So how dangerous is it here???

  Bogota, Colombia Sunday, November 8, 2015

Bogota! Just the name is enough to strike fear into the uninitiated! It's also where Jody's cousin got mugged at knifepoint last year so we were going to be especially wary here. On the way from the bus station to our hostel in the taxi, our driver turned and indicated to us he had locked the doors but he made it clear it was for our safety. Oh dear - was this a taste of things to come?? Again it had been a very long bus ride through the mountains and stuck behind big lorries. We were fairly tired when we arrived at Fatima Hostel where we had pre-booked a room (we always pre-book if we are going to arrive after 3pm). The hostel is run by Hosteling International and so we had a good idea of the standard - or so we thought!The building is very old which was great, but it was very poorly lit so we don't think they could see to clean properly. The first room they gave us was right off the main social area and we thought a) it was going to be very noisy b) we didn't fancy dashing across there in our undies to use the toilet when it was packed full of teenagers at 11pm! Luckily they moved us and we ended up in a cute little room in the attic. We changed our minds when we went to bed though - we didn't realise they used the anti-bed-bug mattress covers so we ended up slipping and sliding around all night - not great. It was also pretty cold and we needed an extra blanket on the bed - 3 thick woollen blankets - wow - colder than England! We were only to stay here one more night though as the rain had followed us from Salento and eventually it came in the roof and we were flooded out and sent over the road to Explora Hostel as there were no more rooms at Fatima. We were not sorry as it turns out. Explora offered us peace and quiet and a lovely comfy bed. We did visit the Gold Museum whilst we were here. Lots of very pretty things to look at but not very interesting we're afraid, but for 60p entry each it was ok to escape the rain for an hour.Bogota also has a huge emerald trade. They are mined to the north and we realised were incredibly cheap here. Jody saw a beautiful pair of earrings she liked. Ummm but how to afford them on a backpacker budget? Jody formulates a plan! A couple of days into our stay in Bogota, we took a trip to Zipaquira. It's where the salt mine is in the north and they have a huge cathedral inside the mine. We had heard about it ( actually Jody saw it on google images again) and decided an organised tour was the best way to go. We hadn't got to grips with the way things worked here just yet and felt it would be safer. Our guide Oscar spoke excellent English (we still don't speak excellent Spanish) and told us lots of stuff on the way. The cathedral tour was interesting. Very pretty but not much else. It was huge inside so it took us a while to get around it even though the cathedral guide rushed us at 90 miles an hour and lost some of the group because they couldn't keep up. A very interesting (and cheap) collection of souvenirs down there too so we partook in some "la compra" - buying!In an effort to improve our español we had taken on the services of a teacher named Angela. Angela was great. She was straight in - no nonsense and very good. She got straight to the heart of why we were struggling and got us along much quicker. And she gave us homework - gosh she was strict! We also realised we needed to put ourselves in situations where we had to use Spanish too. Too many people want to practice their English and it wasn't helping us. Back to the tour - we spent a bit of time walking around the cute town of Zigaquira and the tour included lunch at a Colombian restaurant. Outside they had a fire with all the meat and fish cooking around it. Unfortunately Bryan said it didn't taste as good as it looked and Jody got the raw end of the deal with the vegetarian again. They had made an effort with a stuffed avocado but it wasn't that nice. But the musicians made up for it and they entertained us whilst we ate. A mixture of Peruvian, Colombian and Bolivian musicians. Wonderful.Bogota has some great little markets and we found one offering all handmade crafts. It was very close to an area we were told "do not go there under any circumstances" so we always had one eye open behind us. One thing we did really enjoy, was the bike tour. We set of in a group of 8 around the hidden sights of Bogota. Our guide was a young Colombian chap and he was very funny. He had all the jokes and the patter. First stop - a statue and monument of Simon Bolivar (quite a revered figure in Colombian history). Nothing special about it really, until he told us two weeks previously some workmen discovered a man had been living underneath it for 40 years. 