We finally arrived in the capital of Columbia, Bogota. The first capital city that we visited in South America. A city which is a home to over 8 million people and sit between lush green mountains at the elevation of 2,600 m.
From where we stayed the night before, we only had a short drive to Bogota. I was over the moon because I managed to hit the jackpot finding an outstanding place for our stay in the heart of Bogota. A 4 star hotel with secure carpark where Chaapaar can fit. A perfect location to explore the main attractions on foot and really cheap! Columbia so far has been the cheapest country that we travelled to in this trip, and definitely the best value for money. Our hotel room was perfect and we paid 25 USD per night for both of us including breakfast.
The traffic wasn’t too bad and we had to run some errands before checking in our hotel. Since USA, we didn’t have access to certain items and one of the reasons that we were planning to stay in Bogota was finding few items that we desperately needed for few months. We ran out of the plastic seal for our mocka and believe it or not, it was impossible to find it in Mexico or Guatemala, we also needed a spare battery for our gopro camera and also some spare parts for the car. We did some of our shoppings and successfully checked in our hotel. The next thing to do was walking around Bogota and feeling its energy.
The first impression of Bogota was great. This city has a great energy and is really vibrant. Like the other part of Columbia, cycling is very popular and all the main roads had dedicated bicycle lines. There were fresh fruit and take away food around every corner in the city center and it was impossible to go hungry. Bogota was also very diverse and we saw people from differnet parts of the world in our short walk around the city. Taxes on imported goods is really high in Columbia and lots of people were selling second hand branded clothing on the side of the streets, including jeans and running shoes.
The city back drop is stunning. It is surrounded with high green mountains and the clouds moving in between creating dramatic scenes. We were in Bogota in March and weather was great and it was so nice to walk around and absorb the vibes and the energy. Unfortunately there were not many tourists in Bogota and that’s why all tourist related activities like visiting the major attractions and museums were either free of charge or extremely cheap. We visited the museum of gold in the heart of Bogota and it was a real gem. So happy that we visited this.
Outside museum there were lots of women from Amazonian regions of Columbia selling their beautiful handworks.
From there we headed to the next beautiful museum of Bogota, the museum of Botero. It used to be Fernando Botero house and is now the museum that show case not only his art works but also the art works from other artists that he had in his personal collections. That was a beautiful place with the great collection of art pieces with free entry. That’s definitely a must see if you are in Bogota.
Around the same neighbourhood of these museums, you can find a series of alleyways packed with vibrant graffitis and awesome cafes and restaurants and art galleries. We’ve spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the area and explore some hidden gems.
The other activities that worth doing in Bogota is trying local cuisine in a local market. Especially on the weekends they have a lot of traditional foods on offer that historically only served in family gatherings and on the weekends. We went to a busy one for lunch on a Sunday and tried different foods that can mostly be found in Bogota region.
From there, our time in Bogota was coming to an end. We really enjoyed the comfortable stay in a nice hotel for a change and walking around a big city but it was time for us to get back to the nature.
Before leaving the city we went to the industrial part of city where local artists converted the high plain walls of the businesses into their canvas and created some stunning art pieces.
That was a great last stop, from here we have some stunning drives and unique landscapes ahead of us in Columbia and can’t wait to share it with you. From here, we keep heading south toward Ecuadorian border and we have to change our itineraries few times to stay safe. We’ll talk about it as we find our way to the next epic destination in Columbia. Till then take care and enjoy life.
