I love the British TV series Top Gear, especially their travel episodes. Sam and I have seen them all. In one of the Africa episodes the Top Gear guys drive through Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, and it takes ALL NIGHT! The traffic was literally that bad.
About and hour and a half into our trek across Bogotá to get to Iguana 4X4 to install our new window to replace the one broken in the Guajira, I was worried that we were going to relive that Top Gear episode in Colombia. We were barely moving through the city. Sam kept asking me to check Google maps for traffic updates, and every time it looked more and more grim. Multiple accidents, roads closed for repair. It was chaos, and we were inching along as crazy motorcycle drivers and buses tried to push around us. I don’t care what anyone says, Colombian’s are the nicest people in the world, but when they get behind the wheel, they become a little psychotic. Driving a 5 ton truck with a stick shift in intense traffic is torture, especially when half your energy is spent on not hitting a bus or a motorcycle.
It took us over three hours to cross Bogotá! Three long, stressful hours, but we finally got to the shop and were excited to see our friends Toby and Chloe there also getting some work done on their truck. The traffic in Bogotá was the worst traffic I have ever seen, and I have lived in LA! But the silver lining was when we arrived Jesus the manager told us that our new window had arrived safely! Marc from XP camper quickly sent us a replacement window when we told him about our wind incident and some spare parts for the XP. The company really has the best customer service ever. Also, Hernando at Iguana 4X4 helped us a ton by allowing us to ship it to the shop. Both Marc and Hernando were lifesavers.
While getting work done on the rigs is not really fun, suffering through it with friends makes it much better. Plus, we got to explore Bogotá with Toby and Chloe which was a huge bonus. I am not sure if we would have made it to Bogotá if we did not have work to do on our camper, but I am glad we were able to spend a few days here. I just wish it was easier to get around the city (the bus system was a helped get around even if it was a pain in the ass) and I would not wish the traffic here on my worst enemy.
Thanks to the awesome staff at Iguana 4X4 we were able to get our window replaced and our winch upgraded.
So happy to be able to open our back window again! (Sorry bad iPhone pic)
La Candelaria (Historic Center)
We did a lot of things here, so I will tell our story in pictures:
Bolivar Plaza was beautiful but swarming with pigeons which I think are rather gross. People were buying corn and having the pigeons swarm all over them, WHY is all I can say. See if you can spot me and Toby.
Toby and I chatting and walking through the streets of the historic center.
This area has buildings dating back to the mid 1500s and every street has a few treasures. One of the things I loved is how mismatched all the architecture was. You can see the layers of time in the buildings.
This church was one of my favorites. Hard to capture in just one picture though!
At lunch hour in Bogotá there are stands everywhere selling fresh exotic fruit and fruit juice. I had three different ones this day. The fresh fruit juice in Colombia was something we had daily and will miss when we get into the colder regions of South America.
Saw this on a street in Bogotá and thought Che would have a laugh about it. I am sure he would not have been thrilled about his face selling T-shirts and key chains.
We spent a couple of really good hours drinking the craft beers at the Bogotá Beer Company. If you like good beer and are in Bogotá this is a must. (I would pass on the food though…) I wish I could take better pictures with my iPhone…..
Not sure what this building is, but I loved the shape of it.
The gold museum is a must see in Bogotá! I have never seen so much gold in my life. Very impressive.
The gold museum has 34,000 pieces of gold from the pre-hispanic cultures. Not much is left of the indigenous people who created these amazing pieces, they did not do well during the conquest.
We went one night to Andres Carne de Res a crazy, fun place to eat. Don’t ask about the crown and paper hearts, just go if you are ever in Bogotá. Luis from Lost World Expedition (our favorite foodie overlander) told us it was a super fun experience and he was right. It was also the best steak we had in Colombia. Photo from Chloe =)
Being at 8300 feet, when there is sun it feels VERY warm, and when the sun disappears it gets cold quickly. Bogota was a really fun city, even better with friends. Glad we were “forced” to visit. =)