Bogota, Colombia

After finishing the tour of the Galápagos Islands it was time to move on from Ecuador into Colombia, the final country of our trip. Everything we'd read and heard about the land border crossing into Colombia was very bad. Stories of kidnappings and armed robberies didn't exactly get us up for it. So we unanimously decided to fork out for flights from Quito direct to Bogota. Due to a delay to our flight leaving the Galápagos, we missed our pre-booked connecting flight. As you can imagine we were all feeling sufficiently stressed out upon our late arrival into Quito. Luckily for us, the company we flew with to and from the Galápagos was a sister company of the flight we had missed, so they re-issued tickets for a later flight, free of charge. With the panic over we had a beer at the bar and were soon back in chilled mode.

We finally arrived in Bogota and got a taxi to 'La Candelaria' where we were staying. La Candelaria is Bogota's historic centre full of cobbled streets and old colonial buildings. Arriving at night, we couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by the poorly lit streets full of crazy Colombians partying on a Friday night. It was certainly a lot rougher than we were in the mood for after being spoilt in the Galápagos. Our Hostel was very basic with Joe having to give up his own private luxury cabin for a tiny box room that was a 2m square space!

The next day we walked around La Candelaria in the cold light of day and got a much better impression than the night before. It was basically your typical South American old town with plenty of authentic colombian cafes and bars dotted all over the place. All the cafes we went to had amazing coffee as you would expect! One thing you couldn't help but notice is the amount of graffiti everywhere, especially in the main plazas where the government buildings are. You could tell that these plazas have seen their fair share of social uprisings as every building seemed to have been pelted with paint bombs. This was one time when knowing a bit of Spanish was unsettling because we could understand what the graffiti said. A few buildings had 'Country of Murder' plastered across them.

Feeling in the mood to soak up some of the infamous Colombian night life we booked a party excursion through our hostel. The excursion involved pre-drinks at a party hostel located around the corner from ours, followed by a bumpy 'Party Bus' out to a town called Chia, 20k north of Bogota. The bus dropped us at one of Colombia's most famous clubs 'Andres Carne De Res'. The whole night was crazy and probably one of the best nights out we have had the whole trip. We went along with a few guys that we met at our hostel, not really knowing what we were in for. The bus was complete carnage with all inclusive drinks for all as it bounced along some very bumpy roads. Everybody on board was covered in some kind of drink by the time we arrived. Joe, Nicola and I were pretty drunk before even stepping on the bus and we all agreed afterwards that it was a bad idea to sample a bottle of Nicaraguan Rum before leaving.

Andres Carne De Res was fantastic. It's really hard to describe just how bizarre and original the whole place was decorated (check out google images as our photos are a bit drunkard). With parts of it being both inside and out it was like a labyrinth trying to find our way around. The whole place was packed full of the locals who were more than happy to show everyone how it's done. They couldn't have done enough for us! People we had never met in our lives were treating us like family. Truly some of the friendliest, welcoming people we have ever met. After partying long into the night with the locals, we arrived back on the bus at about 6am desperate for our beds.

The next day was a complete write off. We sank a McDonald's for lunch and bummed around in bed nursing life threatening hangovers. Eventually, we realised that we had better make more of seeing Bogota so headed out again in the evening.
This time to 'Zona Rosa' which is Bogota's equivalent of the West End. The whole area was much nicer than La Candelaria with tons of trendy restaurants and late night bars. We had an amazing steak dinner that finally cured our hangovers before heading for a drink at an Irish bar.

Overall, Bogota was a really fun city albeit very rough around the edges. It's certainly a lot better than how I imagine most people would view the capital of Colombia. Our next stop is Medellin before hitting the Caribbean coast.

Harry & Nicola

Copa Del Sh*thead Scoreboard: NH 141 - 156 HF