Bogota

Coffee with New Friends Maria and Diego

From the day we landed in Colombia, and even a bit before, we heard pretty negative things about Bogota.  When we passed through on the way to Villa de Leyva, we stayed at a pretty basic place near the bus terminal.  It was raining, and frankly, a little scary.  Probably because it was the biggest city we’d been in since Lima, and we’d heard so much negativity.

When we returned from Villa de Leyva, we had a different Airbnb.  It was in the university area, (there are something like 7 universities in the area), and we were right across from the University of Saint Thomas.  For those who don’t know the Twin Cities, there is a University of Saint Thomas down Summit Avenue from our old neighborhood.  We were met by Jack, who proceeded to give us the intensive introduction to Bogota, including areas, things to see, how to take taxis, and fruits of Colombia.  He is a great guy.

View from apartment

View from apartment

We invited Jack and his new wife Eva out for beers.  Eva is a painter, and won the prestigious Botero prize, a competition of about 5,500 artists.  It turns out she is lovely as well as being a great painter.

The area in which we had the beers and dinner is a shopping area somewhat like Rodeo drive.  There are malls and fancy shops.  Bogota has money.

The next day we went to the Gold Museum where we met Maria, whom Ellen had met in Topanga Canyon when we were there last fall.  She gave us a quick tour of the area, including an introduction to the Juan Valdez coffee shops, Colombia’s answer to Starbucks.  We toured the Botero Museum, walked around, had the local potato soup, did the Gold Museum, and headed back to the apartment.

The next day we rode the train car up to Monserrate, the church, and rode the cable car down.  We met Maria at a pretty fancy, but really nice Columbia restaurant.  Her husband Diego and their driver picked us up and we went to the market to buy a few weeks of fruit and vegetables.  We then went for a coffee.  In the meantime she showed us the house she had grown up in.

The next day we shopped for outfits for the cruise.  We did wait until the last minute, but eventually I found a dress shirt, and Ellen found some dress clothes.  They have three formal nights on the cruise, and we were a bit worried.

One of the interesting things was the music our cabbies listened to.  The first was listening to Chicago Blues.  Then Colombian new age music.  This was followed by classical, Rachmaninoff and Brahms.  The guy who took us to the airport had a CD with about 500 disco songs.

By late afternoon we headed to the airport, checked in, and flew to Sao Paulo.