Bogota, COLOMBIA

Colombia has a population of about 47 million with about 8 million people living in the capital city, Bogota. At a breathless 2,600 metres above sea level, Bogota sprawls from its rich northern suburbs to a plague of shantytowns in the south. In the middle is the decaying grandeur of La Candelaria, the colonial centre, with its grand plazas faced with cathedrals, where native Indian women squeeze orange juice and hawk bags of green mango doused in salt. In front of the catherdal, an old man look for punters willing to cast a bet on his racing guinea pigs running for their miner hats shadowing their food. This, is Bogota!

Though its estimated that roughly half of Bogota´s population live in poverty, when walking down the city streets, I was amazed to see so many well dressed and fashion conscious teenagers. People in Bogota are surprisingly European looking, with very few indigenous or dark skinned people. My guide (to protect his identity I´ll call him Diego) works with a United Nations agency and spent a full day showing me around Bogota and explaining the complexities of life in Colombia. With the scars in his back from recent gun shots when crooks tried to kidnap his aunt (about 4,000 people are currently in kidnappers´hands), he explained the dynamics among the Colombian military, the guerrillas, paramilitaries, and the drug cartels. In Colombia you should be extremely careful when talking about these issues and if you are too vocal, you could easily be eliminated. It was interesting listening to his arguments on why legalization of drugs (cocaine in particular), would be the most effective strategy to globally fight the evil, and significantly reduce this US$6-billion-a-year business.

As I arrived in Bogota yesterday, I was met with a thunderous hail storm and very friendly Colombians who don´t speak ANY English. With my growing, yet limited Spanish, I am finding my way around. Staying in a posada (guest house) in an apparently safe area -- though the surroundings look quite dodgy to me! Lots of poor people sleeping on the streets, but hey, that´s true in many cities around the world.

I spent the weekend in Bogota and really enjoyed my time here. I quickly started to feel very comfortable with my surroundings, and spent the entire Sunday exploring the old colonial areas of Bogota, the area around the presidential palace, and high up Cerro de Monserrate (mountain overlooking the city). I was very impressed with Bogota - to say the least.

I´m flying north to Cartegena on Monday afternoon.
Adios from Bogota, Colombia!