Bogota – what a surprise

Hola parceros,

As day 3 has already broken and here the review of our second day in Colombia and Bogotá.

Overall, the city has really really surprised us. Based on some blogs which we had red before and some comments by other fellow travelers, our expectations were pretty low. Contrarily, the city even more pushed it’s reputation by its size, abundance of tiendas, cafés, massive amount of people & motos, sights and amazing mountains to the west.

We were very fortunate that Mihail’s friend Jeimy from Bogota took the time and showed us around. Having taken a free shuttle from our Selina Chapinero hostel, we walked, hiked and fought our way through the city until the night.

In essence we …

… bought a SIM card from “Claro” at Oxxo

… chilled with café tinto at the Plaza de Bolivar de Bogota, incl. it’s government palace and typical latin-hispanic church.

… hiked up all the 1.500 steps of the Monserratte mountain towards.

… enjoyed the peak and (due to cost reasons) walked down again (not taking the famous teleférico).

… strolled through Bogotá’s most popular & alternative areas: La Candelária.

…had some savory crêpe for dinner.

… and after arriving back to Chapinero, went 2-3h to Licorería Hannover, enjoying an crazy mix of Salsa, Vallenato, Rancheras and Reggaeton.

It was a crazy day with so many impressions and things to remember. Here some which stood out to us:

1. The city is crowded by motos – and they drive like hell. That also includes car drivers… We actually saw multiple times how pedestrians almost got injured.
2. but: even a lot of bicycle drivers were around. (Still wondering how they survive).
3. The City is FULL. Tourists, shops, bars, restaurants, different areas for different incomes – there is literally nothing the 8+ Mio. City does not cover.
4. cleaniness. All tourist spots, the way from the airport and in general: the city is so freaking clean. I would have never expected that…
5. Mountain ranges. To the east, Bogotá is surrounded by huge mountains which look amazing.

Without further we do.. here the fotitos. Enjoy!

Greets,

Adrián & Mihail

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•