Crazy Colombia - Bogotá

Bogotá 

Hola South America! We arrived into Colombia’s capital city, Bogotá and once we’d got our bearings, we soon found the local buses in to town. We had to buy a Tullave card, which is a travel card used on the Transmilenio buses in the city (more than one person can use one card), and off we went to La Candelaria, the part of town we were staying in  – cheap enough, but a bit sketchy at night, near the historical centre.

FYI, to get to La Candelaria, after buying a Tullave card and topping it up with sufficient money, (you can get it from the seller at the bus stop) take bus K86 from the airport, then change at Portal El Dorado for bus number 1, all the way to Universidades where the bus terminates.

Love & Friendship Day

Every bar, shop and restaurant was full of balloons and love hearts, and I found out that it was coming up to 'Love and Friendship Day' (El Día de Amor y Amistad) which is celebrated in Colombia in mid-September. It's a bit like Valentines Day but it's not just for couples in love; friends buy each other gifts or get together for dinner.

Street art

The next morning, we were on the free graffiti tour from 10am to 12.30. Although graffiti is illegal in the city, the fine is tiny in comparison to other cities and building owners would rather have a proper piece of work than random scruffy looking tags – apparently the bigger, more professional pieces of street art deter tagging.

A few years’ ago, a 16 year old street artist, Diego Felipe Becerra, was chased by the police and actually shot and killed. Because the offending police officer was only suspended for a short time, and then reinstated, the street art community was up in arms. Shortly after, Justin Bieber was playing in concert in Bogotá and was given a huge police escort – at the taxpayers’ expense – to paint his own street art mural in the city, of the Canadian flag depicted as a marijuana leaf. The residents of Bogotá were furious about this blatant hypocrisy and the investigation into the death of the young street artist was reopened, with the police officer being charged and imprisoned.

 

Street art

Much of the street art, as with graffiti all over the globe, has a political message; for example, about the displacement of people living in rural communities who lose their homes to make way for fruit or palm plantations and end up desperate and homeless. Other examples display capitalism and the greed of the wealthy.

After the graffiti tour we strolled down to the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum). We paid extra for an audio guide – it’s not worth it; everything is in English in the museum. There were 4 floors of intricate gold jewellery and ornaments dating from the 1500s, which was the time of the Muisca people (Colombia’s indigenous people). To be completely honest, I was bored after the first floor. There’s only so much gold you can look at, although Baby D and others we’ve met enjoyed it. 

Botero art

About an hour later we left (even though the audio guide was 3 hours long) and just outside we came across a free walking tour of the city. This excellent tour was through Beyond Colombia and was 3 hours in length. A guide with a huge red umbrella is outside the museum every day except on weekends/holidays, at 10am (English and Spanish speaking) and at 2pm (only English). There is also a food tour with the same deal. I think tours only go ahead if there are enough people but I don’t know what the minimum number of people is required for the tour to go ahead.

San Francis Church

I can highly recommend the tour. We learned so much about the history, art, culture, politics and violence of Bogotá and Colombia. Among other places, we visited the Botero gallery. Fernando Botero is a famous Colombian artist, renowned for his paintings of obese people and their sins. 

We soon found ourselves in Bolivar Square where the Supreme Court is, which is where there was a notorious siege in 1985 involving Colombia's notorious leftist guerilla group, M19.  After the court had been seized by the guerillas, the army ordered to take it back and shoot to kill – guerrillas and citizens alike.  Citizens ended up being marched out and shot if they couldn’t prove what they were doing there. 11 people escaped but no one knows who they were. After the siege they found that many important documents had been burnt – some which would have implicated Colombia's bad guys (there were alleged links with narco-trafficking), but some may have implicated Court staff, and the suggestion is that some of the staff were in on it. One strange part of it was that the President of the Court was seen coming out safely during the siege but 3 days later his naked body was found inside the building. Very odd.

