Hand shaking
by IrishFem
Most of the Colombian people l met were wonderful, although shy at first. If its your first meeting they tend to shake your elbow with their hands. l know that sounds strange, if you have met them a few times the girls will kiss you once on the cheek the boys however want to stick their tongues down your neck... ...that was my problem.. lol...A very class conscious country they tend to ignore people who are not on the same par as them. Most households have maids who in fact are treated well and given the opportunity of going to night classes. A lot of very very poor people in this country whom l had the pleasure of meeting where in fact nicer to me than those with money. They were not interested in my education or what part of the city l came from. More interested in finding out why my hair was a different colour and laughed at my spanish in a nice way.
South Bogota
by acemj
Not too many tourists venture south of downtown while visiting Bogota, but I had a special reason to do so. I have a friend who has been teaching at a school in this area since 2001 and since we were in Bogota, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go visit Amy and see the great work that she is doing with some of the poorer and often neglected kids that attend Children's Vision.
The kids here were all either abandoned, abused, neglected or medically high-risk as infants and Children's Vision does an amazing job housing, clothing, feeding, educating and caring for them. At the time of this writing, they have a financial need to raise money for a new building (see photos below) and a child here can be sponsored for under $30 per month (see website for details).
El Gaston
by morgr
El (or Le, I can't remember) Gaston is a great place to start the night. The owner (ex-french foreign legion ex-pat) had just recently started serving food, french cuisine, when I returned to Bogota in March. So it is now possible to have supper and start drinking in the same place.
The beer is a reasonable price, unlike Zona Rosa. My brand, Brava, going for 2,000pesos a bottle, the other local brands being 1,500pesos. There is an occasional DJ (also ex-french army part time ex-pat, whom used to live in the appartment upstairs from me), who plays mostly electronic and chill-out music. Lots of it is from France.
Open till 3am or when the last person leaves before that.
TransMilenio
by MalenaN
TransMilenio is a rapid bus system that has been running since December 2000 in Bogotá. The red buses have their own elevated stations in the centre of the main avenues and they run on their own lines along the avenues. The tickets are bought at the stations (I paid 1400 pesos for a ticket between Avenida Jiménez and Portal del Norte in August 2007). The buses are frequent and runs between 5.00 - 23.00. There are a lot of different numbers and some of the buses are express buses (not stopping at every station) so if you are unfamiliar with the system you better ask someone at the station or your hotel for help.
TransMilenio is running along the main avenues like Avenida Caracas, Carrera 30, Avenida de Las Americas, Avenida 81 and Avenida Jiménez.
and won us over with their meat!
by richiecdisc about El Restaurante El Pargo
El Restaurante El Pargo may not have been the greatest fruteria but it turned out to be a very decent place to eat a full meal. We had noticed their rather extensive menu complete with very helpful photos when having an afternoon beverage there earlier in the day and made a note to eat their that evening since it was quite convenient to the hostel we were staying in. It was a lot more bustling for dinner though the florescent lighting made for a less than romantic place. It was very much a typical South American eatery full of local flavor and we were certainly the only backpackers eating there that night. I went for the Bandeja Paisa, the country's national dish, which consisted of ground beef, beans, a sausage, a fried plantain, and a fried egg on top of a mound of white rice. Oh, let's not forget the nice piece of fried pork rind that tops this less than healthy but certainly tasty meal! Obviously, it's not the kind of thing you want to eat every day if you want to live past 50 but we split it in addition to another slightly more healthy one so it wasn't so bad. Doreen went for the carne asado with fries which was a gorgeous piece of steak cooked to perfection with a very nice spicy sauce off to the side. It all went very well with the four Club Colombianas we gulped down. The beer I might add tasted better with the food than it had that afternoon on its own. It seemed the more I drank the better it tasted especially at these prices! Our meals with the four beers came to 22,000 COP or $11.
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looks can be deceiving
the colorful Candelaria makes for a great CO start
D would find better fruit shakes on the coast
hammocks and chinchorros
