Day Fourty-Seven: Medellin, Bogota and Good-bye to Alanna

We eat breakfast and I book my hotel in Bogota for tonight.  I email Gustavo, my Colombian friend from New York, to see if he has any friends in Bogota that he could put me in touch with.  It will be my first night on my own so I want to make contacts. 

Roman’s driver, Wilfer, picks us up and takes us to the botanical gardens.  Alanna points out that Colombia’s preservation and respect for the environment is impressive.  Wilfer agrees but explains that it is a little late and the environment has been given importance only in past 20 years. Butterfly at the Botanical Gardens

We take the metro and transfer to a gondola, which we ride up the mountainside.  Medellin is only city in Colombia with a metro, which is a great source of pride in the city.  Apparently Escobar offered to pay for many public works, such as the metro, and to repay Colombia’s debt, some $13 billion, but the government declined the offer.

The Metro

Wilfer tells us about a recent news story here.  La Lechuza is Colombia’s national bird and makes appearances at the soccer games.  Apparently on Sunday, the bird got a little out of control, and one of the country’s best and favorite soccer players was frustrated with the bird so he kicked it and killed it.  There is outrage across the country.

Article on LechezaAs we ride up on the gondola, Wilfer explains that the higher we are, the poorer the area is.  The Military displaced people and pushed them up the mountain.  As we go further up, the areas have less infrastructure and more violence.

A library on the mountainside

Alanna and I are on our way to the airport and I get an email from Alejandro, Gustavo’s Colombian friend from Lehman.  He is in his last year at Yale Business School and he’s in Bogota visiting home.  He offers to show me around.

Alanna and I land in Bogota where Gilberto picks us up.  We wanted to check out the Candeleria and take a funicular up to a monestary that is supposed to have amazing views.  We get stuck in traffic so we don’t have time for the funicular, but we check out the Candeleria and have the “Chocolate Completo” at La Puerta Falsa before grabbing dinner at Harry’s, Lolo’s favorite restaurant.

La Candelaria

Chocolate Completo at La Puerta Falsa

Gilberto takes us to my hotel, where I say goodbye to Alanna.   After an hour to decompress, Alejandro picks me up and we head to Andres DC, where we meet his cousin Felipe and friend Hannai.

Felip and Hannai at Andres DCAlejandro, Felipe and me
Alejandro asks me what I want to do here.  I ask, “What I should do?”  We decide to take a trip outside Bogota.  The amazon or Villa de Leyva.  The amazon will take a few days and I am leaving for Buenos Aires, so a short trip to the countryside is the likely plan.   See more pictures.