Bolivar Square

Colombia is still trying to shift this violent, drug cartel image and a steady increase in tourism is helping spread the word. We’ve generally found people to be friendly and helpful but like with any new place, we are cautious. But seriously, if one more person tells me to be careful...

Another one of the stops on the tour was at a small café in La Candelaria to try the local drink, chicha. This is a fermented grain drink favoured by students because of its cheapness. It tasted a bit like apple sauce. 

 

Huge bowl of chicha

We also tried chucula, a cheap version of hot chocolate made with various grains, like chickpea and quinoa, then mixed with chocolate, cinnamon and cloves. It was like a cross between hot chocolate and chai. Delicious.

 

Canelazo

Later on, after a quick wash, we went back out for dinner and to try some more chicha. It is usually served in large bowls and we stupidly ordered one bowl each. The bowls were huge, and we only managed to drink about half before giving up. It was too filling and with an alcohol content of only 1-3%, it wasn’t worth feeling sick over. We also tried the canelazo which is a hot drink similar to a hot toddy, made with honey, cinnamon, lemon and aguardiente (potent Colombian spirit) , and is sold by street vendors all over the place.

Catedral de Sal – Zipaquirá 

 

Main part of Catedral de Sal

We had heard about the Catedral de Sal (Cathedral of Salt) and it sounded great, but we didn’t fancy paying the $150 USD for an organised trip so we set off on our own to get there by public transport. Not the best idea with our rudimentary grasp of Spanish as there was major confusion over which bus we had to take to Portal Norte, which is where we had to get a connecting bus to Zipaquirá. We ended up getting so muddled that we got an Uber to Portal Norte instead for £4, and our driver pointed out the connecting bus to us. The confusion was probably more to do with the fact that there are so many buses that go to Portal Norte so perseverance is key! The bus to Zipaquirá was 5,000 pesos each (£1.25), and the same back.

 

Creation of Adam, almost

The cathedral was amazing. I am really glad we made the effort even if it was a bit far out of town. We paid 59,000 pesos entry which included an English guide, a light show and a 3D film. It was an extra 8,000 for the miners’ tour and the museum but they weren’t in English so we skipped them. We were able to go 180m deep underground which is where the main part of the cathedral is. Although there has been a cathedral there since the 1950s, the construction of the current one started in 1991. Each station of the cross was represented usually by a large cross carved into or out of the salt rock. At the end of the tour we emerged into 3 huge chambers with a chapel, a depiction carved in stone of the nativity, a carving based on ‘the creation of Adam’  in the Sistine chapel, and a massive cross. A mass is held there every Sunday at 12pm.

 

Catedral de Sal

Millions of years ago this part of the world was covered by a huge ocean which evaporated leaving massive salt deposits in the hills and mountains which turned into salt rock. This salt has been mined in Zipaquirá for many years and now they use water to dissolve the salt rock first, with the resulting brine is pumped out. 

 

Stone carving in the cathedral

We were leaving Bogotá the next day but we hadn’t managed to fit in Montserrate which is a famous church at the top of a mountain overlooking the city, accessible by hiking or funicular. We were to leave Colombia via Bogotá so we planned to do it on our return. 

#bogota #catedraldesal #colombia #zipaquira #southamerica #beyondcolombia #chicha #museodeloro #chucula #canelazo #botero #freegrafittitourbogota 

Earthquake in Oaxaca, Puebla and Adios Mexico!

Oaxaca

Oaxaca

We arrived in Oaxaca in the evening and headed out to see some of the town before it got dark, stopping for a beer in a cool little bar when the heavens opened, which meant we were stuck there, dammit. When the rain finally abated a bit, we jumped in a cab for the hotel. The hotel was full of 14 year old girls who looked like they’d been playing football, and when they finally stopped shouting around midnight, we were able to get some sleep. Around 1am we were awakened by the bed shaking violently. 

