General Impressions of Bogota
Despite a number of “adventures” experienced in Bogota, I have to be fair and give the city an overall impressions rankings.
1) General: Bogota has nice parts with beautiful homes and quite neighborhoods (the location of my first hotel) and really dumpy and noisy parts (the location of my second hotel and part of downtown). Overall, just comparing to La Paz and the parts of Mexico I’ve been to, it seemed more developed and having better infrastructure. Colombians speak very fast, so it took me a while to be able to understand what they are saying. They also have a series of their own expressions and lingo, which Im still trying to decipher. The atmosphere in Bogota is similar to that of New York (but Latin style)…busy, tons of traffic, people everywhere.
2) Safety: for some reason, I never felt safe there…maybe it is because the Lonely Planet guide kept warning of all the potential dangers or every single person I met and talked to, including policemen, kept telling me how unsafe the city was…
3) Weather: despite many Colombians telling me that Bogota was cold, I found the weather to be very nice and pleasant, even though a bit unpredictable. Since Bogota is the third highest capital in Latin America (after La Paz and Quito), the air was dry and my hair looked better than ever unlike the usual white girl fro’ that I battle with every day in the humid DC.
4) Sights: one thing that got points in my book was the quality of museums. The Gold Museum had great displays and explanations (at least the part that I got to see before we had to be evacuated). The Casa de Moneda in addition to being free had a very interesting exhibition of the history of Colombia and surrounding Latin American countries through portraying the history of money. It also had several art exhibits with some unique modern art and a few of Colombian classics. The best of all was the Museo Nacional. It had a very detailed and descriptive history of South America from the pre-Colombian times to the present. What I really appreciated was an unbiased portrayal of national history without taking sides (indigenous vs. conquistadores), but highlighting the importance and value of both cultures. It was really neat to learn more about the heroes of Colombia, i.e. the men who gave the country its independence from Spain. The last interesting sight I visited was a church located at the top of the mountain (Monserrate). You get there by taking a cable car, and the view from the top is incredible since you get to see the entire city. The way to the church is along a path lined with bronze statues that depict Jesus’ way to Calvary.
1) General: Bogota has nice parts with beautiful homes and quite neighborhoods (the location of my first hotel) and really dumpy and noisy parts (the location of my second hotel and part of downtown). Overall, just comparing to La Paz and the parts of Mexico I’ve been to, it seemed more developed and having better infrastructure. Colombians speak very fast, so it took me a while to be able to understand what they are saying. They also have a series of their own expressions and lingo, which Im still trying to decipher. The atmosphere in Bogota is similar to that of New York (but Latin style)…busy, tons of traffic, people everywhere.
2) Safety: for some reason, I never felt safe there…maybe it is because the Lonely Planet guide kept warning of all the potential dangers or every single person I met and talked to, including policemen, kept telling me how unsafe the city was…
3) Weather: despite many Colombians telling me that Bogota was cold, I found the weather to be very nice and pleasant, even though a bit unpredictable. Since Bogota is the third highest capital in Latin America (after La Paz and Quito), the air was dry and my hair looked better than ever unlike the usual white girl fro’ that I battle with every day in the humid DC.
4) Sights: one thing that got points in my book was the quality of museums. The Gold Museum had great displays and explanations (at least the part that I got to see before we had to be evacuated). The Casa de Moneda in addition to being free had a very interesting exhibition of the history of Colombia and surrounding Latin American countries through portraying the history of money. It also had several art exhibits with some unique modern art and a few of Colombian classics. The best of all was the Museo Nacional. It had a very detailed and descriptive history of South America from the pre-Colombian times to the present. What I really appreciated was an unbiased portrayal of national history without taking sides (indigenous vs. conquistadores), but highlighting the importance and value of both cultures. It was really neat to learn more about the heroes of Colombia, i.e. the men who gave the country its independence from Spain. The last interesting sight I visited was a church located at the top of the mountain (Monserrate). You get there by taking a cable car, and the view from the top is incredible since you get to see the entire city. The way to the church is along a path lined with bronze statues that depict Jesus’ way to Calvary.
posted by HM at
6:48 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home