Bogota

 

Bogota was a wonderful final stop in Colombia: even though it was winter, the cold was not too harsh and the people were super friendly so we enjoyed a lot.

One day we went on a graffiti tour; this was super interesting as neither me nor Sunny knows much about graffiti or street art in general, and the tour touched on this culture in addition to the art pieces themselves. From political to decorative, they were a beautiful splash of color to this huge city.

We additionally made visits to the top of Monserrate hill for views of the city and to the renowned Gold Museum whose collection of fine gold artifacts was impressive to say the least!

As a day trip from Bogota we visited the nearby Salt Cathedral of Zipaquira. This site has been an active mine for salt for over a century, but got its claim to fame as the “first wonder of Colombia” due to the transformation of various chambers into an underground cathedral carved into the salt rock. It was surprisingly impressive if gimmicky and an enjoyable place to explore a traditional Colombian town.

Our final trip outside Bogota was to the Paramo ecosystem. This is unique to only 5 countries in the world with Colombia boasting the biggest. It is critical for gathering and filtering water that is used by the big cities and is home to unique cactus-like plants that trap the water in their leaves and send it down their hollow stems into the ground for further filtering before the final destination. These plants are so popular that a famous artist turned it into a cartoon character and there is graffiti celebrating it in Bogota!