Today's travel day was brought to you by LATAM and Miami International Airport. Our drive back to Miami was much shorter and more pleasant with no traffic and in daylight. We left plenty of time as we had heard horror stories at Miami International. Luckily for us, check in was a walk up, security was completed in under 10 minutes, our flight departed on time and staff were friendly! The 3 hour and 45 minute flight to Bogota was uneventful. The lines at immigration were long but once at the immigration counter, it was quick and uncomplicated.
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| Our mode of transport to Colombia |
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| Ham cheese "sandwich". Better than nothing I suppose! |
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| Fruit and toffee caramel |
Our Colombian leg was organised through South America Tourism Office who had curated and booked our 24 day trip. The experience so far has been good. Our contact was responsive, we received a message via whatsapp from the local ground staff in Colombia just prior to the start of the trip, and regular updates with driver location, and Elliot's arrival (who flew separately to us). We met our guide Julio and our driver Alejandro who whizzed us away to our hotel.
Bogota, with a population of 8 million is the capital of Colombia situated high in the Andes at over 2600 metres above sea level. Thanks to its altitude, it has a lovely cool climate! And thanks to its latitude, the sun rises and sets at almost the same time year round.
We arrived just in time when the Colombians start their Christmas celebrations. The locals celebrate the eve of the Immaculate Conception by placing candles and paper candles on windows, balconies, sidewalks and windows, and then partying! Our guide kindly informed us that Colombians are amazing at 2 things, drinking and dancing! The vibe in the old city was vibrant. Despite the chaos, there was music everywhere and people looked like they were having fun.
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| Our van |
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| As we drove to our hotel, we saw candles and lanterns everywhere on the streets |
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| Little Candle Festival |
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| A parade going through one of the streets near our hotel |
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| Our hotel's candle effort |
Our hotel,
Hotel De La Opera, was located in the historic centre of the Bogota, a charming old world hotel with high ceilings and big rooms. We ate at the onsite restaurant which had decent food at decent prices. We learnt that guanabana was soursop in spanish! And that soursop with milk is delicious!
We're excited about the rest of our trip. So far we've enjoyed what little we've experience and every person we've met in Colombia has been warm and genuinely friendly. And Elliot made it safely just before midnight!
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