Bogotá Adventures

The nice thing for me about sleeping at higher altitudes is that I can't sleep in. The thing I don't love is the feeling of lack of oxygen and shortness of breath when walking up two steps. 

I lucked out on finding a very zen hostel in Bogota with a great atmosphere, free coffee all day, and a kick ass breakfast included in the price. I loved waking up at 6am every day ready to get moving (and by get moving I mean sitting in the kitchen reading and chatting over copious amounts of coffee). Plus I met an immediate posse, so it was like long leisurely mornings for a week with good friends. Have I ever mentioned how much I love long leisurely mornings? I think this is what I will miss the most when I'm done traveling. 

I had planned to stay in Bogotá for only a few days, but here I sit at the end of almost a full week here despite the high altitude and chilly weather. I find a certain charm to the city, and have spent my days wandering around somewhat aimlessly. That, and the posse I mentioned before have made for good company.  Oh, and I had a problem with my ATM card so I didn't have any money for 2 days. Hard to move on when you can't pay for anything. Luckily today I could take out money and this afternoon I head for Medellín.

Here are some photos and a quick recap of my week here. 

My adventures have included several art museums, the gold museum, tons of street food and arepas, a failed day trip to Villa de Leyva due to poor transportation planning and a morning that shouldn't have been so leisurely. When we arrived to the second bus stop to continue on at 12:30 we realized that we still had another 5 hours in travel time to go and come back all to be done to catch the last bus back to the city by 7:30. When you plan excursions, you should also sometimes wake up early. We did, however, get to see the giant Exito store, which I would compare to a Super Wal-Mart, so that was something cultural.

Plaza Bolivar

so many colorful houses

Botero Museum

Graffiti

Street food galore

Gold Museum

Exhibit at Gold Museum

Coraline and David on our very failed day trip

I also spent a good amount of time browsing the many stalls of used books and music for sale in the plazas. One day I spent almost 3 hours chatting with the owner of one who was so excited to share with me some of the great music of Colombia and teach me about the many different regions and styles. We spent hours listening to various samplings of a little bit of everything. On Sunday I spent all day walking around and around the flea market. Good thing I had no money because I still always want to buy everything I see. Also spent almost an entire day in the bookstore planning all the Spanish books I would buy when I had money again. Books are so cheap here in comparison to Peru, Chile and Argentina. It's a dream come true!

BOOKS!

for all you naked barbie collectors out there

a little of everything