Busy First Day in Bogotá

We had a whirlwind three day tour of Bogotá, Colombia’s capital and biggest city with a population of 6.7 million! With so much to do and little time, we enjoyed a busy first day in Bogotá, visiting museums, salsa clubs and meeting new people.

Where We Stayed

We had an easy flight from Cartagena, and took a taxi to our lodgings in Bogotá. We’re couchsurfing with a friendly, interesting and generous guy named Robin, who was a big part of making our first day here so much fun. He has a roommate who is on crutches, Anna Maria, and 3 cats. His apartment takes up the 2nd floor of a building in the heart of a great neighborhood called Chapinero. We chose a place in Chapinero, a barrio north of the city centre which has good nightlife and lots of restaurants, because we like the convenience of walking at night.

Despite arriving to Bogotá in the middle of the afternoon, we saw some of the city and started to get acclimated, but I think it will take a bit longer because the elevation of Bogotá is over 2,6000 meters above sea level.

Bogota Map
Bogota Barrio Map

After traveling and settling in, we didn’t get into the city until 2pm but we still managed to see and do a bit to get acclimated. We enjoyed a rewarding first day in Bogotá.

Continue reading “Busy First Day in Bogotá”

Salsa Dancing in Cali

Last night I did what they do in Cali: I went dancing! A guy I met at the hostel, Tattoo (not his real name), took a few of us there to meet some friends of his and to dance! Tattoo is Brazilian but has been living in the hostel for a few months so he knows a lot of people in the city. I will never get this night spent salsa dancing in Cali.

We went to this bar downtown called Topa Tolandra. Cover was a reasonable $10,000 COP, which included 2 drink tickets. The place was empty when we arrived at around 9:30pm, but that didn’t last long and the bar started filling with dancers.

Topa Tolandra Cali
The empty bar when we arrived
Continue reading “Salsa Dancing in Cali”