Colombia: Bogota & Popayan

JANUARY 2019

Following a two night stop over in Santiago de Chile, after an amazing week on Rapa Nui, we continued our South American adventure and headed north to Colombia. Our flight to Bogota required a transit stop in Lima, Peru, and took most of the day. Our arrival in Bogota airport was quite strange as we, the passengers on our flight, seemed to be the only people in arrivals. Although unusual, it was very welcomed as we raced through immigration, baggage claim and customs, and was at our accommodation an hour earlier than expected. However, it was New Year’s eve, and I expect everyone was where they needed to be for their celebrations.
We had rented an apartment in the centre of Bogota, close to all the attractions, and began our exploration of the city the following day. That day was New Years Day, a public holiday, so the streets were quiet of traffic but full of families enjoying their day off. We strolled around in the warm sunshine, visiting first Plaza de Bolivar where people were feeding thousands of pigeons and street traders were selling balloons to children and photographs with Llamas to adults.

Plaza Bolivar

Plaza Bolivar

Plaza Bolivar on the 1st of January

The Plaza is surrounded on all sides by impressive buildings, including the Cathedral Primada with the city’s mountains looming up in the background.

Cathedral on Plaza Bolivar

Next stop was Casa de Narino, the parliamentary building. Here security was very tight, you even had to have your bags checked by police to walk past it. Casa de Narino is another impressive building, with rich colonial architecture, lush gardens and a presidential guard at every entrance. Although we were allowed to photograph the guards, we weren’t allowed to photograph the building itself.

Presidential Guard

Near Plaza Bolivar

Our self guided city tour then took us around some of the adjoining back streets, with something of interest around every corner.

January 1st walking around in Bogota

Bogota Street

Old Town street

A church in Old Bogota

Street decorations

Our second day in Bogota was another lovely warm and sunny one. This time it was business as usual, and the street were much more busy. So we decided to get a view of the city from a higher elevation and this required a trip to the top of Cerro de Monserrate. Cerro de Monserrate is a 3,152meter peak that towers over the city on its northern flank.
Access to the peak is via one of three routes. Firstly, a steep hike up from the city, this we didn’t fancy due to the heat, altitude and a moderate degree of laziness. Secondly, via a cable car which has a station just out of the city at the foot of the mountain. However, this was closed, due to a recent accident (break failure on Xmas day caused a gondola to crash into a pillar and another gondola, injuring a number of occupants, mostly tourists). So ours was the third option, the funicular railway that started close to the cable car station.
First opened in 1929, the funicular follows a very steep track up the side of the mountain, disappearing into a tunnel just before arriving at the upper station. As the name suggests it was great fun (FUNicular?), with spectacular views of the city through the glassed roof 2003 model, and much better than walking.

on our way up to Cerro de Monserrate in the Funicular

On our way down via the Funicular

From the upper station there was still a bit of a walk to the top, along a path lined with Xmas decorations (which are lit up at night). At the top there is a church, restaurants, gift stalls and a spectacular view over the city and its surrounding neighbourhoods. We spent about an hour up there, taking in views and watching gas cylinders being delivered by donkeys.

Cerro de Monserrate

View of Bogota from Cerro de Monserrate

Donkeys and mules caravan carrying gas for the restaurants at the top of Cerro de Monserrate

View of the mountains behind Bogota from Cerro de Monserrate

Our last activity for the day was to visit the oldest church in Bogota, the 16th century Iglesia de San Francisco. We were told that the pews were pretty amazing, in fact the pews were unusual but the rest of the interior was the amazing bit. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. Also, all around the church interior were Xmas lights that were flashing on and off the whole time we were there.

San Francisco Church

As with many cities these days, graffiti artists have been encouraged to brighten up Bogota with their creations. We are told that there are over 100 wall paintings by both local and international graffiti artist in Bogota, and today we set out to see some of them. Known as Bogota’s murals, they are spread out all over the city, but the biggest concentration is in the La Candelaria district. Luckily for us La Candelaria is where were staying, so we were able to start our self guided tour right outside our door. Wondering around the narrow back streets of the northern sector we found loads, which wetted our appetite to look for more in the coming days.

