Last September I spent a week in Bogota, Colombia. While initially looking up places to visit for my South America trip I was going to skip it. Perhaps it's more Medellín, but if a single white man tells me he's solo traveling to Colombia, I'm raising an eyebrow. I'm sticking with this prejudice, but I'm also glad I went. Bogota has a lot to offer even if you're not interested in any seedy activities.
For context I had spent the previous month in Panama. Easily one of the worst months of my life. Not entirely the countries fault, but my god was the country not helping. Story for another article. As soon as I left the airport it was such a breath of fresh air. The temperature was a beautiful 23°C and the streets were bustling. My god, was I glad to be out of that canal zone turned "country".
Honestly I felt pretty safe walking around, but I was always on high alert. I stuck to the main tourist areas and avoided unfamiliar places after sunset. This probably wasn't necessary, but I would have felt like an idiot if I got robbed. "Oh you were wandering around Bogota, what did you expect?!"
Most of my walking centred around Real street. It's a pedestrian street with tons of people and street venders. At first I thought this was just because it was Saturday, but it turned out to be just as busy all week.
My one venture outside of this area was to the Paloquemao Fruit Market. Unlike the name would suggest they sell everything here. It's a massive market, maybe the biggest one I've ever been to. From the number of Google reviews it seems to be a popular tourist destination, but I went early in the morning when it seemed to be mostly locals. I didn't end up getting anything, but I still enjoyed it. On my walk there I got to see some of the less touristy streets.
On Sunday mornings miles of the city's biggest streets are closed off to cars and filled with people walking, running, and biking. Major intersections have booths setup for snacks, drinks, and anything else you might need while exercising. I didn't know they did this before coming here and it was super cool to see. I wasn't able to run due to a stress fracture, but even just walking around was lovely.
The National Museum is in a pretty cool building, but I didn't find the exhibits to be too interesting. Except for this one art piece pictured above. There was a room with "One Hundred Years of Solitude" written in multiple languages on the walls. Since seeing it I constantly thing "well hundred years of this what can you do?" I interpreted it being written in multiple languages as it being part of the human condition. Doesn't matter where you're from or who you are, you're still alone for your whole life. As I write this I learned that it's a reference to García Márquez's book by the same name. Might have to give it a read, although I do like my zero context interpretation.
Easily the highlight of my time in Bogota was the hike up to Monserrate. I read that the trail up there can get busy, so I arrived right when it opened at 5am. At that time the weather was perfect and the trail wasn't too busy. I thought the climb up wasn't too difficult, although I did feel like I was going to pass out about halfway through. Perhaps something to do with the elevation? Once I got to the top the views were amazing. The sun had just risen which made it extra special. There were a few people in the main area, but the rest of the place was pretty empty. I walked around for a bit before heading back down.
Colombia, like much of the continent, is not known for their food. But after the non existent culinary traditions of Panama, I found the food to be delightful.
The standard meal appeared to consist of rice, potatoes, and a meat. Not ground breaking, but perfectly edible. Before Colombia I never ate much avocado, but here they would serve it as a side which is something I've picked up and now eat quite often. My only complaint as someone who struggles with not vacuuming everything off my plate is do you really need rice and potatoes? Seems a bit heavy on the carbs. I think one or the other would be enough.
The main streets had multiple street food vendors on every block. I tried a few dishes, but food from random carts on the street remains not for me. The one exception being the fruit cup carts. I'd like to eat more fruit, but buying it feels like entering a race against the clock to eat it all before it goes bad. Now you're either stuck eating the same fruit three times a day or letting it spoil. You could also get the prepackaged single serving of assorted fruit, but those things cost like ten times the price and are half spoiled already. In Bogota? They got guys on the side of the street chopping it up fresh just for you! I ended up going every day to pick up my little cup.
A bit surprisingly, the one meal that I keep thinking about was breakfast at Florida. The hot chocolate was amazing and the sides of bread, cheese, and butter went so well with it. I ended up coming back a few times. This place seemed very popular as there was usually a line in the afternoon when I walked by, but I only ever came for breakfast when it was quite empty.
I've been to a handful of high end restaurants, but Prudencia might just be my favourite. If you don't know then you would never guess that behind this unassuming door is one of the cities best restaurants. There's no sign and the door remains closed, to get in you knock and wait to be let in. I was quite nervous, but the staff are super nice and speak English. It's a set menu that changes constantly. You start the meal in the main dining area before being taken up to the garden for the set of dishes cooked over a fire pit. Then back to the dining area for the main and dessert. Thinking back on it I'm surprised I enjoyed this experience so much, usually I would feel out of place and awkward, but everything about this place was top notch. The food, the atmosphere, the staff, the hidden location. I liked it so much that I payed for my parents to experience it when they visited Bogota a few months after me.
I came into Bogota not knowing much and not having hight hopes. I ended up having an amazing meal at Prudencia, a wonderful hike up to Monserrate, and a lovely time exploring. I think for the price it was a great experience, but I'm not sure I would go back any time soon due to the poverty and overall safety. I hope the country is able to develop in the future, but as it stands I don't think the cheap prices are worth the safety concerns.
Published on 2025-06-22
Week 2/52