Correction: In yesterday’s Blog I said Bogota was at 1600m, but I was wrong, it is at 2600m high and lots of people have a mild case of Altitude Sickness when arriving in Bogota.

This morning we tried our best to extend our stay but the Holiday Inn Express was fully booked for tonight and Sunday night, and I am going to miss their beds, and hot water, and breakfast, and fast Wi-Fi, instead, we just checked into our $25 rooms, two per room, making it $12-50 per person, so I probably can’t expect to sleep as well as I did last night. The only up-side is that our new hotel, The Lima, is in the older part of town, so more to see and do here at night than on the other side of town.

During breakfast we had to send a lot of documents to our Agent here in Bogota which we sent to her and she responded that she was happy with everything and that we would each receive and email with our “special number” which I hope is a clearance number form Colombian Customs, but I doubt it will be that easy. She sent us her address and we will meet her on Monday morning at her offices.

We rented a Van with a driver for 8 hours and he came to collect us at the hotel.

1st we went to the clothing district where some of us bought underpants and socks. Pie was very proud that he did not have to shop or buy anything and told us this several times, but he loved the shopping and was 1st out helping me buy underpants;

I could not find a jacket or sweater in “Grande” size, but I did get a Poncho :

Then we went to an area called La Candelaria where there was a Flea Market:

Juice made from Sugar Cane by crushing the cane on this very old looking device:

The Venezuela Money is worthless and they use it to make things with:

 

 

Note the Banana Chips above.

Old Escobar’s fave was a popular T-Shirt:

Then we went to another interesting area, Plazoleta Chorro de Queued where the small little streets and interesting little shops and restaurants and bars continued. The graffiti in Bogota is very big and in most cases the street art enhance the atmosphere, but the entire city is full of the other type of simple graffiti which just deface the buildings and degrade the area, but here in this area it added to the vibe:

 

Once you enter one of these little bars or restaurants you would find a very small and cosy, but trendy spot with only seating for a hand full of people, some with a little courtyard opening up to the back of the property:

I spotted two of the dishes one can find throughout the entire South America today. During a family holiday in Argentina we often ate Empanadas and dinner we went to their version of a “Braai Restaurant.”

Today was the complete opposite of what we had been warned about. No one tried to rip us off, we never felt un-safe, the police are everywhere and I did not see one gangster or suspicious person. Lets hope this continue when the sun sets.

Have a great evening

Fleisch