The Snowlady Chronicles: Colombia!

Saturday October 7, 2017

Boulder, Colorado

Windy, Warm and Sunny

I am so behind in blogging about my summer vacation in Colombia. But it was a GREAT trip. My travel buddy and BFF and I chose Colombia for our big trip because we both always wanted to go to Cartagena and I also wanted to go see my Uncle in Medellin. After some terrible years with violence by drug cartels and kidnapping threats by the guerrillas, the country is finally at peace. Both Sandra and I agreed Colombia is one of the friendliest countries we've been to. Another reason why I wanted to visit Colombia is because of the book Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The book got me interested in Cartagena. And while traveling Colombia I read 100 Yeas of Solitude by Marquez which made the trip even more special.

So the first stop was Bogota. I arrived a day earlier than Sandra and arrived late at night so really did not see much of Bogota upon arrivals. The next day, I had an early appointment with my fab tour guide Diego to do a quick tour of the city. But before we began, I could not understand why I was thirsty despite drinking gallons of water and tired. Well, I found out Bogota is over 8000 ft above sea level! No wonder the weather was cool and Colombians call Bogota "the refrigerator", despite being close to the equator.

First stop was to get on a funicular and visit a church that is located on Monserrat which is over 10000 ft above sea level. So after arriving on top of the mountain and climbing 2 steps to the church, I was out of breath! So Diego told me he had a cure and brought me Coca Tea and a local sweet that most Colombians enjoy after mass. It was my first time to try Coca tea and it was delicious! And it worked! Still had to take the stairs slowly but felt much better! The church is famous for the black madonna. On Sundays, many pilgrims actually climb the mountain to attend mass and pay respects to the black madonna. The Spaniards wanted to convert as many locals to Christianity and to do that, commissioned a black madonna so the natives can relate. Today, Colombia is a Catholic country with several Spanish style colonial cities.

View of Bogota from over 10000ft

The Black Madonna

My first coca tea with a snack

Afte visting the church, it was time to explore the colonial part of the city. Its the city center and is where are the government buildings are located. I was pleasantly surprised how well the buildings are preserved.

Colombia's President got a Nobel Prize in Peace for signing a peace agreement with FARC. But many folks still want justice from the kidnappings and murder by the FARC

After a great tour, it was time for me to meet up with Sandra who arrived in the afternoon. So after she settled in the hotel, we decided to go to Abasto which is a highly rated restaurant featuring farm to table local food. We had a challenge finding the place but it was a great walk as the restaurant was located in another historic area of Colombia.

Putamayo Hearts of Palm salad

Shrimp in a coconut based sauce: relish!

For dessert we shared Torte de Almojabana - a coconut cake with guava jam

The next day, Sandra and I met our guide Diego and driver Mauricio early at 8am. We were going on an hour drive to visit the Salt Cathedral. A Cathedral that was built inside a salt mine. It is a functioning church and holds mass for 1000s on Sundays. We arrived just as the cathedral opened so actually had the entire place to ourselves which was fabulous. The cathedral is modern and is considered a showcase of modern Colombian architecture. It was spectacular and is a must visit if in Bogota.

The entrance

Salt!

The cathedral is dotted with symbols about the birth, life and death of Jesus

Here we are at the main part of the church

After a fab tour of the cathedral, we decided to walk the colonial square of Zipaquira, which is city where the cathedral is located.

Our tour with Diego ended at the Cathedral but our wonderful driver Mauricio offered to stay with us for the afternoon as a very reasonable price. So we asked him to take us to the flea market where we were told we can buy coca tea and the colonial town center which I went to yesterday so could show Sandra around. While walking the town we not only found one of the oldest restaurant in Colombia - La Puerta Falsa, where we had an inexpensive and delicious meal. We also were able to go to the famous Gold Museum and the Botero museum where admission was free as it was a Sunday!

The Flea Market - and found coca tea!

My favorite piece from the famous Gold Museum. The pieces of gold were amazing and showed how rich and talented the indigenous folks were.

Some of my favorite Botero's at the Botero Museum

Our meal at La Puerta Falsa: Chicken Tamale and Chicken Ajioca ( A Bogota specialty)

For the last part of our tour of Bogota, Mauricio took us on a drive to see the famous graffiti of Bogota. The best ones were at the red light district area which was a bit scary but worth it as the graffiti was fabulous!