bogota part two

for our last two days in colombia we trekked around bogota, the capital of colombia. bogota is the third highest capital in the world (elevation wise). it is a huge metropolis and reminded me of la by how spread out it is. eight million people live in bogota.

first we took a cable car up the mountain to a church that had a beautiful view of the city. i am not really sure of the significance of the church but it is old and must have been difficult to build as it would have been a pain to carry up all the materials.

next we walked around the colorful candelaria, a neighborhood in bogota that was traditionally very poor but the government has been providing money to owners to improve the neighborhood. in an effort to maintain the historical architecture residents are not allowed to modify the outside structure of the building other than with paint. since the neighborhood is making a comeback, real estate prices have gone up and the insides of all the buildings are being remodeled. every building was so colorful and there was street art aka graffiti everywhere.

after candelaria we went to the botero museum. botero is an artist known for his oversized figures. we saw one of his statues in cartagena - a fat lady.

we walked around downtown some more and saw the cathedral, government buildings, universities, presidents house and gold museum (as well as other sites I am probably forgetting). the highlight was definitely the purchase and subsequent consumption of arroz con leche and churros. so delicious!

for our last dinner we tried to go to the famous carne de res, but it was closed. instead we went to club colombia which was delicious and had great ambiance. one of taryn's old coworkers lives in bogota and met us for a drink. it was a great final evening in colombia. (yeah two jews posing with a christmas tree)

today diana and i took it easy (taryn's fight left earlier than ours). we enjoyed colombian coffee and got mani/pedis for dirt cheap!

we are now off to lima!