Bogota

We are reunited

2 become 4 for the next 2 weeks

Welcome to the adventure Mum and Dad

We have arrived in Bogota for a couple of days to meet up with Mum and Dad before heading down to Quito to start on our Galapagos adventure. Louise and I were so excited to see them after a month and a half seperated, so of course all the things that could go wrong did go wrong. Our flight was delayed, they lost my bags (if only temporarily), the taxi was held up by police, and the traffic was awful. In the end none of it mattered because we were reunited! Though I think the poor man at the security desk got a bit confused by the hugging and carry on happening in his lobby.

We are in Bogota for a couple of days, to give us all a bit of rest and catching up time before we dive into the hectic schedule of the Galapagos. We wandered around the city for a couple of days. We checked out the Museo Botero which, as well as having an impressive collection of his own work, held works from Picaso, Degas, Dali and many more of the masters. We did a free walking tour, once again with Strawberry Tours where we visited the cobbled streets of La Candelaria, the place were nearly five centuries ago, in 1538, Capitan Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada arrived, the Spanish conqueror and explorer who was searching for “El Dorado” when he founded Santa Fé de Bogotá. Bogota is a fascinating city which has survived as many as nine national wars throughout the 19th century, two provincial wars, four great fires, and despite it all it still managed to reinvent itself in the second half of the last century as one of the cultural capitals of America. We visited the Cerro Monserrate taking the Funicular up and the Cable car down. Always best to visit here on a clear day and early in the morning before the smog grows to see the best views. We went to the Bogota Botanical Gardens, though unfortunately the orchid house was closed for renovation when we were there.

All in all we had a lovely time in Bogota, if only because we were all together. Next stop - Quito!