Last week we visited Bogota the Capital of Colombia, the city I visited for the last time in 1974. To be able to enjoy the first full day in Bogota we took the first plane leaving Santa Marta at 6:00AM. With a taxi drive to the airport of 45 minutes and to be in time for security check we woke up at 3:30AM. This was early but worth it since the flying time to Bogota is only 1 ½ hours. Although it was rush hour we made it from the airport to the hotel in one hour and after checking in we had a very nice breakfast. Although we were prepared it was shock to feel cold temperatures after at least 10 years. Bogota is built in a valley between two mountain ridges at over 8000 ft. and if the sun is not shining it is cold. The typical temperature is between the high 40’s and the low 60’s and coming from the high 70’s and mid 90’s it was quite a shock. Besides jackets that we wear during a cold night crossing we do not have warm clothing and before we left we purchased shoes and socks. It was definitely not enough and we were cold the entire day. We had a nice hotel in the center of the city, but without heating so especially the first night was brutal even with an extra blanket.

After breakfast we walked to the “Parque Santander” with its world famous “Museo Del Oro” and the only high rise in the early 1970’s when I visited this city many times. During one of my visits the building caught on fire on the 13th floor and the people had to be evacuated from the roof top by helicopters. On the square a nice English speaking tour guide offered a “Free City Walking Tour”. At the conclusion of the tour the guide expected a nice tip for his service so the tour was not exactly free, but it did not cost too much. The tour took us through the city center and the La Candelaria neighborhood the oldest part of the city. We walked over wide boulevards closed to traffic and very narrow old streets some of them with normal traffic.

The government promised to do its utmost to lower the crime rate in the city even if they had to put a police officer at every street corner. But they did more at every street corner is a group of police officers. I have never seen a single police officer except for the K9 officers with mean looking dogs. Closer to the Presidential Palace the police is joined by fully armed presidential guards. But they are nice and polite even if you make a mistake like I did to cross the yellow line to take a picture. The guard told me that it was not allowed to cross the yellow line, like it was everywhere indicated but he did it in a nice but firm manner. I have seen it differently in the USA with yelling and screaming officers. A police officer warned me to keep my camera a little more protected close to the large bus terminals. We both felt very safe and enjoyed our walks through the city.

The city has changed tremendously since my last visit in 1974; it now has a population of over 8.5 million people. The center of the city and the financial/international district has many high rises including a building under construction that is the highest building in South America. But La Candelaria neighborhood in the old center of the city is very well preserved including the oldest over 476 years old building in Bogota.
Our tour guide gave us a lot of information about the buildings and locations from the early days of the city until the more recent violent past. He showed us pictures of the events in the past at the locations where the events took place. He also brought us in a very old pub where we had us taste the national drink “Chicha”. It tasted good, but it was a little too strong for me at that time of the day. Many South American countries have a variation of this drink, as it is typical of the indigenous people of the Andes. In Colombia it is made from fermented corn and sugar or honey, and sometimes pineapple as well. It is worth noting that in some areas the corn is ground and chewed in the mouth of the “Chicha” maker. The guide showed us the window where the great liberator “Simon Bolivar” half naked climbed out of when opponents came to the palace to kill him but they could not find him since he was sleeping in the bedroom of his mistress. He was hiding like this for 2 days under a bridge and got pneumonia of which he later died in Santa Marta.

The first afternoon we visited the most famous “Museo Del Oro”. I had visited this museum in the early 1970’s, but it is now in a new modern large building and the presentation of the art is absolutely top class. The description of the features is both in Spanish and English. The history of the metal works and the tools and techniques are described in detail and this information gives you even more appreciation of the art displayed.

The next day we took a tour to the Catedral de Sal de Zipaquirá. This is an underground Roman Catholic Church built within the tunnels of an active salt mine 200 meters underground in a Halite mountain near the town of Zipaquirá, in Cundinamarca, Colombia. It is a very popular church that receives as many as 3,000 visitors on Sundays; it has no bishop and therefore no official status as a cathedral in Catholicism. The temple at the bottom has three sections, representing the birth, life, and death of Jesus. The icons, ornaments and architectural details are hand carved in the halite rock. Some marble sculptures are included. The cathedral is part of a larger complex including "Parque de la Sal" (Salt Park) and a Museum of mining, mineralogy, geology and natural resources. The city of Zipaquirá is also famous for its beef restaurants with smoked and grilled beef. We had a great lunch that we could finish and we asked for a “doggy bag”. To our big surprise the doggy back contained more food than we had left on our plates, so for the remainder of the week we had an evening snack in the hotel.

When we returned to Bogota our tour guide dropped us off at the ground station of the cable car and tramway of Mount Monserrate. Monserrate is a mountain that dominates the city center of Bogotá. It rises to 3,152 meters (10,341 ft.) above sea level, where there is a church (built in the 17th century) with a shrine, devoted to "El Señor Caído" (Fallen Lord). The church is beautiful and views over the valley and the city of Bogotá are stunning (see our pictures).

The next day we did a walking graffiti tour through the city. After the city allowed professional graffiti art and even encouraged the use of the many walls owned by the city for graffiti, the city has attracted artists from all over the world. These artists have created a union that helps them to protect their art and to keep tag graffiti in check but at the same time encourage young and amateur artists. Many building owners allow the artists to use their buildings or even pay them to put art on their buildings. The result is that everywhere in the city you can see top graffiti, stencil and scalper art. For some of the sculptures you have to look up as they are attached on top of the buildings.

We visited the Colombian National Museum which is the oldest in the country and one of the oldest in the continent, built in 1823 as a prison. Its fortress architecture is built in stone and brick. The plant includes arches, domes and columns forming a sort of Greek cross over which 104 prison cells are distributed, with a solid wall façade. It was known as the Panóptico and served as a prison until 1946. In 1948, the building was adapted for the National Museum and restored in 1975.

We walked and walked and visited many other places looking around at all the people in the streets. Some people could handle the cold weather very well and even walked around in tank tops. But the majority on the streets and in the restaurants is formally dressed in suits and business clothing. Carrera 7 that was a main road in the past is now closed to traffic all the way from the Tequendama Hotel where I used to stay in the 1970’s to the “Plaza del Bolivar” and besides restaurants, shops and many historic buildings there are many street vendors with every type of food, street artists and live music.

It was cold, but we had the best time of our lives and we hope to return to this beautiful place in the future.