We spent last week in Bogota, Colombia and surrounding areas. I worked during the day so only got to explore in the evenings/Saturday and all day Thursday when I took a vacation day from the job. Here are some pictures and words from the trip.
First a word about the flight. Word = Suck.
Spirit Airlines does indeed bill themselves as a “no-frills” airline, but when you have to fly an overnight flight in a 1980’s era 737 from Denver to Fort Lauderdale with the “coziness” (they say it is cozy to have no leg room and 6 seats to an isle) of Spirit you get a large dose of whoa.
And then of course there were delays, cranky passengers, cranky crew, sleep deprivation and exhaustion. But we did manage to get there in one piece.
After an exhausting taxi ride we arrived at our friends Clayton and Brit’s apartment in north central Bogota. Clayton is on sabbatical and Brit is working on her thesis, so they decided to spend the summer in Bogota to learn Spanish. They graciously invited us to come. Convenient for us to visit.
The apartment view.
Bogota has a population of ~8 million people packed into a dense area at an elevation of 8600 feet above sea level. The place we stayed at was near the zona T in a fairly middle class neighborhood. There are several decent restaurants within walking distance as well as the Bogota Beer Company which brews an average take on pilsner and a maibok like beer that is about as dark as a South American beer will get.
The locals are fairly nice and congenial. People have a quite casual uniform featuring scarves and jeans. The women often sport ridiculously high heals. The city features a lot of sprawl and ugly architecture until you get to the “old town” or colonial center.
There is razor wire everywhere.
Here is a picture on the hillside looking toward the slums.
Great experience with some really nice people.