For a resting day in Bogota I can only recommend going for the free walking tour. It is a typical tourist activity, but what do you want to do in a big city anyways? I am not searching for party or trouble this time around, so "boring" activity like that suited my purpose.
Joined by Rachel - a Spanish traveler - we've hit the streets and headed to the Museo De Oro - a meeting point for the tour. Blessed with a guide named Byron we enjoyed every minute of it. He was really entertaining and knowledgeable. I was flattered when some of my questions were considered interesting. He spoke of the country's history and statistics at first. I can't possibly describe everything he told us but Colombia looked instantly bigger than imagined before his information packed tour.
Next stop was Emerald trading center. Even in front of this well established place people are handling business. Traders, miners and speculators of all sorts and backgrounds are trying to make their living here. It is really quite an interesting rock - but I don't get the hype. It can be so easily faked with simple glass, so why care about it so much. Well as every commodity emeralds are of limited supply so some people gravitate towards it.
In front of this center Byron was mentioning other economical facts about Colombia and my picture about it grew even bigger. For instance did you know that Fentanyl epidemic in the US is changing the Cocaine business drasticaly? Yes, even Narcos cannot be sure of not going out of business...
Soon we have reached the highest point of our tour. It was a local produce market where we have tried some exotic fruit for first time in our lives. Accompanied by cafe and great view, Byron offered a cup of Chicha to the whole group. Chicha is a prototype of beer originally made by chewing on corn and spitting it in the barrel to ferment. This rather disgusting receipt was now exchanged with more developed methods of production - however the taste and smell of this ancient beer is still quite weird. On the other hand it might be still very popular as Chicha places are all around the old town where we will venture now...
Street art is legal in Bogota and even famous Banksy did some work here. It has been already covered with some other art but it still creates an amazing vibe and the pedestrian zone in the old town is really worth visiting. It is a city within a city I would say. Some other parts are not that nice as the growing homeless population is taking over the streets and hence makes the city to feel like a dangerous zoo. Because of the lockdowns their population doubled in last two years - thanks you government...
As I have mentioned before lot of things are named after Simon Bolivar here. Even one window bares his name and is treated special. It was where Simon escaped one of his assassination attempts. The tour ended on his Square where preparations for a National day of Colombia were taking place already.
After the tour it was time for some delicious vegan meal as I was feeding myself badly in last few days traveling from Guatemala. A place called Nativa had great menu and I have tried things not known to my tongue before. Price wise it was also not far away from the norm for a daily menu elsewhere in Bogota.
All the best,
Global Local