28/04/2019 – Near miss! Bogota, Colombia

We got up and had the hostel breakfast before quickly getting ready and leaving the house. Every Sunday in Bogota one of the main roads is shut until about 14:00, so loads of pedestrians and cyclists go there to see the

abundant beautiful graffiti on the walls and bridges, and to browse the street stalls that pop up along the entirety of the road, offering food, clothes and any other random stuff they might find (remote controls, a sink!, random trainers not in pairs etc).

various graffiti around bogota. Click right for more photos.

Josh took his camera out for the fist time since we have been in Colombia. After Cuba being so safe we are aware that we have to be a lot more careful here. I think its kind of a 50/50 gamble as to the crime risk, so we are just trying to be careful/sensible about cameras, have padlocks on our bags etc. Josh was taking pictures and then putting the camera back in a tote bag under his armpit when we moved on. Just as we had decided on a place for a pit stop someone spat from the scaffolding above us onto Josh’s shoulder, and the lady next to him started fussing over him, and saying it was on his head. Luckily we were right next to the restaurant we had planned to go in so we went inside. Josh went to the bathroom to clean himself up and then when he sat back down some other customers (who had seen him at the sink) came up to him and warned that this is actually a distraction technique for pickpockets and the lady fussing over his head was probably in on the job (the spit didn’t even land on his head). Thankfully nothing had been taken (well that we can account for anyway!) but it was most likely a very near miss! Phew! We had some lunch and then went to the nearby flea market that is on Sundays. We wandered slowly around but didn’t end up getting anything (Josh debated a pink sweater with an elephant trunk down one arm but decided against it!) until we needed coffee. We had cappuccinos, but I think it confirmed we are now black coffee drinkers here because it is so delicious! Then we went past a plaza full of skaters to the gold museum. It was really cool but very busy as it is free on a Sunday. It was full of amazing gold septum rings from tribes of Latin America, piercing inspiration!

Allll the septum gold!

After meandering busy crowds all day we were ready to head home so we went via the supermarket for some more groceries before heading back to our hostel. On the way home we passed a huge cathedral on the corner of the main plaza so went in to take a look. It was gold and white with amazing huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

Inside the cathedral.

We got back to our hostel and had We had a coffee and some cereal whilst browsing the internet (trying to book a nice hostel for when we are in Cusco) and then made ourselves some dinner in the hostel kitchen. I washed my hair with real shampoo that was left in the shower instead of the solid bar of shampoo I have been using, and my hair feels so soft/clean! Also one of the Korean guests had left their face wash in the shower and so I was so excited to nick some of that seeing as Korea is the leading place for skincare (it was quite tea tree smelling, no major feedback yet!). Then chilled in bed eating chocolate.