Meng's Travels: Bogotá, Colombia

Our LATAM flight from Baltra to Guayaquil to Quito landed at about 4pm. My flight from Quito to Bogotá was to depart at about 6pm. As with any unfamiliar airport I thought I'd have a hard time finding the International Departure terminal. Luckily, Gonsalvo from Hurtigruten met me as I exited the domestic terminal and escorted me upstairs to check-in with the Avianca agents. What service from Hurtigruten!

My Avianca flight from Quito to Bogota was full but smooth. We landed at about 7:30pm. I picked up my luggage from the carousel and spotted an ATM machine nearby. I withdrew about 200,000 Colombian Pesos (COP), about US$46, enough cash to take the taxi or buy small stuff. I used my Charles Schwab ATM card, which refunds me any service fee charged by the bank. I am always concerned about ATM machines taking my debit card and not returning it. However, I noticed that some of the newer machines don't entirely "swallow" your card. They let you insert your card and give you enough card to pull it out if you need to. Luckily, I did not have any problem with this machine and got my Colombian cash without any problem.

Nowadays most airports have official taxi stands. This prevents fraud by shysters who hang around airports soliciting for your business. It used to be a common problem at airports in developing countries. The safest way, of course, is to ask your hotel to send a driver to pick you up. The problem with that is the hotel usually charges you two or three times more than what a regular taxi charges. For example, the Hotel de la Opera asked me if I wanted to have a driver pick me up at the airport. They wanted to charge me US$25. When I took the official taxi from the airport it costs me only about US$8.

Hotel de la Opera is one of the fanciest and most expensive hotel in Candaleria, the old town in Bogota. A couple of guides told me that. It is next to the Colon Theater, an old fancy Opera House. I booked a room at the hotel in June as soon as I decided that I was traveling to Bogota. It costs me about US$300 for 4 nights. Cheap for a 5-star hotel but expensive for the locals, I was told. It is old and there's nothing fancy about it, except that it is nicely located in the Candaleria area, in the middle of all the popular places I want to go to.

Teatro Colón Bogotá

Entrance to Hotel de la Opera

Logo of the Hotel

I scheduled a Walking Tour of the Candaleria area with AirBnb Experience. Not many people know that besides renting rooms, AirBnB has another side business that allow AirBnB hosts to provide local tours. It's a smart business because who knows the local area better than the local hosts. Instead of voluntarily paying any amount you think it's worth like a Free Walking Tour (FWT), you have to reserve and pay whatever the price that is stated. In this case I paid US$19 for the walking tour.

I met my guide at the Cranky Croc Hostel at 10:30am. The hostel reminds me of many that I've stayed in. Lots of young travelers. A nice lobby with a coffee bar. A bulletin board with many activities posted. My host is a woman named Amelia. She brought along her 2-year old baby in a stroller. I was the only guest. This is the first time that I've encountered a guide who brought along her baby. I didn't mind that although there were times when it was a little cumbersome. It wasn't the tour that I expected. I was expecting her to explain more of the history and culture of the buildings and places. She did not. She just took me to certain well-known places and explained a little of the place. It was a disappointing tour.

After the tour I took an Uber ride to Monserrate, an over 10,000 ft high mountain at the edge of Bogota. It is named after a mountain near Barcelona called Monserrat. From here you can see most of the city. It's a popular tourist destination. At the summit is also a church with a shrine, devoted to El Señor Caído ("The Fallen Lord"). You can either take a funicular or an aerial tram to go up to the top.

View of Tram and Funicular Station at the bottom

Waiting in line to go up

Church at the Summit

Crowd at the Summit

A side street selling souvenirs and food

Food at one of the food stands

Inside of the Church

View of Bogota

A Reminder of where you are

The next day I signed up with AirBnB Experience for a tour of Guatavita, Lake Guatavita and the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá. I will have more of that in the next post.

Sunday is a big day for the residents of Bogota. The city closed off some of the streets downtown so that residents can come out with their families to enjoy the festivities. They close off the street, Carrera 8, in front of the Plaza de Bolivar, stretching for many blocks to past Parque Santander, where the Gold Museum is located. Vendors selling everything from food, hats, phone accessories, etc, line the broad avenue. All kinds of entertainers are there to entertain you.

Vendor Selling Corn

Plantain Chips

A Parade with Marching Bands

Selling Bags

Rambutan and Dragon Fruit

Old Couple Dancing for Dollars

Cathedral at Plaza de Bolivar

"Michael Jackson" Performing Billy Jean

Not being satisfied with the Walking Tour, I signed up for a Free Walking Tour with a company called Beyond Colombia. Just before the tour I visited the Gold Museum or Museo de Oro. It is a Sunday so admission is free. There is quite an impressive display of gold items from throughout history. Colombia is famous for its historical connection to gold. The Spanish came here to search for El Dorado, the mythical tribal chief who covered himself with gold. The name went from referencing a man, to a city, to a kingdom, and then finally to an empire. Eventually, by the 19th century, most people realized that the existence of El Dorado was just a myth. The museum does a good job of explain the role of gold through the history of man, particularly around South America.

FWT Guide

Our guide took us to the most significant places around Candaleria, explaining the history, politics, culture and significance to Colombia. Unlike the first guide, he was giving us the best tour because his tip depends on his performance. There were at least a dozen of us from all over the world. The tour lasted about 3 hours. I was so impressed that I signed up for two more tours in Cartagena, my next destination.