Bogotà Part 1…. January 2009
Me and Ray get a night bus from Armenia to Bogotà, I felt sad when we left actually cos there had literally just arrived a bunch of really cool people, and you know how it is when you can sense there will be a really good time and you just don`t want to leave it?? But, Bogotà beckons and I really want to spend the weekend there.
We get the overnight bus from the terminal in Armenia, complete with a bottle of rum to see us through the night and eventually get to sit together(people don`t do well here with changing plans, or seats, even if they are sitting alone!) and get to drink it. Buses are freezing cold in Colombia as for some reason(I think to prevent falling asleep) the drivers whack the air-con on full throttle, so if you don`t have at least 2 coats or a decent blanket you are going to suffer!
Arrive in Bogotà at about 5am, tired, cold and so excited! The bus terminal is really far from the centre, where we will stay, so we get a taxi and as we get closer, you can see and feel the city unfolding before your eyes! The first surprise is how many skyscrapers there are, and how many of these are banks(I don`t know what I expected but maybe not quite so….highrise?). We get to hostal-town at about 6am, and find that nearly all of the hostals are full, except a place called Fatima, so we get a dorm there and book a bed in the Cranky Croc(which is where everyone tells you to stay and is therefore usually full). The streets where I will make my home for so long of the near future are still strange to me, and trying to navigate yourself is sooooo hard!
Roger leaves at the end of the weekend, so we spend the time looking at the usual tourist spots, Bolivar square(my universal truth that there are 2 things all over the world…pigeons and chinese food) is proved here, where the hell do all these birds come from??? The market centre here is bustling, venders selling icecreams, arepas and mobile phone cards, street performers trying to earn a penny doing mimes, stilt walks and those ´silent-til-you-pay`acts…The square itself is huge and stately, just filled with pigeons!
The weekend goes with a bang, a party at the hostal bar on Friday night culminates in a huge brawl outside, involving the rather burly barman beating the seven bells out of a petite teenage girl and her friends swinging bats, chains and random weaponry at him….I spoke to him the following day and he had no idea she was a she, as she had just used her spikey choker to swing at his head, culminating in 5 stitches, and she was also a skinhead, resulting in a certain gender-anonymity! Bogotà is excellent, but there is a lot of civil unrest and fights on a Friday or Saturday night are par for the course…..
