Today we started out after breakfast to do a driving tour of Bogotá. Traffic has a new meaning here for sure. Although we only went short distances we were always tied up in congestion if traffic anywhere in the city.
We made our way to the neighborhood Candelaria to see some government buildings including all the ministries and the presidential palace. We couldn’t park anywhere so we were literally doing a quick look as Sandra drive another block around.
We then headed for Montserrate, the mountain point that looks over the entire city. After parking we took a gondola up for sweeping views of the southern part of bogota. What a huge city! Boasting 8 million people, it’s no surprise that traffic is a nightmare.
Once at the top of the mountain we wandered through an old church and the marketplace full of souvenirs. We then made our way to the back side of the mountain where a quaint French restaurant stood overlooking the city. A lot of proposals apparently go down here so ladies, if you’re ever invited to this restaurant, you may have a proposal awaiting on the other side of dinner.
We then headed back down the mountain to the parking lot where we started our trek to the countryside to a restaurant that is a traditional Colombian BBQ style. It reminded me of Rudy’s BBQ in the sense that you order the meat and sides you want and it comes out on a huge platter for you to take. The food was delicious. We had pork ribs, yucca fries, potatoes, steak, blood sausage, pork loin and guacamole. To top it off, their pastry area had quite the options and I found chocolate covered strawberry skewer to my liking.
After our huge meal we headed back and I got dropped off at the mall for some shopping and andres headed out with some Bogota friends. The mall was fun to see the different shops (and not so different–seriously, Taco Bell and forever 21?!) after some clothes shopping Sandra met up with me and we ate some food from Crepes and waffles (culprit of food poisoning??) and headed home to bed.