Bogota, Colombia

We decided to recover from the jet lag and stayed for a few nights in Bogota, Colombia before we start the real thing in Northern of the country. We found and stayed with David and his family from Couchsurfing.

Panela and Coffee

I could admit that it was quite overwhelmed for Luis and I. Bogota, Colombia, has so many things to offer. But one thing I will remember, David’s family’s welcomed us with warm agua-panela, which literally means panela water. It is made of unrefined cane sugar. A solid form of sucrose is derived from the boiling and evaporation of sugar cane juice. The taste? Since it’s naturally sweet, it’s a good sweet. For me, it was a good start and represents how warm, sweet, and polite Colombians are.

Another way to drink panela is mixed with coffee! With the perfect climate and elevation of Bogota, Colombia, the Arabica beans are grown and known for their rich, mild flavor and considered high quality. As you can imagine Colombian coffee combine with the natural sweetener of panela, it’s simply muy rico!.

This is how panela looks like

Weather in Bogotá

On the next morning, Myriam (David’s mother) cooked Changua for all of us. Changua is a typical soup for breakfast in Bogota. Made of boiled milk, mixed with egg, onion, and cilantro. It’s the best way to start the day in the unpredictable weather in Bogota. Trust me!

I said unpredictable weather because the weather here is always changing. Most of the time is gloomy with fresh air but the next second, it might start to drizzled and sunny at the same time. And it became windy on the next minute. If Bogota was a human, I think it’s a woman who has PMS, difficult to understand. Hehe.. :p

The best way to go around in Bogota is to bring your light jacket. A windproof or water repellant jacket is perfect for these dry and rainy seasons alternate throughout the year, a windproof or water repellant jacket will be perfect!

This was our Changua

Downtown

Luis and I went downtown, where the cultural core of Bogota, Colombia is. Since the museums, churches, restaurants, and bars are centered in this area, it was quite packed even on weekdays. We saw bunches of tourists with their tour guides revealing the history of Bogota.

Apart from tourists, we saw police in every corner of the street, stand by, and ready to act. With the conscious mind we have before we came, Luis saw the Police as a benefit. He took this advantage and sketched La Candelaria junction as you can see in the picture below.

Read the sketch story of this drawing

Guadalupe hill

Luis Hector & Myriam (David’s parents) invited us to go to Monserrate Hill on the weekend. People said that it’s one of the most to go places in Bogota, Colombia. I refused it because I read a myth of Monserrate in a blog – I forgot where – said that if we go to Monserrate with our partner, the couple won’t last long. I know that I sound superstitious, but on the other hand, I won’t break up with Luis. ;p

Gladly Luis Hector has another offered with my superstitious mind. He offered to go to Guadalupe hill. It’s a landmark of Bogota as well as Monserrate hill. The top of the hill offers a city sight of the Colombian Capital and the mountains as the border. It was so beautiful!! For us, it was relieved after the chaos in the city.

We also marked Bogota, Colombia with the warm hospitality from David’s family in our heads.