Greetings all!
Lots of warnings, the Pope and a beautiful viewpoint!
Welcome to another edition of #TravelThursday, in which I highlight a country or place I’ve been to in my travels. I know, I know, it’s hard for all of us as travel lovers but at least we have the pictures and the memories…. And the new born plans every time you read someone’s blog!
Welcome to Bogotá, Colombia!
Hold on, I got a Rant first!
Before we take off I want to get something off my chest. Colombia like many Latin-American countries gets a bad rep. There has recently been yet another wave of negative stereotypes in the form of the recent series Narcos. The focus on their troubled past with drugs and or Pablo Escobar turn into quick dismissal and in turn a blind eye to all the good that is happening. I’m in no means an expert, I’ve just visited once but I can relate to negative stereotypes taking the upper-hand. Truth be told, when I did a bit of research into traveling to Bogota I got confronted with so many warnings and negative reviews that I hesitated.
At that time, I was going to be traveling with my sister and as you’ve read before……. If that’s the case, I do have the tendency to get hyper vigilant…. Combine that with warnings and you have a slightly paranoid big brother on your hands.
That being said… Not all warnings can be dismissed as being a negative stereotype cause the fact of the matter is that you are often a target as a tourist. You’re the perfect target actually, because you have a lack of knowledge and or connections. That means that you do have to use COMMON SENSE when traveling and just be careful, at least until you get a good sense of how things are.
I’m never flashy when traveling, I leave jewelry, watches or anything that looks expensive at home (I basically packed a 10-dollar duffle bag for this trip- I call him Duffly). I’m not going to tempt anyone, especially in areas where they could be worse off economically.
What a way to start the blog Gyanno…. Yes, I know, but I just wanted to get that out there.
I think there is a certain balance of realism you should keep when writing about places, it’s not always rainbows and butterflies, and often you just need to use your brain.
Okay back to the actual traveling!
Bogotá (La Candelaria)
My sis and I chose to stay in the old part of Bogotá.
We arrived at night and we’re dropped off at a popular square close to the hostel. And this, my people, is not exactly the time you want to arrive hahah.
We saw cops on the corners, people partying, drinking, one dude actually came up to me to offer me weed hahaha. Again not where/when you want arrive with your bags (I had a backpack and a duffle bag, my sister had a full blown ‘backpacking’ backpack’). So we hurried to our hostel. At the hostel we got some pointers e.g. don’t walk with your laptop and or wallet if it’s not needed, especially not at night.
Which brings be back to what I said above, first of all I wasn’t planning on it and second of all if the hostel tells you this, just believe them and be careful.
As always I insisted we take a look around, after all we could now blend in and just check out the vibe. We went back to the square to check it out and it was basically a happy, hang out vibe. There was music, young people hanging out having a beer… nothing too crazy. We sat there for a bit as to get over the negative stereotype and see for ourselves.
On the other days we explored more and got to go the area.
*On day 3, at the same square we arrived on the first night.
At this point we had gotten so comfy that my sis joined for a friendly game of ‘hacky sack’. *
The Pope
On day two there was something going on… We heard sirens, helicopters…. It was suddenly busy in the streets. It looked like some kind of protest at first. But when I asked it turned out that the Pope of all people was in the country and would be driving by to head to one of the Cathedrals….
Never underestimate the enthusiasm of the religious folk hahaha
I’d seen this on TV before, but never live so we stuck around to have a look. Sure enough the Pope came around with an army of cops in his motorcade, his own camera crew and of course his bulletproof Pope-Mobil. This was big thing people.
I’m going to (try and) upload a video here so you see for yourself.
It was one of those things that you know, you can at the very least say you were there 😀.
Check the video here:
Other side of town
We actually left Bogotá for a few days to go to Medellin and Cartagena (will talk about those in other blogs) but when we got back we stayed on the other side of town. This was very different from the historic city center as is had a much more modern vibe….
Tom Cruise would feel right at home 🤣
Shoutout to our Pato friends 😀
A night stroll
Monserrate
One of the touristic highlights is going up to Monserrate.
The journey itself is adventurous as you have to literally go UP the mountain to get there. There are these special wagons with an awesome/slightly scary views.
On the top of the mountain there is an old church with a park around it. It’s a calming area actually. You can walk around and enjoy nature and the views…
All in all, we really enjoyed our trip!
I’m always grateful to see other countries and I’ve learned not to let stereotypes take the upper hand…
Stay curious friends!
As always, any tips, stories or comments are welcome below!
Cheers!
@Gvkanten
p.s. This is 15/30 of the #HiveBloPoMo challenge, I’m officially halfway!