Off to Bogota, Colombia…Days 26-30

After an amazing couple of days in Iguazu, it was time to head back to Buenos Aires for a night before catching an early flight to Bogota, Colombia….Located high in the Andes at 8646 ft above sea level, Bogota is the capital of Colombia and it’s largest financial center. Most companies in Colombia have their headquarters in Bogota and it is home to most foreign companies doing business in Colombia as well as Colombia’s main stock market. It’s population is approximately 8,000,000. Bogota, or Colombia for that matter has a reputation as being a relatively dangerous place with kidnappings. bombings and gunfights being regular occurrence…in the past this may have been true, but now a days, the government has “cleaned up” it’s major cities and tourist areas and it has become as safe as any other large South American city….You should still be on your guard, as you should be as a tourist in any big city, but safety concerns should not dominate your thoughts in such a fun city where people are, on the whole, very nice and willing to help.

We were staying in the north part of the city which is mainly the upper middle and affluent area with designer malls, world class restaurants and more bar/nightclubs you could shake a stick at. Walking around this neighbourhood, I felt totally safe and didn’t have any worries about roaming about…havin said this, you could still “feel” the past as there was security everywhere and the odd soldier with automatic weapons hanging around…

We did the usual tours in the city center with the government buildings, churches and squares…not too much different from any other major South American city, but we still had to see it…also went to the top of Monsurrate which is a mountain that dominates the center of Bogota 10,000 ft above sea level with beautiful views of the city…

Milling around the city center....

Pigeon Square....actually just the central square with ALOT of birds!!!

Another Cathedral on the main square....these south americans love their churches!!!

There is a lot of gold mining in Colombia and one of the major attractions in Bogota is the Gold Museum...It is spread over several floors and contains an extraordinary selection of pre-Hispanic gold work....to tell you the truth, I expected a lot more gold...

View of the city atop Monsurrate.....the city just goes on and on.....

10,000 ft above sea level....

About 1hr outside of the city is a town called Zipaquira and in Zipaquira is something called the Salt Cathedral…this place is amazing and is just as the name says, a Cathedral built into and old underground salt mine more than 600ft below the surface…it was incredible and definite one of the highlights of the whole trip!!
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A climbing platform outside the Salt Cathedral...doesn't seem to make sense, but hey, why not???

Entrance into the mountain and the Salt Cathedral...

Salt "fall" in one of the chambers of the Cathedral...

"sculptures" carved into the walls of the mine....all of salt...

One of the salt chambers deep underground....

 

The next few days were spent exploring the rest of the city and soaking up the Colombian culture…as was mentioned earlier, Bogota seem like an entertainment city with its numerous restaurants and bars….if you’re looking for a party, Bogota is definitely a place to visit!!

So that’s it!!! 30 days has gone past and I think it’s time to make my way back to Vancouver…It has been one of those “once in a lifetime” trips with only one regret….I didn’t get to see Brazil!!! Oh well, that just gives me another excuse to come back (maybe on my motorcycle!!) and spend 30 days just in Brazil…..Ok, time to hop on a plane back and see if I can plan a trip on “two wheels” this  time……