The Mighty Colombia....Part Five....
Well then......here we are.....back where we started....Bogota. Our first visit to Bogota was when we entered the country via the airport with our bikes, due to a cancelled sailing with the Stahlratte. After a couple of days getting the bikes out of customs we couldn't wait to get on the road and explore Colombia, hence leaving Bogota before we'd looked round the city properly. This time instead of near the airport we're staying in the La Candelaria area.
We had a few items to purchase and a couple of ride outs planned this time around. The first thing we needed to do was sort the memory card out for my video camera which had stopped functioning. All the footage I'd taken in Medellin and Hacienda Napoles was on there. We pick a little computer store almost across the road from our hotel in a little shopping centre. They took the memory card and told us to call back in a few days to see if the footage had been recovered.
We returned the next day and the next and the next...âŚ..during the course of this time we began to get friendly with Liz Francis, Liz and Fernando who were doing their utmost to try and recover my footage. Turns out that Fernando is the Managing Director of Cluster TV âŚ.how exciting....Fernando decides he wants to interview us along with Emma Newberry from The Bogota Post. We agree and Fernando and his daughter Liz visit us at the hotel for a photo shoot. Fernando's wife, Liz Francis holds the fort at the shop. We all had tons of fun doing this and a few days later they closed the shop to do the interview.We were really nervous when we went to be interviewed with Emma but it was all good, Emma was easy to get on with and Fernando was a great host.
Check out the interview......
Clustertv.net Plataforma informativa en trasnmedia un canal de comunicaciòn del centro de investigaciones y comunicaciones para iberoamĂŠrica. Este canal de comunicaciòn, informaciòn, investigaciòn tiene sus inicios en 1.993, el periodismo y la comunicaciòn social son sus herramientas, su base de desarrollo conceptual se soporta en el periodismo pĂšblico como campo de estudio, sus derechos de autor se soportan en Agenda PĂšblica. Goles de paz es un proyecto piloto de desarrollo e incidencia como base de una polĂtica pĂšblica social, cultural, econĂłmica. Los derechos humanos, el estado social de derechos, la democracia a escala de la humanidad en equilibrio con el entorno El Mundo.
Loosely...and I say...loosely translated as;
Clustertv.net Information platform in trasnmedia a communication channel of the research and communications center for Ibero-America. This channel of communication, information, research has its beginnings in 1993, journalism and social communication are its tools, its basis of conceptual development is supported in public journalism as a field of study, its author rights are supported in the Public Agenda. Goals of peace is a pilot project of development and advocacy as the basis of a public social, cultural, and economic policy. Human rights, the social state of rights, democracy on a human scale in balance with the environment El Mundo ..
After the interview we arranged to meet Fernando, Liz Francis and Liz for an evening out in Bogota. More on that later.
But before that we had some visits to make. First on the list was a ride out to San Bernardo to see some Mummies...yeah....I said Mummies....very well preserved ones. Along the way we encountered a road closure. We thought we'd have to turn round but luckily.....well watch...
âŚ...we fitted....good skills Chris.....and on we went. The San Bernardo Mummies are somewhat of an oddity and not everybody's 'cup of tea' and can be found in the Andean town of San Bernardo about 60 miles South of Bogota. They were discovered after the local cemetery flooded and bodies had to be moved. These particular bodies were incredibly well preserved considering they'd been in the ground for some time. Theories such as diet and altitude have been suggested as reasons why the bodies are well preserved but apparently it's never been proven.
Interesting stuff. We returned to Bogota and made plans for the next day to visit the...
The Gold Museum was huge. It actually houses the largest collection of gold objects in the World, all 55,000 of them.There were some amazing displays, one of particular interest to us which was the Muisca Golden Raft. This piece was found in 1969 in an area called Pasca and forms part of the origins of the legend of 'El Dorado's Gold'.
Walking around Bogota was surprisingly easy considering it's allegedly South America's third highest city at approximately 8660 feet above sea level. Good training, we know there's higher coming. The city is of course busy..it's a city....but La Candelaria was a good area to explore with lot's of old buildings still to be found alongside more modern additions. There's a rich history to be found in Bogota if you look for it.
One of our favourites was the Plaza de Bolivar where we got to feed 'sky rats'......pigeons to those that don't know. Love them or hate them, the practice of feeding them has been banned in London since 2003 and I'd never done it. The 'Feed the Birds' song from 'Mary Poppins' had long been a favourite of mine, I'd often had notions of giving the old lady 'tuppence' for a bag of crumbs and have the birds eat out of my hand and we couldn't do it in our own country so Muchas Gracias Colombia â¤
What's next, there's still a couple of excursions left while we're here. A little 'tootle' about 16 miles down the road to Tequendama.
