Searching for Gold in Bogota….
We have had a fun few weeks continuing to explore Santa Marta and then prepared for a 10 day trip to the US. We continue to come across stunning, colorful murals as we wander the old town here, they are a great way of brightening up a lonely looking street, and they encourage people to wander further into the city. We were yet again so lucky to find ourselves in a place for Bethan’s birthday with boat friends (last year, Samana in the Dominican Republic with a load of kid boats around to share the celebration); and we found a local bakery to make a huge chocolate fudge cake for her to share with them, after several hours of messing about in boats with our friends in the nearby bay. We towed the Tiwal round from the marina for the kids to sail and swim from and it was lovely for them to be out on the water again - they really all miss not being at anchor and being able to swim off the back of the boat!
A few days later we headed for Bogota, the capital city of Colombia. It was extremely strange to start our descent into Bogota at 37,000 ft, but only get to 8,500ft before we landed. We certainly felt the altitude for the time we were there, a few headaches, a little queasiness, tiredness. But it was so much cooler! So lovely after all these weeks of extreme heat and humidity to need to wear a sweater and jeans again.
We stayed in the Chapinero District in Bogota, which was towards the north of center of the city, with great restaurants and nightlife for early evening, it felt safe to be out and about. We spent the first afternoon wandering to get our bearings, coming across a beautiful market in the nearby square with flowers covering the stalls and little red British telephone boxes everywhere. We did a lot of walking that first day, ending up at a amazing place for lunch called Malaflor. The food was outstanding, grilled Octopus with peaches, squid ink Bao Buns (makes them black!) and superb Chicharron (crispy pork belly) with edible flowers for an added touch.
The following morning we couldn’t see blue sky anywhere, there was very low cloud and drizzle all around. However, we got an Uber (Ubers are very cheap and safe in Colombia - you give a pin number to the driver to ensure you are getting in the right one, and you have a safety contract signed with each driver) to the bottom of the funicular and commenced an exhilarating journey up the steepest of slopes, to the top of the mountain at Montserrat.
View of the scary angle of the Funicular up to Monserrat.
The atmosphere at the top was a strange mix - we were now at 10,400ft high, although above the clouds, Montserrat contains a church (built in the 17th century) with a shrine, devoted to El Señor Caído ("The Fallen Lord"). The Mountain, already considered sacred in pre-Columbian times when the area was inhabited by the indigenous Muisica peoples, is a pilgrim destination so there were lots of Colombian tourists in Mass. It was drizzling with rain but we were in temperate rainforest, so the plants were very tropical, and we saw hummingbirds!
Next stop of the day was the Gold Museum, Bogota, where Bethan had been dying to go. The museum displayed a beautiful selection of pre-Colombian gold and other items (up to 8,000 pieces), and holds the largest collection of gold artifacts in the world (about 55,000 pieces). There were also items in pottery, shell and stone, all made up of what the indigenous cultures considered sacred metals. Many indigenous groups did not consider gold to be a source of wealth, but rather held the belief it was charged with symbolic and religious values. The Spaniards, for example, reported the Inca royal family claimed to be descendants of the sun and the moon, and that gold was the “sweat of the sun” and silver the “tears of the moon.”
Bogota, like our experiences so far in Santa Marta, had some beautiful buildings, and many more being restored. La Candelaria district was really very beautiful to explore.
From Bogota, we headed for the U S of A for a week or so downtime in Yardley, PA, our old hometown. We rented a lovely old Air BNB near New Hope again. Bethan had a lovely delayed birthday playdate with her besties from home, Leila and Penelope. We spent time with many of our friends. Oscar had his actual birthday there, and we spent his day in favorite old haunts - breakfast at Mil Lees, we found the skate park to test out his new skateboard and kit; Commonplace Reader for some obligatory book purchases and then the highlight of the day, 7 of his old best friends going Go-Karting (most for the first time) on an indoor track. Pete and I had some in-person work meetings (for a change!) while we were there, then we topped off our visit to the US with a trip to Princeton, and the Princeton Record Exchange. Having shoveled the usual array of boat spares into our cases, headed back to the boat in Santa Marta, Colombia!
