Bogota, Colombia

Location Description

170 photos

My first morning in Bogota, I checked into a youth...
So, I took a short walk past the University of the Andes...
From the top of the gondola, it was just a short walk to...
Here is sprawling Bogota. Almost 200 square kilometers....
A zoomed-in shot of La Candelaria, the colonial...
Some tourists gaze out at the city. A large statue of...
Outside the church, framing the statue on the far mountain.
Church steeple of Montserrat.
Inside the church, as mass was just beginning.
Bogota's newer business district. At the left is a...
Another shot of the Montserrat church and surrounding complex.
Instead of riding the gondola, you could walk up stairs...
Some gardens at Montserrat.
What a fun job: these guys got to go out on the cables...
Riding the gondola back down, but looking the other way....
Hard to imagine there's a trail up this. The...
There was a third option to get to the top besides the...
So, my guide sent me to his bank to try to wire him...
I stopped for an empanada on the street. It was...
The window of a hat store. I thought this looked cool. ...
Menu board at a soup shop I meant to check out but never...
Plaza de Bolivar. There were probably more pigeons than people.
Church seemed to be closed for some sort of renovation work.
I think this is the equivalent of the Capitol building...
The gondola to Montserrat as viewed from Plaza de Bolivar.
Pigeons pigeons everywhere. I actually found a kid...
The church and pigeons.
Simon Bolivar gets no respect these days.
I only took this picture to illustrate a business...
Bolivar, looking out over the Andes.
Kids playing with pigeons and eating food. What could go wrong?
The food was surprisingly cosmopolitan, perhaps because...
Arepas: cornmeal pancakes stuffed with queso fresco and...
My 50 cent arepa. The grease on the wrapper is my...
Tourist police (and tourist wondering what I am doing). ...
Colorful ice cream stand.
My friend Walter had told me that there seemed to be a...
Later that day, the weather cleared up dramatically,...
View of the Andes from the courtyard inside the Botero museum.
This was actually by far my favorite museum exhibit in...
Here is a look at the redesigned Swiss passport from a...
I believe this is a Swiss franc note, but I am not sure....
I wanted to make sure I remembered his name.
Some of Roger Pfund's magazine and poster work.
more Roger Pfund artwork, not security-document related.
Here is a painting by Fernando Botero: the man who...
A plump bowl of fruit by Fernando Botero.
A plump couple dancing. Apparently Botero has painted...
Fat bananas.
An original Picasso. I think it was called something...
On my last full day in Colombia, I decided to take the...
Looks like they have Zara (the Spanish version of Gap) here.
So, people never believe me when I tell them that my...
Mega-malls in Bogota. McDonalds, Diesel and D&G. I...
They even have Dunkin' Donuts in Bogota! As a sidenote,...
Catherine, this shot's for you. I thought you'd like...
A rather pretty open drainage canal. North of Zona...
Parque 93. Seemed nice enough. This was a surprisingly...
Nice rug shop.
My last stop was the Museo del Oro, or Museum of Gold,...
Hand-made gold necklace. This was made without molds,...
Gold nose rings that were made to look like bats. ...
Very impressive solid gold boat with shaman and other...
Colombia seemed to be into these combo-eateries of...
In the middle of La Candelaria, a peasant couple leads a...
After the gold museum, I had a few hours to kill before...
Fun trivia tidbit about Colombia: they don't have a...
Monica and I eat breakfast in our hostel in Bogota,...
An old truck on the streets of the Candelaria, Bogota.
Riding the funicular to the top of Monserrate.
Through a tunnel!
Here we are on Monserrate.
Looking down at sprawling Bogota below.
First day in the country, it's easy to find yourself out...
Cow hoof canteen? I wonder if customs would let this...
A snack cart where we obtained a snack on Monserrate.
Animal insides!
Crazy non-GMO #2 corn that other countries without...
A dog, who looked more like a bear.
Students on a field trip at Monserrate. We had to wait...
Vinnie and Monica get a lay of the land.
Getting ready to go back down to town.
During certain hours of the day, the track-based...
We were unable to determine what schedule it was that...
Monica posing on Monserrate.
Another load of passengers in the cable car.
Garden on Monserrate.
Vinnie, relaxing in the garden.
Interesting succulents on Monserrate.
Headed back to town.
Monica enjoys the view.
The monks had integrated a nearly vertical garden below...
Riding back to town.
A retired funicular car.
Monica pointing out a Korean flag.
Crazy man with a pet llama who was coming right toward...
Grains for sale.
Monica, looking skeptical.
Chinese restaurant in Bogota!
Monica taking some photos inside an exhibit at Plaza de Bolivar.
Maze built to promote something. I forget what at this point.
Toyota hilux. Would be cool if you could get a truck...
Vinnie walks past a federal security checkpoint.
Guard and statue.
It looks like a church in pajamas! Sort of reminds me of...
High tech motor barricade.
Monica and Vinnie at the Military / Police Museum.
Fun fact about the National Police Museum: All of the...
What all those insignias mean...
Hats.
Guns, lots of guns.
More guns.
Guns don't kill people...
Why does everybody spell John like this in Latin America?!?
Photographin' guns.
Pretty sweet artwork, no? It's made with a propane cylinder.
Our guide tells us about the surrounding buildings.
Taking a photo of Monserrate through the telescope.
Interesting looking building.
Creative photography from days of yore.
These people are not real.
Part of their police uniform collection.
Confiscated custom Harley Davidson from some cocaine gangster.
As I believe Mahatma Gandhi coined the phrase, live to...
I like this tall, covered atrium style of architecture....
Pretty great photo. The National Police Museum was not a...
Looks fun.
We should get some of these for our next party.
If you want to be happy for a day, drink. If you want to...
Pictures of killed cocaine moguls.
More guns!
Good old reliable uzi.
Most creepy museum display: wax replicas of assassinated...
Pablo Escobar. Who whould have thought purple Tommy...
Also not a real person.
Nice mustache!
All in all some wonderful mug shots.
Robot at the National Police Museum.
Church and Monserrate viewed from Plaza de Bolivar.
Mid-afternoon snack.
In Colombia, the locals enjoy their hot chocolate with...
Interesting wood cut of Paris in the free to the public...
Next stop: tejo! This is the intellectually invigorating...
Our friend Gabe? Abe? Who we met at our hostel.
These disks or stones were very heavy. Sort of like a shot put.
Monica, throwing iron at TNT.
Monica and Vinnie and one of our hosts.
Campo de tejo.
Children are a very natural addition to an environment...
Vinnie taking a break.
I think that's a plastic bottle.
There we go!
One of our hosts retrieves our metal throwing discs from...
Vinnie destroyed part of their brick wall with a mis-aimed shot.
Girl who was on our flight and then later ended up at our hostel.
One of our hosts.
Gabe or Abe celebrating a good shot.
Our friend from L.A.
Monica lining up for the pitch.
Our cab driver turned out to be an alcoholic. Midway...
On to more civilized times, we got back to the hostel,...
Our flight for the Amazon was leaving around lunch, so I...
Garden market a block or two from our hostel.
Breakfast arepas in Bogota.
Off to the Amazon!
Ready for takeoff!
Joel and Vinnie, ready to fly to the southern hemisphere.
My awesome $2 haircut.
Joel, on our Aero Republica flight before take off
Bye bye Bogota!