Bogota 7/24/12 - 7/25/12

After a night of twists and turns in the mountains heading to Bogota, we rushed into town to get into our hostel.  At first, the hostel wasn't so bad, but we didn't really have the greatest feeling about it given the mattresses were made of plastic and the bathrooms definitely didn't meet our standards (even Matt's).


On top of that, it was raining and cold (of course it was only about in the 50's, but that is cold by Texas standards), so needless to say it didn't provide the best start for Bogota.  We also didn't feel as comfortable within the hustle and bustle of the busy city compared to the tranquil, easy going "towns" we got used to.


Regardless, we still made it to the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum) to accomplish at least one tourist activity of the day.  Later we ventured to the movie theaters and happened to pick a movie that had parts in Italian, which would've had English subtitles in the U.S., but instead had Spanish subtitles.  Kristin didn't understand as much of the movie as Matt, but the popcorn and coke were still delicious.

Next day, we woke up and switched hostels.  Our new hostel was very clean, and the lady at the front desk gave us a warm welcome and things felt right.  After checking in, we headed off to Bogota Bike Tours.  We are so glad we sought this out and did it because we went to places we never would have seen alone, and learned about things we never would have known without our ex-journalist guide, Mike.  We went to one of the city's biggest markets, which had LOTS of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, breads, etc, and we tested about 15 different fruits we had never heard of before and they were all delicious!  We also learned about political protests, saw lots of impressive graffiti, went into a coffee factory and had a great cup of coffee, saw a bull fighting arena, and even pedaled through the "red light district" (pretty certain we never would have strolled through this part).  Prostitution is legal in Colombia, but they do try limit it to "tolerance zones".  Riding through this zone was eye-opening.  

Us in the fruit section of the market

Matt with maracuya or colombian passion fruit

A tasty fruit that we can't remember the name of

Matt with yuca

Popular graffiti

Fresh cup of coffee from the coffee roasting factory (sooo good)

Bull fighting arena

Stop in the main plaza

After the bike tour we went through the Botero Art Museum with some people from the tour.  Pretty cool for an art museum.  Neither of us are that "artsy".

Painting in the Botero Museum

As said earlier, our first hostel, Fatima, did not meet our needs.  Thus, no pictures needed of crap for $9 a night.  Of course, our next place, Hostel Sue, for an equivalent price was more than worthy so we included pictures.