Earthquake

EARTHQUAKE! A bit disoriented we couldn’t work out what we should do, so we stayed put. After a couple of minutes, the tremors stopped and we immediately checked the internet to find out details. The earthquake was Mexico’s biggest since 1984 coming in at 8.1 on the Richter scale. It turned out that the epicentre was in the sea between the 2 states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, but much closer to San Cristóbal de las Casas than we were in Oaxaca City, although more people died or were injured in Oaxaca state.    

Museum closed due to earthquake

We walked into town the next day to have a coffee at the zocalo (main plaza) in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption and everyone was talking about the earthquake obviously. We were extremely lucky in the city, being far enough from the sea and the buildings didn’t look like they had suffered much damage.

Cathedral in Oaxaca

Around the zocalo were several tour guides selling trips, and we arranged one for the following day for 280 pesos for 2 of us. The tour included a visit to the Mitla ruins, and a trip to see El Tule, allegedly the biggest tree in the world, which is more than 2000 years old, 42m in height, has a diameter of 14.05m, and weighs 636.107 tons. (How do you weigh a living tree??). 

El Tule

The Mitla ruins was a Zapotec city, and we walked around the palace, courtyards, ceremonial areas and altars, and tombs. The buildings, especially the palace showcased the amazing geometrical design and architecture, such as the huge blocks of stone used for construction (similar to the Egyptian pyramids, no one really knows how they managed to produce and then lift these blocks into place).

Hot pools at Hierve el Agua

We stopped at an artisan Mezcal brewery to learn how this potent spirit is made and to taste a few different ones. Mezcal is similar to the better-known Tequila and comes from the agave plant as does Tequila, but it can be made by several different sub-species of agave rather than just the one type. We also stopped at an artisan rug-making place to learn about how the rugs and the dyes are made.

In the afternoon and suitably lubricated on free Mezcal samples, we drove onto Hierve el Agua, the petrified waterfalls. This is a beautiful place with stunning views in the middle of nowhere, where water has calcified on the rocks and the result is what looks like a couple of huge waterfalls. There is no water cascading, but there are a few hot pools bubbling away around the falls, hence the name meaning ‘boil the water’. 

Petrified waterfall - Hierve el Agua

We had one more full day in Oaxaca so we took a taxi from town to the nearby Monte Alban. This is a UNESCO world heritage site only about 6km from the centre. It was the largest pre-Hispanic city in the Oaxaca region, with a continuous occupation of more than 13 centuries, from 500 BC to 800 AD and it was the first planned urban area on the American continent.

Mitla ruins

The Zapotecs living in Monte Alban made use of plants for healing, to make textiles, for construction, to eat, and to communicate with the gods by ingesting fermented juices of plants like tobacco, mushroom, marijuana.

Monte Alban

At the site were carved stones depicting nude men, which have been interpreted as rulers from nearby towns who were captured, castrated and offered as sacrifices. The castration, blood collection and sacrifice may symbolise offerings to the gods or for fertility rituals.

Turquoise skull

We were back in town for about lunchtime, so we headed straight for the Museo de las Culturas which we’d tried to visit the day before but which was closed because of the earthquake. The museum is quite well-known for its display of a human skull which was excavated from Monte Alban. This skull is particularly interesting because it has a mosaic of turquoise pieces covering about a third of it.

The museum was great, the building was lovely and had several different rooms displaying different aspects of Mexican (particularly Oaxacan) culture and history. We finished just in time for my tattoo appointment across the road.

Our final evening, and we decided to pop into a Mezcal bar for a quick drink. That soon got a bit messy when we were surrounded by several Mexicans who wanted to party with the gringos. Admittedly not as messy as the fateful night in Cancun but still, one of us ended up asleep on the bathroom floor and it wasn’t me. 

Mezcal bar

Oaxaca is well worth a visit, it is a lively, friendly, pretty city with lots to see and do. We actually stayed a day longer than we had planned to and we could have stayed longer.

