The start of the journey: Candelaria, Bogotá

The yellow building straight ahead is the Sayta Hostal

Two flights, fourteen and a half hours – that's what it took to transport us once again to a different world. We left home at 4:30 yesterday morning, the predicted fog patches more like a sea of fog for the first half hour or so, but thankfully clearing to reveal the still full moon, to leave for Toronto at 7:15. There, too, wintry conditions awaited us, but nothing stood in the way of our leaving on time for Bogotá, starting point for this year's Latin America journey.

As soon as we reached the lineup for the imigración, snaking back and forth in several long rows, we were vividly reminded of our last arrival at this airport in March of 2018. Then, we had a connecting flight with the south American airline Avianca and were very much afraid of missing it because we had to go through immigration first and moved so painfully slow. We finally cut through the lines, asking for understanding, and were given room to make it to the front of the queue quickly, sprinting to the Avianca check-in counter in record time. No such excitement this time: in due course we were given our stamp (oh yes, we watch closely for that every time we enter a country here), put our bags on the conveyor belt to be checked by customs and found the taxi office close to the exit.

The van zipped through the thick traffic near the airport and pretty open roads further towards the centre and, after about half an hour, dropped us at our Sayta Hostal close to midnight. We had stayed here for a couple of nights almost seven years ago, shortly after it opened, and found it much as we remembered, even got the same room – not a difficult proposition since there are only four of them, and only two private ones. I tried in vain to find my blog entry from that time in this blog site and realized I had then still posted on my other blog, Musings From The Farm. It was nice to read up on it before we left home.

This is not only a beautiful old house with its curved yellow facade with the white and green trim, but also a great location in Candelaria, the historical part of Bogotá. 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Candelaria 

Just a few minutes from our hostal is Bogotá's oldest plaza, Plaza del Chorro de Quevedo. It is considered to be the birthplace of Bogotá. Supposedly the Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada founded it on this square on August 6, 1538. It is a tiny, very popular space, surrounded by houses both old and more contemporary. Narrow, cobblestoned lanes run back and forth through this neighbourhood, with many small shops and restaurants. 

 

After breakfast this morning we went in search of a Scotiabank to draw money from the ATM. There are many ATMs, of course, from a lot of different Colombian banks, but we have found that the Scotiabank usually works, lets us withdraw a bigger amount at once and charges no or a relatively small transaction fee because we have a Scotiabank account at home. This search proved to be a wild goose chase: Johann had checked on Google Maps for the location(s), but try as we might we didn't find it where it was supposed to be, nor anywhere in the vicinity. We had a nice walk through the old part of the city, however. As so often I was as much taken by the beautifully restored colonial houses as by the crumbling facades that showed the splendour of better days, by the small calles (lanes), the people engaged in lively conversation. That is one of the first things I notice when I come to any Latin American country: people tend to walk in groups, animated, turned towards each other, younger women or men holding the arm of older ones, always respectful. One doesn't often see young people concentrating solely on their cell phones, faces turned down, oblivious to their surroundings.

Of course the usual din of traffic is part of the picture, too: a lot of taxis, motorbikes weaving in and out of lanes, here and there an old truck lumbering up one of the narrow streets, spewing masses of black exhaust. I would say it has improved quite a bit since we were here last, though: Bogotá is trying very hard to clean up its act. Recycling is everywhere, and here in this part of town at least there is not a lot of garbage littering the sidewalks.

What I also noticed were the many graffiti murals, often real works of art, so much so that free graffiti walking tours are now offered. We did a guided city walking tour in 2012 and won't do that again this time, but the graffiti is easy to find everywhere.

We decided to try our luck with the other Scotiabank location in the afternoon and walked to the main square bordering the cathedral, surrounded by impressive government and municipal buildings. It was teeming with people, a different musical presentation every twenty metres or so, from Colombian folk music to techno and opera arias, a cacophony of sound. Although this location seemed easier to get to it turned out to be just as difficult, and we finally found it after asking a couple of times. Thankfully it provided what we had come for as well. The Colombian currency takes a bit of getting used to: the exchange rate is COP 2,500 for 1 Canadian dollar, so one is always dealing with huge numbers and bank notes.

Unfortunately I left home with a nasty cold, which didn't improve with ten hours on airplanes, of course; the altitude of 2600m is probably not great for it either. This day of little activity and more sleep has helped, maybe the more humid air as well, so hopefully we can walk up to Monserrate tomorrow, the hill towering above the city. It is a very popular destination for both tourists and Colombians, the latter often doing the walk as a pilgrimage to reach the big church of the same name built at the top. One can reach it either by walking (all stairs), or use the funicular. We plan to do at least the walk up on foot. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Today it was cloudy, and all day it looked as if it might start to rain any minute, but never did. The temperature is a pleasant 19 or 20, dropping to about 9 or 10 degrees Celsius overnight, enough to make me appreciate the heavy woolen blankets on the bed. 

 

View from the hostal