40 years! he had a kitchen & everything under the statue! Next stop was where a politician was shot dead in 1948 which kicked off all the troubles. Then a fruit market where we got to taste some fruit we hadn't already tried - and a few we had. We saw the natural remedy sellers who will prescribe certain herbs for your ailments followed by a beer and another game of Tejo. No time to rest though - off next to see graffiti, a cemetery and then another coffee processing place where we drank more coffee. Finally the red light district - don't stop whatever you do he says. This is where the taxi driver locked the doors on us and now we are on push bikes! Great! We met a few nice people whilst we were here too. A lovely Belgium couple named Marie and Lars who were on their very first day of 6 month back packing trip, were staying at Explora too. They were so tired and still adjusting to the time zone. We wish them all the very best if they are reading this and hope you liked Medellin and cartagena. You never know - we may cross paths again.On our last day in Bogota, Jody put her plan into action for buying some emeralds. But when we went back to buy them, they had gone! Outrageous - how dare someone buy the ones she wanted. Plan B. She found some which were actually a lot nicer but had a different stone in them. The man in the Emerald Centre said he could take that stone out and put emeralds in for her. Just choose the emeralds you want. Oh Fantastic! We popped back a couple of hours later and there they were - beautiful. Just a shame she couldn't afford to buy the necklace. ring bracelet....... ! We have only stayed in the Candalaria area of Bogota. It is a very old part with some of the original big Spanish merchant houses. Many of which have been converted into hostels and restaurants etc. It's also an area full of museums and a university. You have to look past all the graffiti which is a real shame as a lot of beautiful buildings have been defaced. Our bike tour guide had asked us what we thought about the graffiti and we'd said there are two types; the beautiful pictures and the mindless scrawling of names "tags". We quite liked some of the arty stuff but the tagging was just ugly. He agreed so maybe they are canvassing tourists in a bid to do something about it.Our favourite was The Candalaria Pizza - thank goodness for the Italians or Jody would have starved to death by now! They were just so lovely and the food was very good - and cheap. We ate here a couple of times - the second time they had actually said they were closing up when we arrived. We stood and pondered where to go next and started walking back towards the town when they came running after us and said as long as we didn't want pizza they could cook for us. Service! On our last day in Bogota Bryan wanted to set off on an "adventure"! Waste of flipping time Jody called it but no, he had his heart set on re-creating a photograph he had been sent by his friend Ian. We had managed to track down where it was taken and set out to get a local bus all the way across the city. Well it was bumpy, uncomfortable, packed dirty and smelly - the bus that is. It took over 2 hours to get to the stop and the bus conductor gave us the nod where to get off. The smell from the river on the way was nauseating and reminded us of the filthy river in Kolkatta when we were there last year. It was revolting. The waterfall itself looked like someone had turned the tap off and the ruin of a building, although it had been painted, was a crumbling wreck which was all fenced off. Such a shame as you could see how beautiful it had once been.Precisely 15 minutes later we were on the return bus to Bogota. Well there's 4 hours of our life we will never get back! Cheers Ian - any more bright ideas?? Only joking Ian - nice thought but this one just didn't work out - keep the ideas coming though. So Bogota.... what did we think of it? Well surprisingly we liked it. It's full of Colombian people for a start and that's no bad thing. We actually got to really like the area and feel comfortable here. The people were nice and it had some lovely places to eat (if you eat meat). It still feels a bit edgy but that's probably a familiarisation thing. Overall we spent 9 days here which for us is quite extraordinary and we are not sure why. Would we recommend it? Umm again not to everyone but if you think you are up for it - then go!   [gallery columns="4" ids="11848,11855,11863,11876,11885,11897,11911,11922,11936,11945,11963,11975,11987,12002,12018,12024,12041,12057,12070,12083,12095,12112,12126,12140,12158,12169,12172,12177,12180,12187,12190,12198,12204,12211,12216,12224,12229,12237,12242,12245,12249,12251,12254,12257,12262,12265,12267,12270,12275,12277,12279,12281,12284,12286,12289,12290,12292,12294,12297,12299,12301,12303,12306,12308,12311,12313,12315,12318,12321,12323,12325,12327,12328,12329,12331,12332,12334,12336,12337,12339,12341,12343,12346,12352,12364,12367,12369,12371,12373,12375,12377"]