First Week in Bogota
First Week in Bogota
First week in Bogota, and it’s been a lot of fun so far, and add to that that we kicked Maccabi Haifa 3–0 in the derby…. One indicator: I carried about 10 books in my suitcase to read in the trip (almost had to pay overweight, and yes, I do have an ebook with me too), and so far was only able to read two chapters of one book…
Sightseeing: Naturally, the first week is a lot about sightseeing, and I covered few of the city. I walked to Chapinero (5km to the south) which is vibrant with the pretty Iglesia Nuestra Senora de Lourdes (photo), to Usaquen (5km to the north) with a fun flea market, and I also visited La Candelaria, the old city and downtown of Bogota, which is about 8km to the south. The Candelaria area hosts the Museo de Oro (Museum of gold, we didn’t pay as seniors!) which is worth visiting, the Plaza Simon Bolivar (photo) and the Mercado de Paloquemao, which is the biggest fruit, vegetables and more market of Bogota.
Maybe the highlight of the sightseeing so far was climbing up to the Iglesia (church) of Monseratte, which is overlooking Bogota. It’s a 500m elevation gain over 2.3km, which is not easy. What makes it really hard is that the elevation gain is from 2640m (Bogota city) to 3152m (Monseratte). After climbing for 300m of the 2.3km, I was totally out of breath, with my pulse sky high, and I had to rest. I then adjusted my pace, and 9 rests and an hour and a half later, I made it to the top. Compare to Google maps prediction of a 48 minute walk. The view from the top was worth it. This was likely the hardest walk of my life, following the walk on the Jungfrau in Switzerland.
I thought the “no run” sign was hilarious. I could barely walk.
Another key spot in Bogota, is the round bookstore in the Gabriel García Márquez Cultural Centre in La Candelaria. It’s a 360 degrees bookstore. It’s so cool.
Experiences: I had my first haircut in Bogota. It’s not that I have a lot to cut :-), but I definitely wanted to try the experience. And an experience it is. It took almost 45 minutes to cut my hair, and that included ~20 minutes of working with the shaver, God knows on what. I thought he is peeling of my skin. Then came the drying (of what), perfuming (at least 5 different perfumes), and massaging of my head and shoulders. The total was 40000 pesos, or ~12USD.
5 ways to make coffee is another must-do Bogota experience, which you can get in multiple café. She photo for one of these methods.
David joined me one week into my Bogota trip, and that changed the focus a bit to seeking Salsa clubs and teachers. With a combination of search and luck, he found a small school with a famous teacher, Jorge, and went there every day for lessons. I will not forget the first time Ana (photo), one of the top students in the school, said after the first dance with David: “he dances better than me”… it’s on tape. We also went to a couple of Salsa clubs in the evening, and don’t worry, I didn’t dance.
Then there’s riding the TransMilenio, the bus system of Bogota. Bogota does not have an underground, but has a high-coverage bus system that allows you to hop from one bus to another on the same ticket, using your TransMilenio card. This of course doesn’t save you from the horrendous traffic jams in Bogota, but it is a cheap and easy way to move around in the city. See the photo below for a typical TransMilenio station, and click here for the full experience.
Finally, a startup founder that I met in Tel Aviv just one week before leaving for Columbia, connected me to Tony, who despite the name, is an Israeli who lives in Bogota with his wife Shani and their four kids. He runs a business for cannabis in Columbia (fully legal) for medical purposes. Apparently Columbia is one of the more advanced countries in the world where it comes to legalization and use of cannabis for medical purposes. We went with Tony and Shani to a dinner at the Harry Sasson restaurant.
I almost checked volunteering off my list this week when the Spanish school ask me if I want to volunteer to teach English to the kids of the merchants in one of the bigger fruits and vegetables markets in Bogota. Of course I said yes. They took us (David joined) to a remote neighborhood in Bogota, but as can sometimes be expected in Bogota, there was a communication problem and the kids were not ready. So instead they gave us a private tour of the market. I will try again next week.
Food: There aren’t many better pleasures for me in a new place than to sample the local food and visit the local supermarkets. Jumbo Santa Ana in Usaquen was the first huge supermarket I visited. I probably spent there three hours, surveying all the aisles and every product, let alone the huge papayas (photo). I ended up with a shopping cart full of products. Immediately after paying for it, I realized that I am not in Shufersal Poleg where I can load the purchase into my car, and I somehow have to get the products to the apartment, some 4km away. I have to say that the Uber driver was really nice and patient with me loading all of this into his car…
I continued to cook recipes from My Columbia Recipes.
This time the victim was a drink called Canelazo (Sugar Cane and Cinnamon Hot Drink). Only after I bought the ingredient called aquardiente, I realized it’s simply Arak… I made it anyway, and it’s not bad. Hard to taste the arak.
Then there are the restaurants and many awesome dishes. some are below.
TripAdvisor reviews: I think I already covered my quota for the month… with reviews for:
Bogota: Restaurante WOK Museo Nacional
Spanish Lessons: Five days of Spanish lessons, 4 hours every day, can make your brain blow up, but you get to speak and understand some Spanish. There is almost no word in English in the class. All the talking is in Spanish. It’s in a very small school called More Than Spanish, with the idea that beyond just lessons, you participate in activities — such as a guided tour or volunteering — that are all in Spanish.
Me llamo Yoram. Vivo en Israel y tengo tres hijos y una bonita esposa.
Me gusta el futbol, la musica y el senderismo (you can actually say hiking).
Recommendation: If you have Netflix, watch Columbia: Wild Magic. Or watch it on Youtube. Watch the trailer here.
What’s next? Tomorrow we are taking a 3 days trip to the Coffee plantations in Manizales.
On March 21, I am going to a dinner with the Jewish community in Bogota. It’s a dinner cooked by four Jewish Chefs. Should be fun.
On March 24th, Tal is coming!
