A busy day in Bogota

We met the group at 6 last night for a briefing. There are 16 of us ages 40s up to 80s (Mr C). While milling around we hear a shout “hello Campbells “. It was Carmel and Nick, a very nice young couple (50s) we’d met in Madagascar. One couple were cross with us for not insisting that the taxi wait for them when we arrived. I explained my Spanish can order 2 beers but not suggest the 2 missing people might be delayed in baggage reclaim. I think they’ll get over it. He’s climbed all the Munros, Corbetts and Grahams so Mr C listened to his tales.

We didn’t walk far to the restaurant which was fine. I wasn’t hungry so had a very good margarita and ate Mr C’s salad.

Sunday.
A bus and local guide, the half brother of Andres, picked us up at 8 am to drive us to the flower, fruit and veg market where we had a wander, tasting delicious fruit and juices. After an hour the bus picked us up for the drive to the gold museum. As you’d expect there was far too much to see in the 2 hours we had there. We learned a lot about the culture and beliefs of the indigenous people before the Spanish arrived. I think it was even more spectacular than the Lima gold museum. We saw some Poporo where they mixed Cocoa leaf with lime from shells to get “insight and wisdom”. There was an immersive experience which I didn’t quite follow of gold being brought up from the river.

Next was a walk to a place for lunch where we had the local soup. It came in enormous portions. Mine was the vegetarian option (which meant they’d taken out most if the chicken). The rest was potato, some stringy greens and half a corn cob. On the side was a slice of an enormous and delicious avocado, some capers, mayo and a large pile of rice. A beef helped a quarter of it to go down.

From there we walked to the square we’d been to yesterday, calling in at a few churches on the way. The square was really busy today. There were many stalls selling beaded necklaces, baseball caps, tshirts etc but the most interesting was a chap selling origami made from Venezuelan money. They have 2,000,000 refugees in Bogota. This area and where our hotel is is the cultural and arty area with cobbled streets and colourful houses with murals. By then, 3pm, we were wilting and some went back to the hotel. I stayed on as I was very keen to go to the Botero gallery. His work and his private collection including Bacon, Henry Moore and Picasso are housed in a beautiful building with lovely garden in an internal courtyard. He gave the work on condition that entry was free. I first saw his huge sculptures in Yerevan and late in Venice but I’d not seen his paintings before. Also housed there were some very valuable pieces belonging to a church. One had thousands of emeralds, some huge, plus pearls, sapphires, rubies and amethysts decorating a large gold piece. No photos allowed.

Then we wended our way back up the hill popping into an ornate church and hearing lively music in a small square before heading down a steep narrow cobbled street of colourful bars and crowds of young people.

We may manage to rouse ourselves to go back up there for a drink later.