Bogota you suprised me

” I am afraid you cannot check in now as you do not have a ticket to leave Columbia..a one way is not enough.” We stare at each other in disbelief. “But what can we do as our plane leaves in under two hours ? (luckily we arrive early)
” You must buy a ticket now that leaves Columbia…”
The good news, there is free wi fi, the bad, emails are not coming through when we bought the ticket online. Stress levels soared through the roof as time went on and our departure was iminent. Poor Janet was so scared and really panicking. I sort of knew it would be ok as am more relaxed in these situations.

Eventually with minutes to spare a link for the ticket came through and what followed would have made a John Cleese sketch as we dashed through the airport and pushed through passport control and security shouting ” excuse me let me pass, my flight is leaving any minute”.

Then, embarassingly waited half an hour in the queue, and saw the same people we had pushed past…..but we were on the flight and had a ticket from Bogota to Quito in Ecuador. Don’t you worry Columbia, two nutty English women won’t be staying very long!

We were flying out of Buenos Aires and Argentina with lots of good memories as well as frustrations of a country , quite disorganised but with beautiful mountains, flat plains and battered cars that make a racket and people drinking mate all day long. The beef steak was fantastic but menus did not differ anywhere and you could eat pizzas everywhere.
I loved Buenos Aires and its Tango in the squares and sultry cafes and will miss the city and barrio of San Telmo and our arty, quirky crumbling flat.

Our first experience of Bogota was the chattiest, friendliest taxi driver on the planet. I don’t think he took a breath as he gave us a guided tour of the city. After a six hour flight I was pretty tired so did my best to show enthusiasm muttering ‘Si, claro’ and ‘muy interessante’ at appropriate intervals of the 40 minute journey.

A modern building with flower beds , a pond and janitors greeted us in a very nice area of Bogota in the north end. Our bags were taken up to the 6th floor and the plushest, biggest, most modern appartment awaited us. My friend Andy lived here while he worked here for a year. I first met him in Sevilla when he was ten years old and last saw him when he was about sixteen.

So it was lovely to see him walk through the door that evening and we tried to catch up on all the intervening years. It was great to stay there as we felt at home and I could be a bit domestic…I cleaned the floors, washed up and did the bathrooms before leaving. We also shared some cooking and ate together. Another huge benefit was using Andy’s lap top to watch ‘Black Mirrors’on Netflix and ‘Catastrophe’ on Amazon Prime….sitting watching something decent for the first time in four months. Not that we really missed tele or films but it was so enjoyable for a change.

We even went to the cinema to see “La La Land” in English with Spanish subtitles. We loved the film and the novelty of going to the cinema in Bogota.

Our neighbourhood was quite posh so had pretty parks and lots of cafes and fancy new blocks. I loved the tables and chairs under the trees where you could sit for a coffee or to read and even borrow books from a mobile library situated in the park. Dogs were generally on leads here but let off in the park. Dog walkers did a good trade as most people probably worked in the city.

A bit of a surprise was seeing a London double decker bus in a park on our way to the bus stop. It was a Streatham one and now a cafe.

We ventured into the old historic centre a few times but getting used to the buses were a challenge and they were always packed full. On our first attempt we didnt have a bus card and did the unheard of thing and shared a hailed cab with an Israeli Columbian . He had offered to use his card to pay our fare, chatted alot and was genuine….we got out in the historic quarter and paid our share and said our goodbyes….we were lucky, but neither had any bad vibes from him. Still , first and last time !

The old town El Candelaria was full of tiny streets, cafes, hostels and small tucked away shops. We visited the Casa Moneda, which housed the money mint museum and the fantastic collection of Fernando Butero..a famous Columbian artist known for his portraitures of big, oversized people which are comic and enchanting. He also has many statues in bronze, particularly of voluptuous women.

Then followed the wackiest most fun visit yet to the National Police museum. Museums are not their forte but they really tried to make the exhibits interesting…we continually surpressed giggles at model dolls in various uniforms, models of crime scenes and articles of the drugs baron Pedro Escobar..his Harley Davidson. The young officer taking us round was so sweet and kept asking me how to learn English…I wanted to take him home as I imagine the Columbian police are quite tough.

The police were very much in evidence, all carrying truncheons. One day we saw lots in the streets..it turned out to be a Presidential visit…they were prepared for trouble though and there were dogs with them. Dogs also go with security guards, though they looked too soppy to be aggressive!

You hear alot about drugs, and how Columbia is not safe etc but it all seemed ok. Alot of people hung around the streets but no one was threatening. However, on one bus ride back Janet was pretty traumatised when a fight broke out next to her and a man got punched. More scary was when a taser was used! Everyone was hyped up shouting “Call the police!” But no one did and the journey continued after both got off. One woman apologised and said this didn’t happen often.

It took a while for Janet to get over it as she could have been hit. On the whole though we found people in Bogota very friendly and helpful to us and liked the fact we were English…not too common a response in Argentina !

Two other highlights were a trip to the Gold Museum and a climb up one of the mountains that surround Bogota.
Seeing so much gold was stunning and is very much part a history of all the different indigenous people of Columbia.

On Saturday morning early Andy took us up the mountain on a lovely, but steep path through the forest. The path began at the edge of the flats…there is no hinterland between city and mountain. Hence lots of Columbians go up the mountain and at 8.30am we saw lots coming down, having set off at 6am. It was tough climbing as both suffered a bit with the altitude at 2,600 metres ( nearer the stars…tag line for Bogota).
Janet felt a bit poorly but still we made it , two hours later, to the top and the amazing view across the city and the valleys around.

Coming down was not as traumatic as I thought ( for a change…Andy was hoping to witness me crying!) and after a paddle in the stream half way down , we were soon down and having a lovely brunch in a trendy cafe , with fresh juice and followed by divine cheesecake and lemon tart. It is nice to know people who know where to go to eat yummy things!

The morning we left we were just packing up and I was in the kitchen, when I felt the floor rock and Janet shouted from the sofa..it is an earthquake! It felt like being on a boat. Janet said the sofa rocked too but we didn’t do anything. Maybe we should have gone downstairs to the ground level but it was over soon.

I contacted Andy who said it was a 7 , and epicentre north west of Bogota. He didn’t feel it on the bus. Anyway we were safe as knew it was a new and sturdy and probably earthquake safe building. But a bit of an experience all the same.

So a taxi whisked us off once again to the airport to fly north to the Colonial city of Cartagena on the Caribbean sea…I loved Bogota with all its cars and pollution but also its traffic free ciclovias and bicycle lanes and it was lovely staying with Andy who made us feel so much at home and we were able to discuss Trump ad infinitum and let off steam on a daily basis …Andy is half American.