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CW 35 2003

25.08. - 31.08.2003

Well, we spend long hours of this week seeing various officials, trying to get the investigation of our robbery on its way. Finally we end up with a lady Luznela knows from her university days - and she holds an influential position. Therefore we do hope that the questions arising from our little incident will be fully solved, but more about that later.

We're going to stop dwelling on that sorry subject for now and rather tell you about our trip to Bogota.
We still had our tickets and on Friday morning we took of. Columbia's capital is about a 1.5-hour flight away. Cool 18°C await us. That's rather cold for a city in South America, housing 6 million people, but remember, Bogota is situated 2600m above sea level.
The first thing we do on Saturday, after a long breakfast, is to visit the "Cero de Monserrat". With a Swiss mountain-railway we ascend to 3200 meters.

   
   Up here the clouds howl around our ears, there's not much view and it's a lot colder. After a small round we retreat into the "Casa St.Clara", a house built in 1907, which today is a restaurant.
After we've warmed ourselves up with a local specialty, a hot soup called "Ajiaco" the clouds disappear and present us with a magnificent view of the famous 16th century church, of the city below and the Casa St. Clara. (left)
Back at the foot of the mountain we visit the historical part of the city, Canelaria, built in colonial times, hosting a variety of different buildings. Today it's the cultural center of Bogota with lots of theatres and museums.
One of them is the "Museo del Oro", a huge collection of art and jewelry made of gold. They are from pre-columbian times around 500 B.C. up to the times of the Spanish conquerors in the 16th century.

In the evening we meet Jean, a French Jazz musician who owns a restaurant in Bogotas entertainment center, the "Zona Rosa", and our plans for Sunday adjust. 		  
  
He tells us about "Zipaquira", one of the most impressive cathedrals in the world. It is built into the middle of a huge mountain, a former salt mine. And it really is amazing! Apart from the main church there are a lot of other rooms and all the religious figures and crosses are all made from salt.
Since this place, covering 8500 square meters, lies about 20 km outside the city, we get to see some of the surrounding land. This part of the Andes is a very fertile region with lots of haciendas and "Parrilas". Those are simple grilling places in the country where tons of meat is grilled and eaten by the cities inhabitants on Sundays.
Which is probably also the reason why all acceptable restaurants in Bogota-City (and there are many) are closed on Sunday evenings. So we end up in our hotel restaurant and let the week come to an end.

Next week's events, soon to be read here, if you like …
… until then, take care!

TOM