We have spent a week in Bogotá, which has surprised both of us. We have been staying with a couch surfer, who has been kind enough to let us have our own room and bathroom in his high rise apartment. The best thing about our living arrangements is his dog.
Her name is Oyuki, and she is the most adorable, playful puppy! But she needs a lot of attention and will demand it incessantly with her high-pitched, ear-bursting yips. How could you not want to play with her? She is a bundle of white, fluffy, wild fun!
We also have the advantage of an awesome location in the north of Bogotá, with sweeping vistas of the city.
That, for example, is a view from the roof. We also enjoy evening lightening storms over the surrounding mountains.
We stroll about the city during the day while our host is at work. We frequent La Candelaria, where the colonial buildings are mixed with the new modern high rises in an interesting juxtaposition.
The Plaza de Bolivar is the heart of the area, and the backdrop of the mountains is just 7 blocks away.
The city is modern and absolutely huge, but still has its random moments of horse drawn carriages mixing with the rushing daily traffic.
But there is a general feeling of boredom in this city. Whether from the sea of dead faces that ride with us on public transportation, or the listless strollers through the streets, everyone seems to be detached from the feverish spirit of Colombia we were used to on the Caribbean Coast. For this reason, we have been very good about going on day trips to Zipaquirá, attending comic conventions, watching zombie walks, hiking up the nearby mountains, and spending entire days at the US Embassy. Ok, so that last one is not so exciting, but it was the reason we had to stay as long as we have here.
Our couch surfing host took us to H’s first comic convention, and we all decided to get into the spirit and dress accordingly. We raided his mother’s closet (she is a HUGE Halloween fan, even had her second marriage on the day in theme) and came up with an M&M costume for H and a vampire cape for me. Easy. Then we joined the serious costumers, an anime character, Frodo, and the Frank from Donnie Darko.
We toured the site, tempting ourselves with Japanese Pocky and strange foods with faces. There was even a full-size Quidditch field, interactive Angry Birds, graffiti art by one of our favorite artists here in Bogota, archery and sword-fighting ranges, inline skate obstacle course, and dance area for the evenings. Random and awesome!
On the Saturday night before Halloween we went downtown to watch zombies march through the pedestrian street in La Candeleria. They gathered beforehand in a park where we saw them “attacking” non-zombies, and with my irrational fears on display I convinced H that we should watch from a safe distance. H was of the opinion that we would be safest if we just went and joined them, and undoubtably she is correct. But my fear is irrational, so we hid in a coffee shop until I was sure they were not of the intimidating, crowd-attacking variety of zombies I was used to from living in Seattle.
Sunday we decided to shake off the cobwebs and get back into the hiking and exercise options in our southern lives. We braved the elevation and climbed the graded steps to the top of Monserrate. The elevation here is brutal to begin with (something like 2,580 meters) and then climbing an additional 2,000 meters is ridiculous. Also, every guidebook we read says that this is a bit of a dangerous hike, so we were glad to do the walk up the mountain with thousands of locals so we could blend in (we can actually do that here, everyone is pale from the cloudy weather/epically strong sun combo that leaves them sunburned easily as well!).
The hike was intense, and we are out of shape (our diet had been leaving much to be desired lately), but after gasping up untold number of stairs and inclines, we made it!
Our view from the top:
There was a church, with mass in session (I still don’t know the etiquette regarding pictures with that, so no interior for you. Although it was interesting).
The panoramic view of the massive size of Bogotá was impressive.
After it all, we have finally completed our task for Bogotá, and I have a new passport coming my way (eventually) in the next few weeks/months. This only took an appointment online and then an entire day alternating between pushing papers and staring at walls at the embassy. (H could not keep me company as she was not allowed inside the building for some reason. Instead she sat in the large grass mall inside the two layers of security fencing)
We move on tomorrow, but some small part of me will miss the impressive amount of time we spend either riding the TransMilenio bus system, or being in grocery stores here in Bogotá.
My map to the bus system, so good! Their buses are their own section of road, and have free transfer points across the city, so we could get basically anywhere for less than a dollar a piece.
We also entertain ourselves by looking for strange deals that combine toiletries and sweets,
Trying strange fruits that are slimy and require sucking them out of their pods,
And making strange raw veggie meals in the grocery store eating areas (this one is lettuce, worchestire sauce, avocado, chips, and tortilla).
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Rule #2: Don't Die. 