Arrival in Cartagena and Bogota in retrospect

Well we arrived on our £54 flight from Bogota to Cartagena, after initial concerns we were going to be cutting it fine for check-in. Luckily, South American time came to our rescue and therefore having 5 minutes to spare meant we were actually pretty early in the scheme of things.

The flight was 1hr10m, during which I was unfortunately seated next to (as Miranda put it) "Miss Plastic Fantastic". After initial concerns and contemplation of how exactly I'd contain the scene if the worst was to happen (no, not the plane crashing); her implants exploding, I settled back into my seat and relaxed. Some time later she picked up on my authentic London twang, it transpired she'd spent a year in London studying English. In summary, she said she woon't be going back to England, mainly due to the weather and that Cartagena was the best place in Colombia... we'll see! Interestingly she said, she loved her country, something I can't imagine many British people saying?

So, Bogota... the evil city who's inhabitants included visits from Pablo Escobar and Satan, the city where mountains of white stuff are universally snorted by old ladies and children alike. Our stay was in the old town, which is called La Candelaria. It's full of little cafes, eateries, restaurants, cocaine dealers, and beautiful buildings. The Cranky Croc hostel was our base, which was recommended and seemed like a great hostel - lounge/bar area/wifi/hot water/big tv - and a lively international atmosphere.

The rooms were dotted around a small outdoor courtyard, which was fine with exception of some noise, and the possibility of needing to get dressed in the middle of the night to go for a pee (altitude does funny things to one's bladder). The other oversight was any form of heating in our room, not helped by the lack of glass in our door (shutters aren't draft proof) and having just arrived from a nice 35 degrees in Rio, the room got more than a little nippy at night - thank god again for our sleeping bag liners! Climate control in the UK is a different concept entirely...

Edit - I neglected to mention, that on third day there they commenced with some building work to the floors. We arrived back to find that the 3/4 tiles they'd lifted from the floor on our way out, had grown to 3/4 trenches, that allowed us all to appreciate just how good sewage smelt. Disgusting. It's a decent hostel though, just let down by a distinct lack of cookware and in our case, the horrendous smell of god knows what...

Anyway, highlights of Bogota include:

• The Gold Museum, apparently the worlds biggest collection of gold artifacts. It costs pennies to get in, and houses 3 floors full of all things golden and a few other bits and pieces thrown in for good measure. Definitely worth seeing, though I was mildly disappointed by the lack of  gold fixtures and fittings in the toilets...
• The Botero Museum, this one is actually free entry on certain days/times. Housing all of Botero's work, and a fair selection of other artists it's a nice place to aimlessly wonder. I wouldn't really describe myself as being an art fan, but Botero's work is something I can really appreciate and for the most part you get the impression most of his paintings were done with his tongue in his cheek. Well worth a visit, if only for the fact it has a Juan Valdez (think authentic Starbucks) coffee shop next door, Miranda isn't a fan of Juan though...
• The Police Museum, we actually went to his one today, and also free entry. This basically involves a tour around and looking at the technologies and techniques the Police in Colombia have used over the years to counter terrorism and drug issues (i.e Escobar/FARQ). They've got a couple of rooms dedicated to Pablo's legacy (though they certainly don't glamourise him), but for me the most interesting room was the gun room, wall-to-wall guns... including my Canons!
• The food, it's cheap... really cheap. You can feed 2 and have a drink each for £3 if you shop around (Recolete al Carbon, just off of Calle 15, muy bien!). There's also a great chain here called Crepes and Waffles, which despite it's name has a wide selection, though not as cheap, we're talking £5 each. The jewel in the crown though for me, was this special bread they have called Areype, kinda like a naan crossed with a pitta I guess... filled with whatever you choose, also cheaper than chips.
• BoozeBus, I felt compelled to parade my gringoness on the bus with a load of lads from the hostel. Jist of it was you got free Tequila/Vodka shots whilst you were on the bus, and from time to time it stopped at bars/clubs for you to make a fool of yourself. I hate Tequila...

The altitude of the place though at 8,250ft really does have a noticable effect on your body. It didn't seem to affect us at first, but within a few hours we just felt lazy and lathargic. The following day, Miranda suffered a prolonged mild headache, and my knees were aching(?), but due to the clear weather we decided to go against our better nature and accend Monserrate (10,000ft)... we were both out of breath walking up an intermediate hill. We jumped in the cable car (you can walk it), but Miranda took a bit of a turn for the worse going up (and down) and some nausea was making itself known. Once up there, we checked out the view (which is the only real reason for going up there), the (uninspiring) church and had a wander - the view is great, but the place for me was disappointing after Sugerloaf in Rio.

I reckon it was the third day before we were feeling normal, and from that point you no longer felt your heart rate increase when opening a door. Makes me wonder what reaction La Paz will provoke 14,000ft... sick bags at the ready!

So Bogota in a few (actually 200) words, it feels safe and I'm sure nobody would have any issues, provided they follow the simple common sense rules you'd use in East London of leaving jewellery, watches, iPhones at home (they catch your eye when you earn £150-£200 a month). The people are friendly, if you need anything they'll point you in the right direction. We didn't have even a sniff of the white stuff, there's nobody peddling it on the streets at least. The climate is somewhat similar to the UK, and like Rio it's surrounded by nice green mountains. Oh, and though we didn't need to use it, they have a subway in the shape of bendy-buses, which operate on their own dedicated roads (no traffic(lights)) and appear to work fluently... the reason? They couldn't find the cash to build an underground.

Finally, first thoughts on Cartagena... fork me it's hot and sticky!!!

P.S Pics to follow.