We got up later than we would have liked and had breakfast at the hotel's restraunt. While we waited for the others to get ready we ventured out to our first ATM. We were nervous, but everything went fine. When we came back we met the hotel's tour guide and negotiated an hour trip for later in the afternoon. His name was Fernando and he was very friendly and had a great sense of humour.
We walked down our main street and were met with scores of bicycles riding down the street with no cars in sight (this occurs on Sunday mornins between 8 and 2 as far as we could tell). While Chivers was buying another map of Colombia, a bird shat on him. It was so funny considering we'd only been outside a few minutes. We laughed and contined on.
Camera in hand I took a quck photo which we believe must have drawn the attention of local pickpockets.
Soon enough, I felt something wet hit my neck, and, convinced it was bird shit, I spun around to wipe it off and was greeted byt an elderly woman who apparantly had also felt the same thing, suddenly, similtanously, another eldery woman ran into the back of me.
It hit me (yes, I know, again).
My camera case was gone. Thankfully it was just the padded case, and nothe camera. Itwas the only ting in my back pocket. But they were gone just as quickly as it happened. It then dawned on me it wsant bird shit, and probably some spit. I was furious, but thankful everything else was in my money belt, or in my hand.
We walked down our main street and were met with scores of bicycles riding down the street with no cars in sight (this occurs on Sunday mornins between 8 and 2 as far as we could tell). While Chivers was buying another map of Colombia, a bird shat on him. It was so funny considering we'd only been outside a few minutes. We laughed and contined on.
Camera in hand I took a quck photo which we believe must have drawn the attention of local pickpockets.
Soon enough, I felt something wet hit my neck, and, convinced it was bird shit, I spun around to wipe it off and was greeted byt an elderly woman who apparantly had also felt the same thing, suddenly, similtanously, another eldery woman ran into the back of me.
It hit me (yes, I know, again).
My camera case was gone. Thankfully it was just the padded case, and nothe camera. Itwas the only ting in my back pocket. But they were gone just as quickly as it happened. It then dawned on me it wsant bird shit, and probably some spit. I was furious, but thankful everything else was in my money belt, or in my hand.
We headed back to the hotel after a quick trip to the end of the street (which is Bogota's principal building site - church, congress, president's house etc) where we met Fernando.
Out trip quickly become a 3 hour adventure around Bogota. Fernando was not only really informative but incredibly funny. We saw every part of Bogota including the CBD, sporting grounds, night clubs, restraunt strips, suburbs anda look outs over the city.
Also, thanks to Fernando - I now have a huge satin Colombian flag. He told the seller he was buying it for himself, and negotitated a price of only $20,000 pesos. Which is about $12. Normally, tourists can expect to pay between $50-$100.
Talking and listening to Fernando allowed me to really test how much Spanish I know. And to my surprise, it was a lot more than I first thought. It was fun translating as he spoke, and trading English and Spanish words between 6 men had us laughing.
The accent here is much more Spanish/European than in Mexico. The people are beautiful and friendly, like the old city (which we toured through it's brightly coloured walls as well), the mountains and the modern areas.
Durinoung our tour we also were met by the 'tourist police' who appear to be young men in the service who show you around. Our guide was Damien, and it was his first day on the job. He was eager to trial his english with us as we toured through the main church of Colombia. As well as share his dream to become a singer and move to London one day.
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