Bogotá
I arrived to Bogotá in the evening and decided I was gonna have an adventure and take to bus to the hostal. I have to say I was surprised that I pulled it off but I arrived safely with the help and a wonderful mother and daughter. When I arrived at the hostal I was pleasantly surprised to see some old friends from Cali. So I got right down to socializing.
Now Bogotá is a big city and though it does have its rough edges the people still shock you as being some of the nicest I have every met. I spent two long weeks in Bogotá visiting museums and walking the septima with wonderful friends until I found myself where I am today stuck at an airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia waiting to get a flight to La Paz.
Anyways back to Bogotá. I found myself primarily in La Candelaria and in Chapinero. I spent the first week at the hostal and then moved into a spare room at my friends house while he tried to rent it. I learned the vus system quite well on my own and becuase quite the little tour guide for my traveling friends at the hostal and an eager follower to my Colombian friends.
Of all my museum trips the best of the best was el museo de la policia and el museo de oro. The police give you quite the coverage on the hunt for Pablo Escobar and his eventual capture and execution. I got to see his guns and original blood stained roofing tiles. Very interesting. Not to mention every single possible police outfit known the the world.
The Other el museo de oro. Which other than it having a lot of gold there is not a lot there but being surrounded by that much gold I gotta say it quite a mysterious feeling. I made two friends who knew oregon very well. Jaime from Bend had gone to school at the U of O and we found out we must have met at some point considering the number of common friends we had and her travel partner Emily from Luisiana but a true oregonian at heart.
These two lovely women quickly became my partners on our cultural hunt of hte city. Another wonderful day was spent in a nearby town of Zipaquirá where we visited a Salt Cathedral. It is an underground cathedral built amongst the salt mines in this little town. The entired area is made of salt. Trust me I tasted it. The inside was incredible and the space was huge.
During my time in Bogotá I got to make two trips to the local cheap hospital. Nothing serious just had my knee checked out though to no avail. The first appointment I had five doctors and the second I had four. Each time they tried to pass me off to someone else so I gave up. However I had a great time talking to the doctors about Colombia and life and stuff.
Another wonderful thing about Bogotá is the markets. There is a little market about every other block full of wonderful little tempting things to buy. I somehow restrained myself pretty well.
Lets see... what else...Well I spend a day climbing the walls of the rock climbing gym with some colombian friends then we had a late night soccer game which I must say I havent lost my defending skills. I also got to spend some time with two very good friends Nelsón and Marcela from Bogotá. They are a very wonderful couple full of immense amounts of loving energy. Most of my friends from Bogotá that i spent time with I had met in Taganga becuase they had stayed at the Piro house as well.
My friend Jared and i had a day of adventure getting peircing. Very very very cheap.
I also got to spend some time with Lulu and friend who had worked at the hostal I had stayed at the first time I went to Taganga. She made for a wonderful companion.
Another fun day was ended with some Bowling. A huge group loaded up and headed down the block to an old bowling alley where a guy waits at the end of the lane to send back your ball and set up the pins. Now that was good fun. Not to mention I believe I won though it was a close call with Fabricio on my tale.
Overall Bogotá was filled with museums, relaxing, movies and friends. I loved it. Now I am here sitting in Santa Cruz Bolivia waiting for a flight to La Paz to meet my wonderful friend Rocio who I parted with over a month ago when she headed off to Ecuador. I have missed her dearly and am incredibly excited to see her. So if there are no more hold ups I should be arriving there late tonight.
Now Bogotá is a big city and though it does have its rough edges the people still shock you as being some of the nicest I have every met. I spent two long weeks in Bogotá visiting museums and walking the septima with wonderful friends until I found myself where I am today stuck at an airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia waiting to get a flight to La Paz.
Anyways back to Bogotá. I found myself primarily in La Candelaria and in Chapinero. I spent the first week at the hostal and then moved into a spare room at my friends house while he tried to rent it. I learned the vus system quite well on my own and becuase quite the little tour guide for my traveling friends at the hostal and an eager follower to my Colombian friends.
Of all my museum trips the best of the best was el museo de la policia and el museo de oro. The police give you quite the coverage on the hunt for Pablo Escobar and his eventual capture and execution. I got to see his guns and original blood stained roofing tiles. Very interesting. Not to mention every single possible police outfit known the the world.
The Other el museo de oro. Which other than it having a lot of gold there is not a lot there but being surrounded by that much gold I gotta say it quite a mysterious feeling. I made two friends who knew oregon very well. Jaime from Bend had gone to school at the U of O and we found out we must have met at some point considering the number of common friends we had and her travel partner Emily from Luisiana but a true oregonian at heart.
These two lovely women quickly became my partners on our cultural hunt of hte city. Another wonderful day was spent in a nearby town of Zipaquirá where we visited a Salt Cathedral. It is an underground cathedral built amongst the salt mines in this little town. The entired area is made of salt. Trust me I tasted it. The inside was incredible and the space was huge.
During my time in Bogotá I got to make two trips to the local cheap hospital. Nothing serious just had my knee checked out though to no avail. The first appointment I had five doctors and the second I had four. Each time they tried to pass me off to someone else so I gave up. However I had a great time talking to the doctors about Colombia and life and stuff.
Another wonderful thing about Bogotá is the markets. There is a little market about every other block full of wonderful little tempting things to buy. I somehow restrained myself pretty well.
Lets see... what else...Well I spend a day climbing the walls of the rock climbing gym with some colombian friends then we had a late night soccer game which I must say I havent lost my defending skills. I also got to spend some time with two very good friends Nelsón and Marcela from Bogotá. They are a very wonderful couple full of immense amounts of loving energy. Most of my friends from Bogotá that i spent time with I had met in Taganga becuase they had stayed at the Piro house as well.
My friend Jared and i had a day of adventure getting peircing. Very very very cheap.
I also got to spend some time with Lulu and friend who had worked at the hostal I had stayed at the first time I went to Taganga. She made for a wonderful companion.
Another fun day was ended with some Bowling. A huge group loaded up and headed down the block to an old bowling alley where a guy waits at the end of the lane to send back your ball and set up the pins. Now that was good fun. Not to mention I believe I won though it was a close call with Fabricio on my tale.
Overall Bogotá was filled with museums, relaxing, movies and friends. I loved it. Now I am here sitting in Santa Cruz Bolivia waiting for a flight to La Paz to meet my wonderful friend Rocio who I parted with over a month ago when she headed off to Ecuador. I have missed her dearly and am incredibly excited to see her. So if there are no more hold ups I should be arriving there late tonight.
posted by Megatron @ 6:39 AM
1 Comments:
At 7:05 PM,
Anonymous said…
meagan, i made it to your journal! fun updates. man, i'm just curious what your real journal entails. probably lots of juicy secrets. ahhh, taganga is grrreat! right now i'm staying at calypso dive center getting certified and then in two days we're doing the cuidad perdida with oded and all those crazies that we met from that salty underground holy center. had a falling out with frenchie. i think it had something to do with emily's eye being swollen from bug bites. not sure. she also has 10 percent of her eardrum missing, so she can't really go into the water or hear. it was interesting trying to get medical attention in santa marta but i learned the word for eardrum: el membrano. we're going to barranquilla for carnival. do you remember AX from israel? we met him in cartegena and we're meeting him there to celebrate. he has fond memories of both you and meredith. coool dude. love following you around the continent. hasta _______
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