Now this place has a lot to live up to on account of it being depicted as 'haunted' by various Facebook posts that surface every now and again. The picture they use is generally an old one and kind of leads you to believe it's in the middle of nowhere. Quite the latter. Here's a photo Chris took and I applied a filter over it.
Just look at that building. Fabulous isn't it!
Tequendama - original meaning 'he who precipitated downwards'. The house was built in 1923 as a private mansion in French styled architecture. It changed into a hotel in 1928 and after that it fell into abandonment and disrepair partially due to the River Bogota flowing below it becoming contaminated. Eventually two groups, the University of Colombia and the Ecological Farm Foundation refurbished the place and turned it into a museum. It had it's first display in 2013. Unfortunately it was closed when we got there so we couldn't go inside but it's impressive just to look at and the views over Tequendama falls are superb. Just one thing though...you'll smell it before you see it. As mentioned above the River Bogota below really is contaminated, one of the worst in the World with untreated waste from Bogota going straight into the river. It's shocking that somewhere so beautiful should be subjected to this kind of pollution and I really hope the Colombian Government sort it out.
The falls, Tequendama Falls stand at about 430 ft.....quite a drop for all that polluted water. In days gone by the Muisca people attempting to escape the Spanish would jump off, believing they would become eagles and 'fly free'. In fact there's several legends surrounding the falls so it's no wonder Tequendama has gained notoriety for being haunted.
The house is easily reached on an asphalt road. If you're in Bogota, take the Autopista Sur towards Soacha, carry on through that area and stay on the road until you see the signpost for Mesitas, carry on and you'll find yourself on the Troncal del Tequendama....plain sailing from there, follow the road and you'll come to it on your right hand side. There's not too much space for parking, much easier if you're on a bike and there's a few local stalls selling food at the side of the road.
That's the last of the ride outs from Bogota. Tomorrow we're going to visit Monserrate.
Monserrate is basically a mountain of 10,341 ft looming over Bogota. A place for pilgrims with a church at the top and fantastic views over the city. Don't worry, you don't have to walk up. There's the choice of a steep funicular or a cable car. We chose to ride the funicular at 10,000 Colombian pesos each (about ÂŁ2.50) and walk down. My best advice for this one is to get to the funicular ticket office at opening time. As this was walking distance from our hotel in La Candelaria we achieved this quite easily. It certainly gets busy round there quickly, abundant with sellers and locals offering llama rides. The funicular ride is only short but ascends on an impressive angle. Once at the top the gardens are a joy to walk round and plenty of birds up there. Don't worry too much if it's still a little misty. We went for a coffee in one of the cafes up there and I seem to recall they sold some 'yummy' cakes We walked around for a while at the top until the mist cleared, browsing in the tourist shops and peeping over the edge to check on the view. Finally it came and it was worth it. Once we'd finished taking photographs and videos, the sun had come out and the walk down was extremely pleasant.
Last but not least it's time for our evening out with Fernando, Liz Francis, Liz and we were also joined by Luis (Liz's fiancĂŠe). If anybody's wondering what happened to our memory card. Unfortunately we couldn't retrieve anything in the time we had in Bogota but I've kept the card safe in the event that when we return to the UK somewhere there will be a computer geek that can get into the card's and make an extraction.
The evening was spent with a walk round the more vibrant areas of La Candelaria with bars and shops through colourful narrow streets. I tried Coca tea for the first time. Made from the Coca plant, you won't get high from this because it's natural and there are no 'additives', it's more like a strong cup of tea. Chris tried an alcoholic drink with Fernando called 'Chica de Jora'...âŚ.erâŚ..I think......Fernando, Liz Francis, Liz, Luis......if you're reading and I've got it wrong let me know and I'll correct the name đ
After walking round for a while, Liz and Luis, the 'young 'uns' went their separate way and the rest of us......Fernando and Liz Francis took Chris and I for a bite to eat at La Puerta de la Catedral, a traditional Colombian restaurant...âŚ.Maravillosođ
And that my friends was that, the end of our stay in Bogota but not the end of our new friendship with Fernando, Liz, Liz and Luis. Thank you so much for your kindness. I hope you will come to England some day and visit us and let us return your hospitality đâ¤
Y eso de mes amigos. El final de nuestra estadia en Bogota pero no el final nueva Amistad con Fernando, Liz, Liz y Luis. Muchas Gracias por tu amabilidad. Espero que algun dia vengas a Ingaterra y nos visites y te devolvamos tu hopitalidad đâ¤
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