Bogota

Well, very pleasantly surprised by Bogata. Colombia seems to have changed in the last few years, at least, every traveller we have met has spoken very highly of it. There are still robberies (snatching iPhones seems to be a favourite), but on the whole it’s not a nest of thieves waiting around every corner.

Anyway, flew in at night, took a taxi to the hostel… our guidebook was quite specific about only taking yellow taxi’s from the registered stand. My driver didn’t know where the hostel was.. but Open Street Maps to the rescue again. Worked out.

We went on a couple of free* walking tours. Free as they always ask for a donation at the end. Fair enough too as they were both great.

First up was a “generic” walking tour. We certainly got a flavour of the place, learning some of the unfortunate history. People getting assassinated etc. Plan Colombia seemed especially nasty, and, according to our guide there’s a “Plan Mexico” going on at the moment. To quote:

The plan awarded monetary compensation for the dead bodies of guerrilla members and therefor incentivized the murders of hundreds of people, including innocent civilians.

Anyway good tour, including the trip to the gallery of Fernando Botero. Quite fun.

The second tour we did was a graffiti tour. Some of these buildings are worth quite a bit now. E.G. the gate with the fish on it is worth 10-20K! I did like the Ronzo pieces especially, will have to keep an eye out for those. He goes around and puts up little signs to blend in with the surroundings. Very neat.

Finally we took the tramway up to Monserrate for the view. We would have walked but there has been so little rain lately that erosion is a serious worry. I’m not sure it was worth the money to go up, but as a walk it’d be a fine option.