Bees

Face on a wall

Cats

Double dog

The Kiss

Dragon on a wall

Panoramix made it all the way to Columbia- As a French and fan of Asterix et Obelix (i even have a tattoo) I had to indulge myself

With today’s theme being paintings, we thought a good way to finish it would be a visit to the Museo Botero. Fernando Botero is a Colombian painter and sculptor, and born in Medellin in 1932. If you are not sure of his work, the photos below will remind you of his style. As Botero is one of our favourite artist, the museum was a must visit for us. Although the museum is only small, it was very well laid out, with lots of Botero’s work plus a few other exhibits from famous artists. It was an enjoyable way to finish a fascinating day.

Botero Museum

Botero selfie (painting one of his subject)

Botero master piece

The following day we did an exercise that we do in most cities, that is to go walk about and see what we discover. We have a destination in mind, but the route we take will change depending on what we find.
Today we hadn’t gone far, when we realised we were in the emerald-trading plaza. In Colombia, and specifically Bogota, emerald stones are traded in the street, and generally in this specific plaza. We stood around for a while, watching sellers and buyers negotiate over the price of a selection of stones enveloped in a folded piece of white paper. We then got talking to a few of the traders and they showed us what they were selling, they often had many envelopes, all containing emeralds of different sizes. Prices varied a lot, depending on the size and number in each envelope, all well out of our price range.

This plaza is where the Emerald trader come to sale their goods, today is New Years Day so no trading

Emerald Traders

Emeralds for sale (and not the biggest one)

From emerald plaza we continued on our way, stopping on route to talk to some lottery ticket sellers. They were supporters of English soccer, both of them, and Arsenal FC in particular. Again, when I say we chatted, Anne did the talking for us with me understanding most of what was said, but only acknowledging with a nod and a few standard phrases.

Lottery tickets for sale

Onwards we went, watching Bogota daily life going on all around us, until we needed to leave the main street and head south again for our final destination. Now, our goggle map had shown us a number of different routes, but we thought it only made sense to take the most direct. To begin with the street had lots of things going on to interest us, guys waving chequed flags to encourage passing motorist to park at their lot, for example. But as we got closer to our final destination, the area became a lot seedier. Now bars and brothels had replaced shops and cafes, we had found ourselves in Bogota’s red light district. Trading was very open, we had ladies of the day, scantily dressed and sitting outside their place of work. Trade seemed to be pretty good, but we didn’t hang around to look too closely.

Road to cemetery

To our relief, we soon arrived at our final destination, Cementerio Centro. Once passed security and inside we felt safe. Main cemeteries of major cities are interesting places, and we seem to have visited quite a few. They give you an insight to the city’s history, show you the people that have been important to the city, indicate the division of wealth and many of the tombs are amazing structures. They are also very peaceful places, often due to the amount of greenery that is present, plus the lack of load noise. We weren’t allowed to take photos, so you will have to use your imagination. Upon leaving the cemetery we decided to avoid the red light district on the way back, otherwise re-tracing our footsteps. That is until a local indicated that it wasn’t safe to venture anywhere in that area, not with words, but with a knife across the throat mime. So we stuck to the main streets all the way back to our apartment. Not a normal touristy day, but a very interesting one all the same.

Business district

For our last day in Bogota we visited its main indoor attraction, Museo de Ore (Gold Museum). A fascinating museum that covers the history of metal, focusing mainly on gold, and the story of gold in South America. The top three floors are packed with displays of gold in every form you could imagine, but mainly ceremonial pieces from cultures long since gone. As you progress around the displays you get a history lesson from a gold prospective. Some exhibits were over 3000 years old and it never cessed to amaze us how skilled the craftsman were to make such intricate pieces.

Gold Funeral Mask, Gold Museum

Regalia of the elite

Gold Jaguar, one of many many gold artifacts

Just a few gold artefacts thrown together at the Gold Museum of Bogota

Three hours after entering the museum, we emerged much better informed about South America’s indigenous people, their culture and their amazing skills in working gold. Also pretty hungry, so we made for a recommended restaurant close the apartment, “Sant Just”. A very enjoyable late lunch followed, as we sampled their Colombian/French cuisine.