Puebla

Puebla

Back on another bus, this time to Puebla, a couple of hours east of Mexico City. Puebla is yet another UNESCO site, awarded for its historic centre. The city’s artistic quarter represents its longstanding artistic traditions, famous for pottery, cast and wrought iron, crystal, furniture, religious icons, soaps, gold, fragrances, sculpture and paintings. Many of the buildings are decorated with tiles, which although we have seen this elsewhere in Mexico, we’d not seen as much as in Puebla.

Much of the famous battle of May 5, 1862 against French invasion led by Napoleon, was fought on Puebla’s soil, as was the start of the armed movement of the Mexican revolution in 1910.

Puebla

One of the more interesting things we discovered about Puebla was ‘the Secrets of Puebla’. Mexican myth has it that many towns and cities across the country have a series of tunnels running underneath them. This has been verified by many people who have stated that their grandparents had passed down stories about the tunnels to them during their childhood. Although everyone had heard of these tunnels, there was not actually any evidence of them until a few years ago, when they were discovered in Puebla. They were only opened to the public in 2016. 

Secret tunnels in Puebla

In the tunnels they found old guns, horse shoes, children toys such as marbles - all manner of items. They dated them from 1531 which indicated that the tunnels were used around the time of the Spanish conquest. The horseshoes and other equestrian items, and the size of the tunnels indicated that the townsfolk probably used horses in the tunnels. 

On exiting the tunnels, we crossed the road to visit Fuertes de Loreto. This old fort was never used in combat and is now a museum highlighting the revolution and the battle of 5 May.

Cathedral in Puebla

 
We strolled on through the park to the cable car, and our guide pointed out various landmarks in the city, including the planetarium, the football stadium and the twin towers of the cathedral in the old town. We also got a great view of the four volcanoes surrounding the town, one of which was smoking.

Volcano in Puebla

Back in the historical centre we popped into the Museo del Tecnológico de Monterrey, which is a tiny little museum where we learned about microscopes and then looked at some local art. Free to get in, and a good way to while away 30 minutes, even if it was a bit of an odd exhibition.

If anyone visits Puebla and fancies a pizza, I can highly recommend a restaurant called Arugula. Delish.

Mexico City

Back to our new favourite city, and we had one day and one night to see a bit more of it. The area we stayed in this time was near Doctores and the hotel was great if the area was a bit sketchy. Roma Norte was much nicer although the hotel was worse there. 

Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

We headed north of the city to the, a revered (wonky) Basilica de Guadalupe, next to a huge, much newer church Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In the older Basilica we were kind of pushed into a line and we ended up getting blessed by the priest, but when in Rome and all that. 

New Basilica

We jumped into a cab to go to the Tequila and Mezcal Museum which we’d noticed on our way to the Basilica, and the entry price included 2 free shots – one of Tequila and one of Mezcal. We soon jumped out of the cab - he was running the meter and within about a minute it was over £1, so be very wary of the cab drivers round there! The metro is 5 pesos and is less than a 5 minute walk from the Basilica.

Tequila and Mezcal

At the museum, we learned how the 2 spirits were made, and on display were hundreds of crazy bottle designs. Finally we found out about the history of Mariachis music, which is the typical Latino music you associate with Mexico. 

Cool Tequila bottles

I had wanted to buy a bright Mexican blanket and as it was our last day I dragged Baby D to La Cuidadela, a handicraft market a couple of km from the museum. It was also not too far from Amperes in Zona Rosa, a busy area full of gay clubs and bars where we had dinner, and just round the corner was the city’s iconic statue, the Angel of Independence, which we hadn’t managed to see on our previous trip. 

Angel of Independence

I know I have said it on many of my other posts but we felt gutted to leave Mexico. We’d both been before but we saw a completely different side to the country and apart from the scrapes and the hangovers, there was absolutely nothing we didn’t love about Mexico. Adios amigos.                                                                              

#mexicocity  #puebla #mexico #oaxaca #eltule #hierveelagua #earthquake #tequilamezcal
#angelofindependence #montealban #secretsofpuebla