One of the first things the Spanish did when they reached the place where Bogota is now a large city, was climb up the hill and build a church a few hundred years ago. This site is known as "Monserrate" and at 3100 meters altitude you have a very nice view over the southern part of the city which itself is at 2600 meters above sea level. During the week and especially on Saturday the traffic in Bogota is bad and this causes - like any other big city with too many cars and buses - a fair bit of air pollution haze. Also, during the current rainy season the clouds come and go (as does the rain) and the natural lighting changes every few seconds. I tried to take some good shots, but it was not easy...
On top of the mountain is the church which has every Sunday a mass. The first church built was destroyed a long time ago by one of the earthquakes, but this one is holding up well. When standing in front of the church some of the views are like this:
In the background on the next mountain is the statue of Guadalupe and to the left are beautiful green and lush mountains. Unfortunately these areas are not so safe for trekking and walks. The city gangs - which exist in any big city in the world with too much inequality - seem to rove around there looking for tourists whom they can help of their cameras and money. Maybe one day this national park area will be better. It is certainly a treasure waiting to be enjoyed by people.
Walking past the church is an area which on Sunday is super busy with families who walk up the mountain (some do it as a sort of pilgrimage). It has many small restaurants making popular food which is large in quantity and low in price. Hereby a few shots from this colorful area:
Walking back from the popular market style restaurant area, you pass the craft market which you can find in so many places in the city, and all of South America. Again, so full of lively colors:
Walking further down is an area with two more conventional restaurants. They are situated in a spot with beautiful views and one of the restaurants is only open for lunch with Colombian cuisine:
This restaurant has on the walls some great photos from 50 to 100 years ago in the city. Below is one of the photos of the old style of daily markets and one with a few shots of the mountain in the past:
After all the walking around it was time for my friend Javier Mora and me to have some lunch and we passed a real "asado" place. This is the South American "cowboy" style of preparing meat, and in Colombia it is common in the provinces along the border with Venezuela where the economy is dominated by cattle farms and oil production. This restaurant copies a bit of the style of that part of the country with its food and ambience, including the music and dance performances:
After the lunch we strolled around a bit more in the old center and I always love seeing people playing chess in the streets, so I had to make a photo. We also passed a language institute where our dear Mary Kilmer studied Spanish on a Fullbright scholarship (Mary and I have worked about 10 years together at Niagara College Canada on international projects especially the ones delivered in Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina). I did not know Mary had been in this building a few decades ago, but Javier pointed it out to me. So this one is for you, Mary Kilmer!
I close this post with a photo of the ICETEX building, an organization offering student loans founded about 50 years ago by Gabriel Betancur, the pioneer of student loan systems in Latin America. This was a change in a very elitist post-colonial time in this part of the world and it socialized a lot for people from lower income families who now could study higher education through a loan system.
Thanks Javier for keeping me company during a very enjoyable Saturday afternoon!
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