The 1 PM flight from Alicante was 45 minutes late, and we had to hurry to catch our connection to Bogota. We were in Premium Economy and the seats were comfortable, but the meal was pretty awful. Chris sent her grease ridden aubergine back and received some pasta from ordinary economy, which was edible. The pudding was good. Iberia certainly does not get any better, and one could argue that it is getting worse
We landed at Bogotá about 8 pm, which was 2am in Spanish time. A nice lady from Journey Latin America picked us up at the airport and drove us to the Casa Deco Hotel where we were in room one. This was fairly basic, but all we wanted to do was tumble into bed.
The room was on the ground floor, tucked away behind reception, and the window looked onto a wall within a few feet, but we were only there for the one night. I don't think I could have taken it for another night, because of the lack of view. We had problems with the room key, which made it very difficult to get back in to the room - even the receptionist struggled to re-open the door
Chris had a headache all night and did not feel like eating any breakfast. Further when we went to breakfast there were no tables free and we had to decamp to the bar where service was very slow hence at 8:30 when we were due to be picked up, we were not really ready. Chris was indecisive as to whether to go on the tour as she had felt sick during breakfast, but in the end decided to embark on the tour
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We went with Raoul and his driver George. First stop was a charming tea café where we drank Coco tea. Chris had to rush to the toilet to be sick, but then began to feel a bit better but was still really tired, after this. We walked through the old town with many examples of street art, really colourful.
Then we went to the plaza where we admired its really beautiful tree, then to a non-fruit market where the stores were selling logo, Colombian products, We sat outside the market for a while, listening to facts about the city.
It wasn’t that long ago that graffiti was thought of in the same vein as cocaine in Bogotá. Police cracked down on graffiti artists hard. Too hard. In 2011, they chased down and killed 16-year-old artist when he was spray-painting his signature Felix the Cat image on a wall. The police tried to cover it up, tampering with evidence and accusing the boy of being an armed robber, but his parents and the city’s street art community were having none of it. There were protests throughout the city and two officers were eventually arrested. It was a turning point. Today Bogotá is one of the most street-art-friendly cities on Earth, with walls as high as seven stories on major streets being used as canvases. Police now protect the rights of artists and the city frequently supports street art culture through incentives and city-sponsored projects.
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George then picked us up in the car, and we drove to Fragmentos, A large area conceived by an artist, Doris Salcedo , following the Colombian peace process. 37 Tons of ammunition and guns had been melted down and battered into thin floor tiles.. We watched a video of this process
The building is the work of the sculptor Doris Salcedo and is in the centre of Bogotá. The floor tiles made with the weaponry that the FARC handed over to the United Nations Verification Mission, as part of the peace agreement signed with the Colombian government in November 2016. It is a collective work involving twenty women victims of sexual violence from different parts of Colombia. The victims hammered the sheets that resulted in the floor tiles to create their stories, their fears, the scars of their pain and their hope.
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Then we were driven to The Peace Café, where we had a beer brewed by former Farc fighters. It was difficult to say if the conflict really was all over, as they had high security on the place
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Our final stop was at Salvo Patris, A really nice restaurant. We shared a meal and Chris began to feel human again.
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We were then driven to the airport where we arrived at 3:30 for our 6.15 flight to Nieva. David had to battle with the automatic machines to check the two suitcases in, a long task. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed and we did not reach Nieva until past eight, there we were picked up by Isabel and driver, Freddie and transported to Villa Vieja, A journey of just under an hour to the Hotel Oasis It was basic but perfectly acceptable. We were surprised at the 30 degree temperature