Tasty lunch

From Bogota we flew southwest to the small town of Popayan. Our apartment was in the centre of the old town, so well located to explore on foot. Still in the Andean foothills, the weather was quite pleasant, although we did catch a bit of unseasonal rain. On the day we arrived it was the Sunday before epiphany, so celebrations were already in full swing. The streets were full of people, music was playing and if you didn’t watch out you were liable to get sprayed with water or covered in some sort of white powder (we never did find out what that was all about). The partying went on into the night, with dance music blearing out from the other side of town and more traditional music being played in the plaza close to us. We checked out the plaza, and were impressed with the quality of music being played, a quartet with both Spanish and Classical guitars performing traditional songs on a small stage facing the plaza gardens. The gardens themselves were also a sight to behold, illuminated with hundreds of coloured lights, all adding to the spectacle.

Concert in the Plaza

Epiphany Celebration

The reason for coming to Popayan was two fold, firstly because it is the best location to launch a visit to the archaeological sites in the region and secondly to see the town itself.
To begin with we spent a couple of days chilling out and exploring the old town of Popayan. The old town is known as the “White City”, due to the colour of most of the colonial building. It is also known for having more than its fair share of churches, due to its religious importance, and for its politics, having provided more Colombian presidents than anywhere else.

White town of Popayan, very quiet as it is another bank holiday. Columbia has 18 bank holiday

Popayan

On our third day in Popayan the adventure really started, as we relocated to a much more remote part of Colombia, to visit some of the countries archaeological treasures.

Personal Observations & Interesting Facts

Colombia
The country of Colombia is located in northwest South America. It has an area of 1,141,748 Km2 and a population of 50 million, 8 million of which live in the capital Bogota. Bogota sets high up in the Eastern Cordillera of the Andean Mountains, and at 2640m above sea level is the third highest capital in South America (only La Paz and Quito are higher).
Before being occupied by the Spanish in 1499, the area we now know as Colombia was home to three main indigenous communities, the Muisca, the Quimbaya and the Tairona. As with most South American countries, the indigenous inhabitant suffered greatly at the hands of their European invaders, to the extent that very few true indigenous people survive today.
The Spanish remained in control until 1819 when Colombia gained its independence. However, the borders at that time were not the same as today, most notably in respect of the Panama Department. The Panama Department became the country of Panama in 1903, an agreement brokered by the USA, due to their interest in the Panama Canal.
Since independence, Colombia has had a somewhat violet history. Firstly due to warring political parties and then from the 1960’s, a long running government guerrilla war. However, things have got much better recently, with a peace agreement signed by the government and main guerrilla group (FARC) in November 2016.
The country is now looking forward to a peaceful and prosperous future, and is developing quickly towards that goal. Already the World Bank ranks Colombia’s GDP(PPP) as 32nd (40th GDP Nominal) in the world and 3rd largest in Latin America.

Flag of Colombia

GDP Nominal v GDP (PPP)
A nominal measure of GDP does not account for changes in the relative purchasing power of a good across time; it ignores inflation and deflation. Purchasing power parity (PPP) compares how many goods and services an exchange-rate-adjusted unit of money can purchase in different countries.

Bedding
It seems that somewhere down the line, the suppliers of bed linen weren’t talking to the suppliers of beds. Because at most places we stayed, lower middle range establishments, the bedding was a bit too small for the bed.

Car Alarms
I don’t think we have been anywhere that there has as many car alarms going off as in Colombia. They must have been either poorly fitted or supplied by Trotters Independent Traders (TIT will only make sense to lovers of the UK comedy “Only Fools and Horses”). Either way, they seemed to go off regularly and not due to attempted theft.

Chess
The game of Chess seems to be a common pass-time. Most towns and cities we visited would have competitions going on in the street. Usually a table and two chairs would be placed at the side of the street, where the players would sit a play. Sometimes there would be multiple games going on at the same time, all lined up in neat row, with an audience looking on.