Bogota... rain, rain and more rain
Trip Start
Feb 04, 2009
1
15
17
Trip End
Jun 03, 2009
Bogota, Colombia
Thursday, April 2, 2009
We arrived in bogota to a cold miserable morning, apparently it rains ALOT in bogota. Noticed the difference between bogota and lima. Air was alot cleaner and the pace not so hectic.
Catching a cab to our hostel cranky croc only to discover that they had no rooms for us so we loaded up our ever expanding backpacks and off we trudged to Destino Nomads where they had a bed waiting for us (hopefully).
We are staying in la candelaria in bogota. A large university in this area so the streets were buzzing with thousands of uni students. Lots of little bars and pizza shops. La Candelaria has a nice vibe about it but as bogota doesn't get many tourists we stood out like sore thumbs.
Our new hostel is great. Reasonably new and comfy. Met some other travelers and a couple of aussie guys who have been in bogota for weeks. They said they just cant seem to leave... Played a game of poker with the funniest irish guy I have ever met. Justin and I being totally beginners at texas holdem, however that didn't stop justin cleaning up and taking the pot. Thats how we roll!
More rain in the morning but headed out to the famous museo del oro, the gold museum. Amazing pieces of history collected form thousands of years ago. Wandered around for awhile till we got a tad bored so decided to head to the polica museo.
In colombia it is compulsory for guys to join the police force for some many years. Lots of young, fresh faced policemen around the streets. They seem to look after the airports, bus stations, traffic control and general security. The police in bogota are very proud of catching Pablo Escobar. The notorious drug lord who funded the murder of hundreds of police, killed politicians and generally run amok in colombia whilst stills controlling the majority of the drug trade in the country.
The museum is partly dedicated to his capture which took around 400 days and ended in a bloody gun battle in Medellin.
They have the clothes he was wearing when he got shot, his motorbike, numerous guns he used, surveillance material used to find and capture him and gruesome photos of him in the morgue and hundreds of other photos of his henchmen.... some dead, some in jail.
By far a more interesting museum than the gold one!
leaving Bogota for San Gil (about 8 hrs away) the adventure capital of colombia!
xx
