I am visiting Bogotá this week, before heading back to Medellin..
Bogotá is one of those cities that climbs into your heart – despite initial misgivings; too big, too cold, often rainy; becomes gloriously interesting and wonderfully cool..
I was armed with just a camera phone, so my friend, Camila Togni assisted in my photo-taking endeavors..
Sidewalk in downtown Bogota
Despite its large size – the city manages to be hospitable and friendly to visitors – and I missed my Bogotá “home”. So I headed back for just a few days to check in and enjoy all the things that make me love this unlikely city so much..
While Barrio Chico (where I live) is pretty quiet – La Candelaria is always quite a bit more lively.
I normally tend to avoid the Candelaria area because of the ever-present crowds of people, which is a shame because there are a lot of interesting places to visit and some beautiful architecture in this part of town.
Alvaro Palacio & Claro Lozano in front of the Cathedral de Bogota
But this weekend is the celebration por el nino del 20 de julio (and the ORs are closed) so when my friends invited me to go downtown with them – it was an opportunity not to be missed!
First we headed to the Iglesia de nino de 20 de Julio since this what the holiday weekend was all about.. It’s a huge church – a campus, actually – and it was packed with people.
Iglesia de nino del 20 de Julio
Even though it was crowded, it was a lovely service – and the church itself is quite pretty.
el nino de 20 de Julio
The church has a lovely glass dome and several stained-glass windows with religious scenes.
The church is so large, the domed area actually isn’t part of the central church, but an overflow area with a jumbo screen television so worshippers can see the priest conducting the service in the main chamber.
You can see the crowd milling in the foreground of this photo.
the crowd at the church
After the service, we wandered around the large flea market just a street away from the church before heading to lunch at a famous but tiny, and old restaurant called, “La Puerto Falso.”
While the rest of my party had their famous tamals, I was up for a bit of a culinary adventure, so I had a soup called Changua.
Colombian Tamal
While the description of a soup made of milk, eggs, bread, mild local cheese and cilantro didn’t sound that entices – it was actually quite good and is part of Bogotá regional cuisine.
Links for additional information about sightseeing in Bogota
More information about La Candelaria
Virtual tourist – La Candelaria
Most guides are going to send you to the Museo de Oro “The Gold Museum” but that’s not my favorite..
Museo de la Policia – probably my favorite of all the museums, thus far, in Colombia. It’s free – guides welcome you in from the street – and you can see the bloodied, bullet-ridden jacket of Pablo Escobar, from his last moments on a rooftop in Medellin. (It’s considered rude to ask about Pablo Escobar in general conversation) but if you hold any fascination about how a rural boy from an impoverished background managed to hold Colombia hostage, and gain international infamy – it’s a must. The guides also offered free candy, and played a game of ‘rana’ with us. (The are guides for multiple languages).
Colombian Culture & Cuisine 