There wasn’t a lot that I wanted to see in Bogota and you could do it in 3 days, but I chose to stay 5 days, mainly to recuperate from traveling! Bogota is a megalopolis of about 10 million people. Traffic is horrendous because it has no Metro system. Although, the bus system is quite advanced, there are just so many cars and of course, people.
One of many churches. 
View from my 9th floor apartment.
One of the things I wanted to see was Monserrate, which is situated high above the city of Bogota. Many people, on Sundays, actually do a pilgrimage by walking up the mountain. I chose the Funicular:)
The Sanctuary. 
Looking from the top of Monserrate…..this a church honoring Guadalupe, it used to have cables to go up, but now you can only go up by taxi. 
Riding the Funicular up. 
Not my photo, but it shows it well. It towers over Bogota. Mount Monserrate is over 10,000 ft. high.
I did a walking tour with a group on Friday, a great introduction to the city of Bogota.
The Gold Museum, where they used to make Colombian money. 
The tour group, mostly young people. 
In Centro, where Bogota supposedly began. 
Checha….a corn based alcoholic drink that tasted pure awful. 
Funky street in Centro. 
Interesting tree in the oldest part of Bogota. Cannot remember the name.
On Saturday, I did the graffiti tour and though it was good, it was nothing compared to Comuna 13 in Medellin.
You’ll notice some graffiti on top of the original graffiti makes note that not all gringos are welcome. They welcome refugees though from Venezuela and it was explained they do that, because one day, Colombia may need help. Although, without permission graffiti is illegal and if caught you will have to pay a fine.
The last full day in Bogota (Sunday) and I had to go see the National Palace, the Botero Museum (a little Muro and Picasso also) and just do last day wanderings.
The Palace grounds and the guards who were suppose to change, but, alas not today. The Palace is called Casa Narino.
Then it was off to Cartagena to meet up with Mark. The architecture is absolutely lovely. The photos are taken inside the Walled City and then a beach area.
Boco Grande, a very wealthy area of Cartagena 
Boca Grande
We did a walking tour with Edgar and learned a lot about slavery in Colombia, which was quite prevalent in Cartagena because of building the fortifications around the city. They were built in the 16th century to be a source of protection from the UK and Sir Francis Drake.
We found a couple of people to play bridge with too!
Tere 
Martin
We hiked up to Castillo de San Filippi…The Spaniards needed to fend off the British and in 1657 they finished building this fortress on the hill of San Lazaro, taking control of the only access point to the city from the mainland.
One of many tunnels
We did the Cartagena Bay sunset cruise and a day trip to Playa Blanca, unbeknownst to us, to get to a really nice beach you must travel about an hour.
Then it was off to the city to do a little wandering and painting.
Had to try what the Palenqueras do. 
Paella…oh and Mark:) 
Beautiful entrance to a condo.
We did the Gastronomy Tour. It took us to the Getsemani neighborhood. Seems we got a Graffiti tour also. It’s a great little hip area.
Meeting at Plaza Centenario 
Making plantains…
double deep fried!
We have been away from Mexico for 6 weeks and with only 2 more weeks to go in lovely Colombia, we are moving to a condo in another area. The air b n b we booked had a few shortcomings, like….. sometimes a shower, sometimes not. Air conditioning sometimes, sometimes not. No coffee maker, a constant odor of greasy food being prepared……. So our host, Fernando, is moving us to his other property for the remainder of our stay. We will be in the El Laguito neighborhood.
The BIG Colombian Adventure 