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Colombia Trip: Day One (Part Two) | The Expeditioner Travel Site

Colombia Trip: Day One (Part Two)

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

I had the row to myself on the flight out of Houston to Bogotá which was great because I was able to stretch out across all three seats and catch a few hours of sleep. The bad thing about arriving at your destination at 5 in the morning is that you´re not likely to hit any traffic, the bad part is that nothing is open. After getting into the hostel I felt like I was doing okay and that maybe I should head out and start exploring even though the city probably wasn´t waking up for another few hours. But instead I decided to try to get another hour or so of sleep and I promptly fell asleep for another four hours. At least I won´t be jet-lagged, which, given that there was no time change from New York to here, would´ve been technically impossible.

My hostel´s located in the historic La Candeleria district — Bogotá´s ¨Old Town¨ — which is full of old Spanich Colonial buildings as well as most of the city´s main universities. After a traditional Colombian lunch of vegetable soup and a small steak with rice and plantain, I trekked my way to Cerro de Conserrate, one of two bulking mountains surrounding the city where I took a funicular to the top for a spectacular view of the city that any gringo would love. (Did you know that the word funicular is dishearteningly derived from the Latin word for rope? I´d rather it was derived from the Latin phrase for: Safe mode of transport that has no chance of plummeting down the mountain and has nothing to do by way of mechanics with ropes.)

Mañana? I´m actually hoping that it might rain tomorrow (today was warm and clear despite the weather prediction) because I really want to explore at least a few of the over 50 museums here in the city, the first at the top of my list being the Donación Botero, a museum featuring 208 pieces of Colombia´s most famous artist, Fernando Botero.

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