My Favorite Underrated Cities: Part 2-a, Bogota
The cities that I love even though everyone told me not to stay for long
2024/01/16 — 2024/01/29.
Bogota, the capital of Colombia. It’s one of those cities that everyone visits shortly because most international flights have to go through its airport, but people tend to only stay for a night or two. Indeed there’s probably only one main tourist attraction in Bogota, but I enjoyed it so much I stayed there for over a week and a half.
The city of Bogota seems to have a poor reputation about their safety, even when you visit other cities like Medellin, people will tell you to “stay safe” in Bogota. In my personal experience, I actually felt more safe in Bogota than most other cities. This is not to say that I think Bogota actually has less crime — but because of how separated the richer and poorer districts are.
I was staying in Chapinero (north east), and the whole area felt like a posh suburban area with countless nicely designed restaurants and brunch cafes. And I mean conutless. From the 58 street I was on, I could walk for an hour and a half towards the north to about 100 street, and there would be too many places to count. Along the way, half of the buildings are made of red bricks, and the other half seem newly constructed and modern. It creates a perfect harmony, and most importantly, I felt rather safe walking around Chapinero.
The south of Bogota is considered the more dangerous zone. I never visited it, nor did I have any particular reason to as a tourist. I visited La Candelaria, the historic center of Bogota twice during the day, and it seemed a bit more chaotic, with lots of people trying to sell you stuff on the streets or clean your shoes for some pennies. To the people who say, “Oh but that’s not the REAL Bogota” — Please go to those places yourself if that makes you feel better. Leave me out of it.
I was at a stage during my trip where I wanted to take it easy, and this city was absolutely perfect for me to sit down, walk around in perfect weather, and make some more planning for the upcoming journeys.
Wandering around Chapinero and Teusaquillo
Taking my journey really slow in Bogota, I spent much of my time literally walking back and forth in the Chapinero neighborhood every day, but each time I would take a slightly different path so I could discover more places along the way. Did I mention the weather? It was perfect around January time when I visited. Sunny, dry, and 24 degrees by day, and 14 degrees by night — it’s like the weather is nicely catered for leisurely walks. Plus, I was so done with the constant 34 degrees in the Caribbean coast.
It was overwhelming in the most positive way — I probably marked down enough restaurant on my “Want to go” list to visit for an entire year. To visualize some of these descriptions, here are some pictures below:
My Spanish tutor Diego invited me for lunch at his parents’ house. They have some of the nicest views overlooking the city.
We did a neighborhood walk around the area of Teusaquillo. It is a largely residential area, with barely any independent restaurants or shops but has a mall in the vicinity.
On another occasion, I walked to the north of Chapinero, which is about 35-40 streets away, or a little bit over an hour. On the way there, it looked as if there was an active volcano about to explode, but in hindsight it probably was just somebody burning stuff in the mountain nearby.
Around Calle 79–82 is Zona T, a famous shopping neighborhood with lots of nice malls, restaurants, and places to hang out. It’s a bit more upscale than the rest of the city (country).
In full honesty, the malls didn’t feel exclusive or polished on the inside. Sure, Louis Vuitton and some other brands are there, but public areas in these malls (and this is true across all 3 main malls around here) felt like they could use some touch up. Some areas seem poorly lit for what it could be — at least compared to what I envision a posh mall would be in Taiwan or Hong Kong. But also perhaps the feeling is made on purpose, so that people don’t feel intimidated by the atmosphere so much.
About 10 streets north of Zona T, there are a few parks and green parts of the city. It’s all just so beautiful and I enjoyed every second I spent there.
In terms of Architectures, there are simply plenty of eye-catching buildings as you walk in between these neighborhood, especially from Calle 65 to 95.
Afternoon at La Candelaria
The biggest purpose I hold during my trip for most countries is to eat. I always make a list of food I want to try, and I will plan my days around the eating spots. Argemiro and I watched the episode about Bogota of the Netflix show Street Food: Latin America, and I was determined to go to the local market.
We hopped on an Uber, and headed straight to Mercado La Perseverancia. I usually just call a car because I was not bothered to figure out the public transport system when a 30 minute Uber ride cost only 5–7 dollars.
All the waiters tried to get you to sit at their tables quite agressively. Almost as aggresively as the people in Cartagena were — except these people were not rude, nor do they try and touch you. Regardless, we left after a few quick photos after knowing that “Mama Luz”, the lady on the show, has not left the place and opened her own restaurant.
The next stop was Lechona, suckling pig. I found a place on Google Maps that had great google reviews. We ordered the smallest version, and it turned out I didn’t like it so much. I thought Philippines does it so much better. The Colombian version of the suckling pig is all mixed up with rice and evrything, but the result was that the meat becomes too try despite that it should naturally tastes fatty and full of gelatin. Also in all honesty, I only wanted the meat, but there was no option to do so at the place.
Any person familiar with the Colombian food scene will direct you to the “Ajiaco” soup when in Bogota. It’s basically a chicken soup made from cooking down root vegetables such as potatoes and sometimes yuca plant. Corns are often cooked in the soup to elevate the complexity of the flavors as well. Usually it comes with rice and avocado on a separate plate and you can either eat it with a tiny bit of soup or dump the whole thing in. I asked several people and realized there’s no rule for how to eat Colombian food.
And then there was the classic and controversial Colombian dessert — Chocolate with cheese. It’s all over Instagram showing how Colombians love their chocolate and cheese combo, so I went to a place near the city center that’s very old (since 1816) and very famous, called La Puerta Falsa.
So basically you dump the cheese inside the chocolate so that it melts, and you can use a spoon to enjoy the whole thing at once. Personally, I don’t really have a strong opinion about this combo. I think they simply taste like two things I like eaten together. Even as they are mixed up, to me it still tastes as if I simply ate some melted cheese and then took a sip of hot chocolate right after.
The areas near La Candelaria seemed a bit more chaotic and less posh compared to the north east of the city. I find a particular small town charm in the styles of the buildings, even though they are situated right in the middle of the country’s biggest city.
We took some pictures of the main plaza. It was honestly quite spectacular but since it’s literally just an empty space, we left within 20 minutes.
Public transport
At one point I did try to take the famous “TransMilenio” for the culture. It’s a mixture between what tram and a bus would look like. There’s a specific lane on the main roads exclusively reserved for these transmilenios. The vehicles are essentially articulated bus (long bus with two parts).
We were headed 20 minutes north to 192 street to meet Argemiro’s friend. In all fairness it was not bad, but I definitely preferred Uber. Or even the metro in Medellin made me more comfortable.
Yeah. I’m aware of my privileges but I think I’ll stick to Ubers.
More to come about Bogota.
