Bogota Colombia

• Posted by Leigh Drogen
• on November 25th, 2009

We flew into Bogotá Colombia late last night and had the chance to walk around through the neighborhood where my cousin lives.  Situated up against the mountains to the north, this area is home to the wealthy, internationals, and yuppies.  The architecture is very 1970′s socialist, boxy, a lot of concrete and red brick, and rather boring.  Many of the buildings in this part of town are new construction, but still look 30 years old due to the architectural style.  Streets are lined with huge trees which must be centuries old.  The main boulevards though look very French with wide streets and buildings built with terraces.  The streets are extremely clean, but as with most under developed nations, there’s no money in the budget for municipal repairs, leaving holes in the sidewalk and roads everywhere.  As well, there are no traffic laws, everything is free for all, pedestrians and cars hardly know each other exist.  The climate is great, from what I understand it’s 50-80 degrees all year round.  We noticed a lot of military presence throughout the city, not just police, this is common in Latin America, but still always a bit of a shock.  I was surprised by one other thing, a disappointment might I add, the Colombian women just aren’t that great looking.  Given, I’m basing this on one day of walking around downtown Bogotá, maybe the club tonight will prove me wrong.

We woke up early this morning and headed up to Monserat which is a monastery that overlooks the city, perched at the top of the mountains to the north side of the city.  The view was amazing, the city just sprawls out before you.  Bogotá is located in a huge valley in the central region of the country.  The city is surrounded by mountains on all sides, with the downtown area situated right up against the north side of the valley.  Bogotá sits at an elevation of 2400 meters, the top of the mountain was over 3000 meters.  I’m a very good athlete in decent shape, but was exhausted after climbing steps up there, the air gets pretty thin.

After the amazing views we headed downtown to the gold museum, which I have to say, was awesome.  Check out a few of the many interesting and unique pieces.

My cousin who has been living in Colombia now for over a year took us to what is said to be the best steak place in Bogotá.  I’m a meat and potatoes kinda guy, so this was right up my alley.  Not only was the steak amazing, but they had these fresh fruit juices that were out of this world, and the mash potatoes were awesome.

What kind of food people sell on the street says a lot about a country.  I’ve got to say, the Colombians do it right.  Not pictured here are also fresh fruit like Mango and a mixed fruit drink that resembles sangria but more mushy, just amazing.  The parliament area sits inside the old city which is made up of three story buildings situated in a grid of very tight walkways, beautiful.

We are headed to Cartagena on Friday after having a traditional Thanksgiving meal with a bunch of ex pats tomorrow.  I wish you all a great Thanksgiving.

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