5 - 8 January 2014

Another nightbus ride without sleep – less peole in and out of the bus but the driver thought it was karaoke night with loud music and “singing”!?! We arrived in Bogota at 5am in the morning - for comparison the drive north from Tunja (approx. 65% of the distance) took the same time... I decided to wait ½ hour until it got light and during that time I saw a guy getting arrested for pickpocketing and a woman passing out as she exited a bus - a busy but definitely not boring place.... I had lost the addresses of potential hostels and because of the black out in Cocuy there was no internet to regain them – however, I found internet at the bus station and was soon on my way downtown. Again nobody knows the bus routes except those they themselves use, so it was difficult to find the right one – after a while I took a chance after a recommendation from a convincing guy and confirmation from the driver; a good decision as it took me a few blocks from the hostel I wanted to stay at. It took a little while before I found the hostel as the street numbers had been changed and most buildings comprised two (or more ) numbers – also I was surprised to experience so few people in the streets until somebody later told me it was Sunday. At the hostel I quickly got a bed and intended to sleep but couldn't - maybe because I was overtired. Instead I headed out into the city first walking randomly around the old town and then visiting 3 museums – gold, monetary and Botero (the artist with the fat people c.f. Medellin). Mid afternoon it began pouring down so I did my grocery shopping meanwhile – on the way back to the hostel the streets had been turned into small rivers. The rest of the afernoon I relaxed at the hostel.

The next days I had intended to do more sightseeing but it was overcast with huge showers so instead I relaxed at the hostel, talking to other travellers, reading and working on my homepage though it was challenging with the worst internet connection yet in Colombia (and that says a lot!). And that was a general trend at the hostel – everything worked 10% but not more; the kitchen, the roof, the toilets, the showers, the sockets, etc. I had paid 3 days up front so I was stuck which was fine as I didn't have the energy to move around during my last days in Colombia...