Bogota in a Day

We have to admit, our expectations for Bogota were lower than low. It's a massive sprawling city located on a continent that's not exactly known for having beautiful capital cities. Not to mention that Bogota's distinction as being one of the most violent cities in the world hasn't done it any favors.

For these and other reasons, we left one mere day to explore Bogota, and we probably would have allowed less time than that if it wasn't for our flight not leaving until midnight.

Bogota was nice enough to treat us to a fireworks show.

But Bogota surprised us. It's true that there are more bad parts than good parts of the city, but we found the good parts rather charming and the people exceedingly kind. Twice in our short visit we were stopped by well-meaning Colombianos who politely informed us that we were about to walk into a troubled area and we should turn around.

So it's not a city for mindless wandering, where you can lose yourself meandering on narrow streets. It's better to have a map in your hand and know your boundaries. It's good to know the people who live there watch out for each other and their tourists.

Even on a cloudy day, Bogota is colorful.

The cute historical neighborhood of La Candelaria is full of colorful buildings and reasonably safe streets. Nearly every tourist who's visiting the city can be found there.

La Candelaria

If you ever come to Bogota, don't pass up the Botero Museum. Botero is one of Colombia's most famous artists and has the distinctive style of painting everything "chubby," from people to fruit. The museum has a decent Picasso selection as well, and it's completely free (take that New York!). It's much more entertaining than the more famous Gold Museum, in our opinion.

A Botero classic.