All well in Bogotá      Sunday 25/09/2022

Everything has been going along fine! Spanish lessons are tiring but it’s been good to do something that requires serious focus for four hours each weekday. We’ve had a couple of excursions to liven things up a bit – one was to the museum of gold, which is quite fantastic, showcasing all the different things that indigenous people used gold for in the pre-Hispanic period. Interestingly, it’s part of the central bank of Colombia – until the 1940s they used to buy gold from the public, and when someone came in with some gold artefact that was of good quality, they kept it rather than melting it down. Thus was born a collection that is considered one of the best of its kind. The other visit was to a specialist market selling food, chocolate and some handicrafts – the chocolate was great and I bought a few handmade sausages, cheap but better than you get in a supermarket. 

Apart from Spanish lessons I’ve been wandering around the city. Walking the streets is interesting enough, plus yesterday I went to the Colonial Museum and today to the National Museum of Colombia. They do museums well here – the displays are interesting, plus they’re in wonderful old buildings – the National Museum in a converted prison. These places have some information in English; apart from that it’s a case of working out what the Spanish means, not as difficult as you might think. Last weekend I went to the old house in which Simon Bolivar, the liberator of this part of South America from Spain, lived in the 1820s. A modest house, with a superb garden.

This afternoon I walked up to an old church which is on the hillside about 200 metres above the city. A simple church with a great view of the city. The temperature here has been cooler than usual – the maximum today was 13 – but it was sunny. With the sun and the uphill walk I was comfortable in just a shirt. I think I’ve adjusted to the much cooler temperatures – the first week I often felt cold, but now I feel fine. It certainly does make walking easier, compared to the fierce heat of the coast. I still notice the effect of the altitude though: any steep uphill and I’m breathing heavily. 

I’m flying down to Cartagena this coming Friday, just for a very brief visit to check all is well with the boat and possibly to move it. It will be a shock to be hot again!