Tuesday, May 24, 2022
For once my flight was at a reasonable time. My mom dropped me off at the metro and I took it to DCA, then I connected to El Dorado airport through JFK, arriving at around 6 pm. It was dark by the time I made it through customs (which was easy) and collected my bag. I walked outside and immediately saw the taxi stand. I hoped to spot a fellow backpacker to make my first trip in Colombia with, but no one looked like the would be interested so I had to do it solo. It cost $8 to get to the hostel, which was a reasonable price for the distance, but I’m guessing they would have charged a local a bit less.
The Selina in La Candelaria is a really nice hostel. There’s a common space, but it’s outside so it gets chilly and the heat lamps don’t always work. Actually, the whole hostel gets pretty cold at night, but they only supplied a thin sheet, so I was pretty uncomfortable at times. There’s a cafe/bar attached that’s sort of inside and a bit more comfortable, but you’d have to purchase something to sit there. They have an outdoor kitchen as well with reasonable refrigerator space. It feels a bit dead here, but I saw a flyer for a techno festival that happened last week so that could be an explanation.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
My first step is to head to the main Plaza in Bogotá: Plaza de Bolivar. There’s some important landmarks here and plenty of street vendors. I exit on the street where most of the street vendors are and follow it for a while. I bought a juice from one of the vendors after scoping out the options.
For lunch I went to Cafe-Cito and paid $10.50 for rice, chicken, salad, and fries. The food was pretty good and it was traditional too, but I’m surprised it cost this much. I think it’s a standard price as well, because lots of locals were inside including some kids who just got out of school.
For dinner I head to the renowned Crepes and Waffles. I eat in, although it seems like they have take away upstairs. The menu is huge, and the prices are cheap. The service was slow, but I’m guessing that’s a typical pace here.
Thursday, May 26, 2022
I want to get some groceries since we have a refrigerator and that’s what I did on my last backpacking trip, so I try the grocery store Olimpica. It’s a medium sized grocery but did not have many options for basic things like yogurt, sandwich meat, and cheese.
I want to watch Survivor before it gets spoiled for me so I take a midday rest, then head out again to Pizza Candelaria. The pizza was alright, and the prices were good. I recognized some people from the hostel at the restaurant so I asked if I could walk home with them. We ended up playing cards and drinking beers in the hostel for several hours. I learned the Dutch game Toepen (pronounced “toop”, I think), which was pretty fun.
Friday, May 27, 2022
I exchanged some money before coming to Colombia but it’s quickly running out, so I head to an ATM. I’m a bit afraid of getting robbed so I do this as discretely as possible. I don’t think I’ll exchange money in advance for South America or Europe again because the exchange rates are terrible for those services and there’s always an ATM in the airport. I’ll have to research about other places though.
I stopped in a random store called Okay because they were selling basic clothes and I needed pajama pants since it’s freezing at night. Then I met up in the Plaza for the afternoon English walking tour. The company is called Gran Colombia tours and at first there were just two of us on the tour. Luckily, a whole family showed up, so I was off the hook for answering the guide’s questions.
They added food to the tour which was nice. We tried chicha, fruits, and coffee in La Concordia and Variatele. If I was drinking coffee, I would head back to Variatele.
I met some Americans in the hostel and we headed out to a Peruvian restaurant with the Dutch guys. I tried ceviche for the first time which was actually really delicious. I took some of my meal away because it was pretty big and I ate it the next day for lunch.
Again we played cards in the hostel, and I learned a new game called Durak (which is Russian for idiot; there’s no winner, only a durak) from the Americans.
Saturday, May 28, 2022
I’m hanging out with the Americans this morning so I follow their plan. They want some quality coffee souvenirs to bring back home so we go to Art and Passion Cafe. We sit in the back room which has a pretty cool vibe and we each order different styles of coffee. I ordered a “tinto” which ended up being black coffee (or almost black) that was really sweet. One of them got a pour that used a siphon, which was pretty cool to watch.
Then we went to the Museo del Oro which only cost $1 to enter, (thankfully) because I found it boring (as I do all museums, so don’t listen to me if you like them). When we left, we bought some more food from Plaza del Bolivar and shared them. We got some chocolates, a drink made from sugar cane, green mango (which they add salt and lemon to for taste, but I didn’t like the texture of unripened fruit), a cheese arepa, and an aromatic tea which we added rum to.
Lastly, I went to Monserrate on my own for sunset. This was sort of a fail because it got super cloudy, but it did clear up, just not when the sky would have been the most colorful. It’s a very touristy place so be careful about your belongings, and the altitude as well. I would bring your own beer since it’s expensive there.
Then I ran home, (stopping at Crepes and Waffles on the way) because it was dark.
Sunday, May 29, 2022
It’s Sunday so I take the hint and relax. I do stop by Mercado de las Pulgas de San Alejo to look for souvenirs, and then I’m hungry so I try to go to the famous La Puerta Falsa for ajiaco, but they are closed so I go to the place next door instead. The soup is really good and there’s tons of locals inside, so I think it was a good substitute. This is a Colombian meal I can get behind.
Monday, May 30, 2022
I head a bit further out of the city center to Paloquemao Market via Uber. I didn’t really end up buying anything because they didn’t have any pre-cut fruits and I’m leaving town soon. There are places to buy prepared food, but I wasn’t ready for a full meal.
Then I took another Uber to Zona T to do some shopping while I’m in the city. I hit the standard stores and buy a few things, then get lunch at Rokko which is a super trendy Asian fusion restaurant. I got a bowl with chicken and other toppings, and it was pretty good.
I went back to the hostel and it’s karaoke night (which is like every other night apparently). I heard some Americans singing Backstreet’s Back so I introduced myself. It turns out to be a group of six frat guys from Florida. One of them told me he grew up in Bogotá before moving to The States, so I started asking him for his recommendations on Colombia. I thought it was interesting that he said locals like coming to the hostel bar, because in European hostels you would NEVER see a local. He ended up inviting me out, so I took an Uber to Zona T to meet up with them. We stopped at one bar (which I didn’t note the name of), and then finished the night at Federal Rooftop, which was chill. I took a taxi back to the hostel after the guy wrote down the driver’s license and information to make sure it was safe. Shoutout to these guys for the fun time! On Friday and Saturday there was a dry law, so without them I wouldn’t have made it out at all in Bogotá.
The dry law is something that happens around elections in Colombia, and apparently many Latin American countries (according to the Honduran girl I was talking to in the hostel). I was worried when I heard about it because I thought it was because the election was going to cause a conflict or riots. This might be somewhat true, however, it’s more because it’s a custom to get super drunk before going to the polls on voting day in some countries. It’s mostly to celebrate, but of course it can lead to problems, so they try their best to limit the availability of alcohol.
Check Out My Guide to Bogotá ⧉
My Google Maps Guides have all the important locations I mention in my blogs, and you can open them right in Google Maps to make it easy to plan your own trip!