At this point of blog writing and photo uploading, Chris got bored. Katrina is taking over.
On our first day out in Bogota, we saw a large hill (Montserrat) and a very steep funicular up it, and decided it would be fun to take it to get a view of Bogota from above - it's vast but very low density, and the view from the top was beautiful. Chris and I were still (and are now still) making fun of Spike's initial confusion about our discussion about guerrillas (he thought it would be awesome to see gorillas, and couldn't understand our reticence to the rather less hairy and more armed variety), and we made as much mileage of this as possible while munching through some tasty enchiladas. In the afternoon we visited the Museo del Oro and the church of San Francisco, which has a huge, spectacular, solid gold altar and left us breathless, but for us, this was topped by the spectacle of GUINEA PIG RACING. There were five guinea pigs, so well trained they were so still they looked automated, and there were about fifteen upturned bowls with holes in them. Spectators bet by placing coins on various bowls, and then a guinea pig was released by verbal command and then made its way towards the bowls, sniffing several comically before finally entering one to much cheering and groans of disappointment from the crowd. It was hilarious.
We explored the Plaza del Bolivar, which had beautiful colonial buildings (but was NOT pedestrianised as Lonely Planet had promised - bizarre) and tried Aromatica, a typical Colombian drink, which was super tasty, while taking in the view. For dinner we had the 'menu del dia' at a restaurant close to our hostel, which was cheap and included Bogotan specialities, an experience topped only by the restaurant staff locking the restaurant around us (at 8pm?!!) and then ignoring us for twenty minutes... We're still not sure what we did wrong...
After a relaxed evening, we were ready for serious adventure the following day, and ventured to Zipaquira by bus and Transmilenio (providing a test for our nascent Spanish, until Spike discovered an old Colombian lady who spoke French, and they happily nattered away for the next hour). Colombian public transport has thus far been a dream and a real lesson to English transport planners - in a two and half journey there and then back to Zipa, we only had to wait 10 mins in total for our 4 buses. Miraculous. The salt cathedral was spectacular, with vast chambers underground, beautifully lit, and a series of crosses and other sculptures depicting Jesus' life. We took a tour of the 'miners' route', including a tunnel inside the salt cathedral itself barely six feet tall and four feet wide in the pitch black - Spike's choice of footwear (flipflops) left him somewhat grimy - and a tour of the area where they used to dynamite salt rock from the mine (as we commented, the tour would never have passed Health & Safety in the UK, but was brilliant).
We decided to go to Andres Carne de Res that evening (after Spike had bought some more suitable footwear), a bizarre but brilliant combination of steakhouse and club in one. It was packed with Colombians having a good time (the girls passed Spike's test of attractiveness) and students from Stanford (no idea why). We found a table after a long search through the club, which was incredibly decorated with fairy lights, hats, sculptures, wicker etc, and had AMAZING steak - foodgasms galore. A great time was had by all.
The next morning, somewhat worse for wear, we packed up and checked out of the hostel. We bought food for the bus journey to Villa De Leyva, our next stop, and had the best waffle i've ever tasted at Crepes and Waffles, before finally leaving Bogota. More soon.
