Lost in the Fog -- The 20th of August
[Originally posted September 14th]
I only just realized I never posted about August 20th, which was weird because I distinctly remembered writing it. I was afraid livejournal had somehow eaten it but then I realized, having grown distrustful of livejournal eating things I had written it in the notepad function no my phone and apparently never got around to actually posting it.
This is the second day in Colombia.
Sunday, August 20th - having had a late night we took it easy until around noon (got up for breakfast at 9:00 since it's only served till 10:00, i was barely able to eat, and then we went back to bed).
Took a DiDi to the cable car station for Montserrat mountain. This was about half an hour across town and as with the day before cost $2-$3 on DiDi. Not only did our driver speak good English but it turned out he was himself Venezuelan. He was very nice, we got his number for future use though we didn't end up using it.
Cristina's cousin (Yineska) and Anthony were already there and had bought tickets for us all. It was a bit hard to find them in the crowds. Apparently tickets are half price on Sundays so many locals fancied going up there. Line to board the cable car was very long (there was also a funicular that also had a long line). Just before 14:00 we finally got into the cable car, which ascended the mountain at a steep angle. The city of Bogota sprawled in the valley below us, the view was impressive and dramatic.
Took only about five minutes to get to the top. After some initial pictures we decided to get some food as we were all hungry. We headed up past the large church into a gauntlet lined with shops selling tourist souvenirs. As with before i found the shop attendants pleasantly non-insistent. Past the shops the same narrow walkway was lined with little restaurants. We selected one and had a classic Colombian chicken soup (ajaica de sopa?) and a huge platter of mixed grill the windows faced away from Bogota across a forested valley. The bill came out to around $25 which Cristina and the cousin's thought was a rip off (100[,000] pesos. Official exchange rate is 4,100 pesos to the dollar, though the ATMs and currency exchanges give more like 3,800. So prices for everything is in the thousands but in speaking about prices people usually just leave off the thousands, and the currency notes don't even prominently display the ,000 portion of the numbers. On the subject of the money though it didn't happen in this case several times I've been 1,000 short of correct change and so handed them another 10,000, but rather than make change they've said the 1,000 short amount was fine. Very chill about sales these Colombians).
When we finished with food fog was starting to drift in. We perused the shops and i actually bought some things - a cool bottle made from a cows foot (or rather probably in one), and a traditional woven hat, for 105,000 and 120,000 respectively, I'm thinking for my friend Mick and coworker Thomas, respectively.
Then we spent some time exploring the mountaintop. By now the fog was thick and Bogota couldn't be seen at all but things picturesquely faded in and out of the fog in the near distance. There was some beautiful colonial style architecture and gardens and flowering plants.
There was a long line for the funicular to go down, which snaked along a walkway lined with statues of Jesus on the stations of the cross. It began to rain, which developed further into a downpour. Anthony ran off to buy ponchos and umbrellas, but we were pretty well soaked by the time we got into the funicular building. The funicular of course being a sort of bus sized carriage on a cog-wheel track, at a fixed steep angle and so inside it one rides on a series of platforms situated like steps to one another.
Down we went. Took another DiDi back to our hotel and as far as i can remember we just took it easy that evening.
I only just realized I never posted about August 20th, which was weird because I distinctly remembered writing it. I was afraid livejournal had somehow eaten it but then I realized, having grown distrustful of livejournal eating things I had written it in the notepad function no my phone and apparently never got around to actually posting it.
This is the second day in Colombia.
Sunday, August 20th - having had a late night we took it easy until around noon (got up for breakfast at 9:00 since it's only served till 10:00, i was barely able to eat, and then we went back to bed).
Took a DiDi to the cable car station for Montserrat mountain. This was about half an hour across town and as with the day before cost $2-$3 on DiDi. Not only did our driver speak good English but it turned out he was himself Venezuelan. He was very nice, we got his number for future use though we didn't end up using it.
Cristina's cousin (Yineska) and Anthony were already there and had bought tickets for us all. It was a bit hard to find them in the crowds. Apparently tickets are half price on Sundays so many locals fancied going up there. Line to board the cable car was very long (there was also a funicular that also had a long line). Just before 14:00 we finally got into the cable car, which ascended the mountain at a steep angle. The city of Bogota sprawled in the valley below us, the view was impressive and dramatic.
Took only about five minutes to get to the top. After some initial pictures we decided to get some food as we were all hungry. We headed up past the large church into a gauntlet lined with shops selling tourist souvenirs. As with before i found the shop attendants pleasantly non-insistent. Past the shops the same narrow walkway was lined with little restaurants. We selected one and had a classic Colombian chicken soup (ajaica de sopa?) and a huge platter of mixed grill the windows faced away from Bogota across a forested valley. The bill came out to around $25 which Cristina and the cousin's thought was a rip off (100[,000] pesos. Official exchange rate is 4,100 pesos to the dollar, though the ATMs and currency exchanges give more like 3,800. So prices for everything is in the thousands but in speaking about prices people usually just leave off the thousands, and the currency notes don't even prominently display the ,000 portion of the numbers. On the subject of the money though it didn't happen in this case several times I've been 1,000 short of correct change and so handed them another 10,000, but rather than make change they've said the 1,000 short amount was fine. Very chill about sales these Colombians).
When we finished with food fog was starting to drift in. We perused the shops and i actually bought some things - a cool bottle made from a cows foot (or rather probably in one), and a traditional woven hat, for 105,000 and 120,000 respectively, I'm thinking for my friend Mick and coworker Thomas, respectively.
Then we spent some time exploring the mountaintop. By now the fog was thick and Bogota couldn't be seen at all but things picturesquely faded in and out of the fog in the near distance. There was some beautiful colonial style architecture and gardens and flowering plants.
There was a long line for the funicular to go down, which snaked along a walkway lined with statues of Jesus on the stations of the cross. It began to rain, which developed further into a downpour. Anthony ran off to buy ponchos and umbrellas, but we were pretty well soaked by the time we got into the funicular building. The funicular of course being a sort of bus sized carriage on a cog-wheel track, at a fixed steep angle and so inside it one rides on a series of platforms situated like steps to one another.
Down we went. Took another DiDi back to our hotel and as far as i can remember we just took it easy that evening.