The Candelaria, Bogotá

The historical centre of Bogotá is called Candelaria, if you come by TransMilenio

Then get off at the Las Aguas stop. This zone is a seat of the most important museums, like The Museum of Gold, of Independence, The Coin Museum, The Botero Museum, and Military Museum. In the Simon Bolivar’s Square there are located buildings of the highest importance in the state. One of them being the Presidential Palace,  that is guarded by La Guardia Presidencial, special police force to secure the building. The access is controlled and everyone is obliged to show the contents of their bags or rucksacks. It was quite an intimidating experience as the guards carried long rifles and grenades.

Patrolled street of the Presidential Palace

Palace of Justice

Primary Cathedral view

In the Bolivar Square there are other buildings, such as the National Capitol -Colombian Congress, Liévano building – Mayor’s seat, The Primary Cathedral of Bogotá, Palace of Justice, Museum of the Independence. Within the zone there is also the Mexican – Colombian Cultural Centre located, that offers expositions of the modern Latin American art and temporary expositions, during our visit there was a Contemporary Cuban Paintings exposition.

We were not able to enter the Gold Museum, as it is closed on Mondays (!) and we arrived too late to see the Museum of Independencia.

Botero Museum opening hours

Out of the museums we have visited the Botero is the top one! The genius of this Colombian artist can be appreciated, as the museum holds plenty of his paintings and sculptures. To me, Botero is a genius. The way he sees the World is unique, like Picasso. His characters are hilariously portrayed and obese. The ugliness of the faces converts into a genius and a grotesque.  Maybe he is foreseeing the future?

One of Botero's paintings "La Playa"

The Candelaria concentrates a good number of little restaurants, which serve typical Colombian food or sweets. We were tempted by a Cocolada, a kind of biscuit, which consists of a roughly grated coconut flesh mixed with passion fruit and sugar. Worth mentioning is the cafeteria “Juan Valdez”, which is similar to Starbucks, but national, supports local producers and serves only Colombian coffee. We have also tried empanadas with cheese, which are served with different sauces: guacamole, tartare, spicy pepper, lemon, pink sauce (ketchup & mayo) and a kind of spicy vinaigrette. Delicious!

Coconut-passionfruit treat

Bogotá - first impressions and Monserrate

We arrived at 10.30 a.m. in El Dorado airport in Bogotá, starting point of our two month trip through South America.

El Dorado is very modern and the infrastructure seems similar to the European or American at the first sight. Nice country to live in, one would think...but not everyone is fortunate in this country.  My view has changed when we arrived in the centre and was exposed to view the effects of bloodthirsty capitalism in operation. 

The taxi took us in 30 minutes into the centre, Chapinero area, and it costed 19.000 COP (£7 GBP).  We used the yellow taxi , outside the airport exit.

Worth mentioning is the taxi charging system, as it is quite unique. The taxi meter charges according to units. On the display you will see a number. The table (pic below) located in front of you indicates how much you need to pay. The drivers won't have a chance to take advantage of you, unless they drive you around. On the bottom of the table all the additional charges (holidays, Sundays etc.) are explained.  

Taxis charge according to units in Bogotá

During the ride the price of petrol has drawn our attention, at a price of £0.90 per litre.  The driver explained to us that there are two systems in place – one of the “oligarchs” and one of the “pueblo” (people). The “multis” and international investors are the owners of the extraction plants and manage the prices according to their will. The driver said the fuel in Colombia is the most expensive in the World, as an extracting country one would expect the prices to be lower… but the facts are different, as Norway is on the top of the list of the most expensive fuel.

Entrance and ticket office

After arriving and having a little chat with our local host, we all headed to Santuario de Monserrate, perfect place to start off the city tour. Pretty lucky, we got tickets to arrive on the hill by Teleferico (cable car) and get down by Funicular (cliff railway). One way ticket up or down costs 4.500 pesos (£1,70). Bogotá is situated in the centre of the country, along the Eastern Andes range, at a height of 2600 metres. As the advertisement proclaims, being in Bogotá makes you being 2600 metres closer to the stars. However, the Santuario sits calmly on the height of 3128 metres. One does feel the lack of oxygen up there…

View from the top of the mountain

The Church devoted to the Fallen Lord on the top

One of many food vendors offering plantain crisps

  To get to Monserrate, we got the Transmilenio bus (£0,65 one way) to the city centre, got off at the Las Aguas and walked up to the station. Lots of culinary temptations are waiting on your way like fried plantains, grilled corn on the cob, sweets, variety of fruits typical in Colombia, obleas and other… I’ll prepare separate page about the Colombian food, stay tuned.