger in Colombia, anyone would be happy to be out of the car and on firm ground.  I know that I was.

For dinner, we gave in to exhaustion and decided to eat at the hotel.  It had been pretty good our first night there, so I had fairly high hopes.  They were dashed.  This time round the service was not that great and the food was equally mediocre.  Too bad.

We headed back to the room after dinner and turned in for the night, hoping for a good night's rest before our last day.