BootsnAll Travel Network



Bogotá Night

10 September 2005 (Saturday) – Bogotá, Colombia

Although I had replied to Lina, my Hospitality Club host from Bogotá, on the date and estimated time of arrival, I still caught her by surprise when I called her from the bus terminal. She had not read my reply, you see. But still, Lina was very very kind to rush over to pick me up. She is a veterinarian who works in the fincas (like haciendas, farms in the countrysides), treating cows and horses. However, she is pregnant now and so she has stopped working for a while. In her house at this moment, was another French guy from Hospitality Club as well. He had gone out til 5am this morning, so he was sleeping now.

Lina brought me to a family meeting at her aunt’s apartment to discuss something about a finca the family owned. I ended up meeting all her aunts and uncles and some cousins. The apartment was also very posh and smart. These are people from the upper-middle-class, I think. And everyone was very sweet to me.

We returned home after lunch to pick up Julian, the French guy, and Lina took us for a spin around Bogotá. My first impression of Bogotá was that it is rather clean and spacious. The driving habits are horrendous though. I kept wondering how in the world I was still alive here in Bogotá. She took us to the posh areas, pointing out the bars and restaurants and shops, all of which were expensive. She repeatedly commented in Spanish, “There… is a very good restaurant, but VERY EXPENSIVE… And over there, another restaurant, very good also, but VERY EXPENSIVE…” I had to stop her and ask her to tell me the restaurants that are CHEAP which are most likely the ones I would go to.

What I also noticed were the HUGE number of BRICK buildings around. OKOK, I know… many buildings are made of bricks anyway, nothing fancy… unless, of course, you live in Singapore where we build ours with straw and saliva. But usually, they plaster something over and paint the walls. But here in Bogotá, truly, the preferred style seemed to leave the bricks alone and to create designs with the bricks. And wow, there were many, many incredibly pretty houses and smart buildings made of bricks. I was gapping at the city views all around me, muttering in my heart, “Hermoso…. hermoso…” (beautiful)

Earlier, I had contacted Herman, a guy from Hospitality Club whom I had previously written to. He had been working today, and said he would call me back via Lina’s phone later. Maybe we could do something together. Now, he called us and asked if I wanted to have dinner with him and his friend. Sure. But he warned me, he was riding a motorbike now. Would it be a problem?

Oh no… I had ridden on a bike just once in my life, and only for a couple of blocks. So, I was not too sure about this, especially with Bogotá’s unbelievably bad traffic… Alright, let’s give it a shot. Lina gave him directions to her house and soon, he arrived, all geared up in motorbiker’s gear – padded shoulders and back – looking like one of the Power Rangers. One look and I sensed that he is a nice guy, so I hopped on and off we went to his friend’s house.

In Colombia, it is mandatory to wear a vest with the license plate of the motorcycle you are riding on. I had seen motorcyclists with such vests since I left Cucutá. At first, I wondered if it was to prove that they had not just stolen the motorbike. Later, it was explained to me that many crimes like robberies or bomb attacks or drive-by shootings or whatever other heinous street crimes were frequently done by people on motorbikes. As such, they made a law that one is required to wear the vest for easier identification.

What?? I thought, if I were to ride off now to shoot at someone, I am SO NOT going to wear the stupid vest, right?

On Herman's bike!

Well, his friend is Jaime, a guy who lives in a very posh district of Bogotá. Wow, another amazing house. I am so lucky today. I have just arrived and already had the chance to peep into lovingly-decorated apartments and houses.

We left in Jaime’s Volkswagen to a great pizza place. Goodness, both Herman and Jaime were super super nice and friendly and very smiley. They both speak English, which is a relief for me now, as it was late and I had hardly slept a wink last night. They were terribly curious about my trip, my country, etc… and we had a really great dinner, exchanging cultural information and random knowledge. They are both passionate motorbikers. I would write to Oliver and ask if he would be coming to Bogotá after his motorbike is fixed. If so, I would put these two guys in touch with Oliver. They were really keen to find out more about Oliver’s trip around the world.

With Jaime and Herman

They asked me a lot of questions about my culture, and I shocked them with many strange things about Singapore, haha. Meanwhile, they asked me about their country as well, and about how I feel travelling here. Yep, this is a topic that the Colombians like to ask. They KNOW that Colombia does not have a good reputation as a tourist spot. So, for those who were determined to come, they wanted to know why, and how it had been since. Well, truly, it had been marvellous!! I told them I had been fascinated by the number of stupendously friendly people who had helped me everywhere, whom I could just chat with right away unselfconsciously. If I asked for directions, other people who were within earshots, would offer their help rightaway. If they were inside a shop and could not leave, and if the place was not that far, they would yell at a stranger on the street to take me there. For nearly all the busetas (local bus) I had climbed on in Santa Marta and nearly every taxi I had been on since, the curious drivers would ask me where I was from, what I was doing here… It had been ONE INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE.

They brought me to Calera, a hill with a great view of night-time Bogotá. It was fantastic, looking down at the immense city with its twinkling lights. It was very cold though. We ordered some warm panela which is made from sugar cane and it was after midnight before we left the place.

Back on the motorbike. Herman, compatible with his fancy Power Ranger outfit, had scary murderous gloves on. But for me, my hands were unprotected and were numb from the freezing cold. Herman said that if we speed off really fast, fear would take away all my cold. Right. But suddenly, Herman turned around and told me, whoops, we had a problem. His motorbike had run out of petrol! G-r-e-a-t! Speed was now the last thing we could do. We were right up on a slope of an overhead highway when his motorbike spluttered to a stop. He tried to restart the engine many times. No luck.

I was nervous. Here we were, way after midnight in Bogotá, stuck on an overhead highway and freezing cold. I felt vulnerable and feared someone would stop and rob us or something! I was told to get off, while he kinda shook his motorbike… like how one shakes a bottle of ketchup when it is nearly empty. After numerous tries, wow… he managed to restart the engine and we moved off. In 2 minutes, we were within sight of a petrol station. Haha. Good job!!



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