Bogota

We flew into Bogota from Madrid after a night in an airport hotel (with a pool to ensure that the kids had been entertained and exercised). It was a night flight of around 10 hours, meaning that we would arrive between 3-4am Colombian time. The kids slept very well on the plane, though they slept leaning on Becky which impacted her ability to eat or sleep properly…

Two notable things from the flight - firstly the Latin American tradition of clapping a plane’s landing, I remember this from visiting Brazil when I was 11, but it was a surprise to the kids which was nice. Secondly, the speed of the descent, we were prepared enough to know that Bogota sits at a high altitude (around 8,800 metres), but we hadn’t considered what this would mean for the speed at which we would land from the start of our descent.

Knowing how tired we would be, Becky had booked the previous night in our AirBnB apartment so that we could check straight in and not be left in the city in the small hours. Jet lag and a general fuzziness from the altitude hit quite quickly but we were able to get some rest before having our first step out on our adventure. 

Bogota was not a city high on our list to see, and had not featured in anyone’s highlights when we had spoken to them about Colombia. It very much seems to be seen as a necessary stop off as it is where European flights land, rather than a place to be explored as part of a journey. It was also a place that conjured up a fair amount of concern amongst relatives given the recent history of Colombia. We had highlighted a few things to do, but very much considered it a chance to sleep off some jetlag and ensure the kids were settled before we headed off on the tourist trail.

I should probably have seen if some commission was available from the Bogota tourist board before writing this, but we all agree that Bogota is seriously underrated as a travel destination and definitely should not be somewhere that is skipped over.

On our first day we took a walk from our apartment in Sante Fe over to La Candelaria, the old colonial part of town that is the heart of the tourist district. Incredibly, within around five minutes of entering one of the main squares we bumped into Daryl Ormerod, Chief Exec at Sheffield SU, who had also just arrived at the start of a three week family trip. We had a photo in front of the Bogota sign, discussed itineraries and wished each other safe travels.

After dragging the kids to the main square (Simon Bolivar of course) we walked back with supplies for dinner.

Our adventure had begun, but right now we needed our bodies to figure out what timezone we were in.

For a far more engaging version of events Becky's instagram is - https://www.instagram.com/this_mum_travels/

I can promise far more engaging content and no political commentary... 

Bogota highlights:

Museo del Oro

This is a great museum in the centre of town. Less than £1 each for adults to enter and free for under 12s. The exhibits all had descriptions in English alongside the Spanish. While it was very much a museum focused on the importance of gold in Colombian culture, it was more a story of native Colombian culture, tradition and religion told through golden artifacts. It was beautifully laid out and a great way to spend a drizzly morning.

Monserrate (via cable car and/or funicular railway)

A tourist must do in Bogota. The city is overshadowed by this mountain in the Candelaria district and at the top is a church along with tourist shops and restaurants, as well as a bird sanctuary. There is a walk up, but with the kids and the jet lag we opted for the cable car, which provided a brilliant view of the city. When we were ready to head down the funicular railway was open so we decided to try that out (tickets are valid on either), and the kids loved the step descent back to the city (it’s a fair bit bigger than the funicular at Saltburn which was my previous experience of one).

Maloka Science Museum

A brilliant, interactive museum, with a wide variety of exhibits and incredibly helpful staff. Our ticket included a visit to one of the ‘labs’, and as it was quiet we had the session to ourselves to learn about electricity and magnetism. The team found one English speaker to help us through the 1 hour session and the kids really enjoyed making circuits (home school points earned early).

Zipaquira and the Catedral de Sal (Salt Cathedral)

Hannah had read about this in her book about the ‘strangest places in the world’ while we were planning our trip, so this was on our must do list for Bogota. It was comfortably our most expensive day out (£90 for entrance for the 4 of us as international visitors), and may well be the most expensive day out we have in Colombia, but it was definitely worth it. ‘Zipa’ is about an hour outside of the city (we travelled there by Uber and back on the local bus), and the cathedral is the only one in the world that is underground. It sits entirely within a salt mine, and the scale is very difficult to describe or show clearly in photos. You enter through the 14 stages of the cross, each with a sculpture and audio description (home school RE tick), before you head in the Cathedral proper and the three vast naves. We were underground exploring the cathedral and the exhibitions for around 3 hours before taking the train out of the mountain.

Zipaquira itself is a lovely town, and we were pleased we chose to get the bus back to Bogota as it gave us a chance to walk through the town and see the squares and quaint shops.

Parque Simon Bolivar and Parque de los Ninos

We had read about these in travel blogs before heading off, but I don’t think they do them justice for just how good they are. The Parque de los Ninos is a huge collection of playgrounds, in an enclosed area over the road from the main park. The kids spent ages running around and trying out all of the different areas. It sits within a sporting complex and it was great to head there on a weekend and see the football, tennis, basketball, volleyball, roller blading, martial arts and running all taking place around us. It was so good we went back a few days later at the kids request.

The main park is huge and also dotted with kids playgrounds, as well as having a dedicated running trail around it which worked well for us to take turns to get a run in while the kids played.

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting of Bogota, but it certainly wasn’t a vast green space like this where we would feel confident to go running on our own and allow the kids to run around to their hearts’ content.

Travelling in Bogota:

• The city is huge (around 9m people) and sprawls for miles, the traffic is bad most of the day, particularly in rush hours.

• Much of the city is flat, and cycling is very popular. On Sundays many main roads are closed and given over to cycling and running.

• Being at high altitude it can often be drizzly (made us feel right at home), and it can be cool out of the sun, though the sun itself is very warm and powerful when it comes out (factor 50 is a must)

• Uber was great value and the most convenient and safe way for us to get around, this included a trip for over an hour up to Zipaquira for around £25, or simple trips to and from the Parque de Simon Bolivar for as little as £2.50. There is an extensive bus network, but with 4 of us travelling at a time Uber was the best choice (we did get caught out by this once when heading back from Zipa - we we dropped of at ‘portal de norte’ station, but couldn’t leave without purchasing cards and tickets for the bus system. Thankfully a local woman came to our aid and scanned us through the barriers).

• The people are very friendly and proud of their city, and the areas around the centre of town always felt safe as a family in the day time

• There was remarkably little English spoken, google translate was very useful and I was pleased I had managed to learn a little Spanish (though this first five days made it clear I need to improve in the next few months!). People were very patient while we struggled through.

Universities/Student life

While we’re travelling I’m hoping to find out a bit about University and student life in the cities we visit. In Bogota we walked through a number of institutions around La Candeleria in the area near the cable car station. It seemed like it was ‘welcome’ week for a number of students, and when we stopped in a bustling local restaurant it was clearly packed with students making introductions or renewing acquaintances. There were definitely a good smattering of European students their too embarking on an exchange or study abroad. It just reminded me of what magical places Universities can be and why I enjoy being in and around them so much.

We also drove past the campus of the National University a few times, though it appeared to be a closed and guarded campus so I couldn’t walk through as I’d hoped. There were a good few banners from student protests at the main entrances, the focus seeming to be about the desire to democratise and devolve the University - I’ve definitely been involved in those campaigns before.

Next we will be taking a bus to Armenia in the coffee region before we head up to the village of Solento - firmly on the tourist trail. Excited to see more of the country, try a hike in the mountains and visit a coffee finca.