Three Short Stories from Bogotá

Day 54 (August 21, 2018) – Bogotá, Colombia

We spent nearly two weeks in Bogotá and could have easily spent more time there. It was the perfect city at the perfect time in our trip. We had been running around Costa Rica the past few weeks and Bogota felt like a modern oasis. Very comfortable, very easy to get around, and we had a great apartment where we could rest and relax. Admittedly, the cold weather did make us a bit lazy, but we were happy to be in a place where we didn’t need to run around and see all the sights in just a few days. Rather than list all the things we saw, here are three short stories from our time there.

El Museo de Gordo (The Fat Museum)

While not actually called The Fat Museum, the Botero Museum may as well have been. It was my favorite museum in all of Bogotá. While the works of many artists were on display, the main attractions were the many paintings and sculptures of Fernando Botero. A Colombian artist, Botero is known for depicting people and objects in extra large proportions. I loved the painting style and for many of them you can’t help but crack a smile as you look at them.

Bailando y Peligro (Dancing and Danger)

Bogotá is known for having some of the best nightlife in all of Colombia. It’s not surprising considering how large the city is. On Saturday night we went to Theatron, an enormous dance club that is practically a tourist destination in its own right. It’s a performance theater turned gay dance club. However, it seems to have been a resounding success because it kept expanding into the neighboring buildings and grew into such a huge complex that it became THE place to be for all young Bogotans on Saturday nights. A cover of less than $20 gets you in the door and access to an open bar and over a dozen different dance floors.

We learned a few things that night. First, everyone knows how to salsa, gay or straight, except for us of course. We never did pick it up. Second, you start to notice how old you are when you realize that you’ve spent the entire night on the dance floor that you thought was pop hits but turns out they are from a decade ago. Lady Gaga’s Poker Face and Rihanna’s Disturbia… yea those were from 10 years ago. Where does the time go?

Last, we also learned to never to walk home at 4 AM. Our apartment was in a very nice and safe neighborhood, perhaps a 10-minute walk from Theatron, but the neighborhood around the club turned out to not be so great. Walking past the traffic jam of taxies and with others who were leaving for the night, two guys attempted, but failed, to pickpocket us. I wasn’t carrying anything of value anyway, but just as we get past them we saw a guy on the other side of the street get mugged of his belongings and then as we walk faster yet, again on the other side of the street there was some argument that broke out among a group of people and two guys pulled knives out on one another. We never saw what came of that. As we walked away there were some police coming around the corner so presumably they handled things. Long story short, we decided to never walk home that late again. We had heard that parts of Bogotá can get sketchy at night and we can confirm the rumors. Despite all of this it didn’t change our minds about the city, we still think it’s great, just be careful late at night.

La Catedral de Sal (The Salt Cathedral)

We took a day trip up to the neighboring city of Zipaquirá to visit the famous Salt Cathedral. An enormous cathedral was carved into a salt mine inside a mountain. They appear to be still working on it so it’s quite modern. It was a bizarre experience though. Most great cathedrals are relatively old so you can admire the architectural inventions of the time (flying buttresses and Corinthian columns and all that), but this cathedral was new and had access so all sorts of fancy lighting technologies. The carved rock is lit up with lights that cycle through hues of blue, red, purple, and orange. Interesting to see, but it’s just not quite what you expect to find in a church.