Bogota and beyond

We’d left London in the rain as the torrential storms were coming to an end and just to make us feel at home we arrived in Bogota (not the most appealing name) in torrential rain.    Bogota is big and congested and the half hour taxi ride to our hotel was in thick traffic the whole way.   The traffic was heavy all day but at night the roads were completely empty, almost as if a curfew was in place.

The following day arrived with a view southwards from six floors up onto a cityscape bathed in sunshine which we’ve now had almost the whole time since. 

On the way we’d spent some hours at a virtually deserted  Terminal  5 on those special airport seats.   The ones with the design brief that ‘they must look stylish but the prime consideration is that they must be uncomfortable’.  The Terminal  5 ones had met the brief to perfection.   Just as our flight was about to board we heard the dreaded words “would passengers X, X,  Bunce and X please report to the Gate desk immediately”.    We had gone through all the usual system, like a parcel in a sorting office, checked and stamped at each opportunity but had apparently even then not been registered as being “airside” and our seats had been de-allocated.   As the plane was half empty we just got different seats but the message wasn’t what you want to hear at 5.30am when there’s a connecting flight from Madrid.   Incidentally, Madrid airport code is MAD and Bogota is BOG, so we flew from MAD to BOG.

Bogota obviously has old and worn places like all cities but seemed very modern and attractive to us with lots of green space and cycleways everywhere.   The central  reservations  of roads have dual lane cycleways along them and at weekends some roads are closed to traffic so that cyclists and pedestrians can use them.   Very few beggars, a lot of street selling, no hassling with just the one no, gracias enough to get rid of anyone.  In the couple of days we were there the climate was perfect with warm sunny days and a bit of breeze, like a good English summer day.   The tropical heat at only 4 degrees above the equator was balanced perfectly by the cooling effect of 8,500 feet of elevation and we were in the low 20’s C by my estimate.  

The way to get around  Bogota is by Transmilenio, a really impressive fast transport system with a flat rate 60p (80c) fare.  Some years back a subway was mooted and then booted, so they came up with a brilliant solution, a hybrid bus and metro system running along major routes.   Imagine an eight lane highway, four lanes in each direction with a central reservation.  The middle two lanes on each side of the reservation are for the Transmilenio and the stations are on the reservation with bridges across the normal traffic lanes for pedestrians.  The Transmilenio buses, for that’s what they are dear reader, are bendy buses that work well here because there are few bends on the main routes and they do belt along.  Other vehicles don’t stray into the wrong lane because of the discouraging concrete dividers.    Each station is about 300 yards long with doors that open from the platform to the trains when they arrive.  Every station has several different routes calling at it and a bus doesn’t stop at each station, they’ll sometimes miss a couple and then stop at each one for a while.   If you’re a local I guess you know which route you need but it makes for interesting novice journeys.   One further complication we noticed was that a route into town might be D23 but on the way back is K23, for instance.   Aha, we thought, same number for route, different letter for direction, cracked it.  Well not always, sometimes same letter and number goes in both directions.  No doubt it makes sense when you’re used to it.   

The Gold Museum has some magnificent exhibits and is great value for money and well, full of gold.  Over 60’s get in for free and that includes a guided tour in English.   Other places have similar over 60’s free entry, so our first full day cost us a Transmilenio ticket each way, a total of £2.   We did a lot of walking because where the Transmilenio doesn’t  run , there are local buses which are quite impossible to understand and taxis have to be phoned for.  It’s illegal for a cab to stop when hailed in the street.   Very pleasant Botanical Gardens here with yes, free entry for over 60’s.

Our route out of the capital was towards the north, eventually to the Caribbean coast but to begin with to Villa de Leyva, a delightful old colonial town, five hours bus ride away or three hours if you get the directo rather than the indirecto by mistake, like we did.   The Bogota bus station was the biggest we’ve ever seen with at least 98 stands which is even more than Buenos Aires.   With the traffic density it took over an hour to clear Bogota even having a driver with a death wish.  As you’re reading this you can deduce that his wish was unfulfilled on our part of his journey, although on a couple of occasions I would have happily helped him out.  His preferred speed was ‘warp’ and he was spurred onto greater efforts only when the tropical rain started which itself was only surpassed when the light started to go as well.  I half expected to see fangs and hairy hands and face when it got properly dark but maybe he was rushing because his Mum didn’t like him out after dark. 

We haven’t met any real characters yet for me to write about but in general the locals are very friendly and over eager to help in a touching yet infuriating way.  They’ll often approach us to offer directions,  and hate to disappoint, so they provide an answer, any answer rather than be no ‘help’ at all.