A little history.
The Spanish landed in South America around 1500 and by the mid 1550’s had colonised much of the territory known as New Grenada. Santa Fe de Bogota was it’s capital.
Enter Simon Bolivar, of aristocratic Venezuelan origin. He had returned from Spain and with the help of others and in successive battles, ultimately earned independence from the Spanish by 1825 for the countries we now know as Panama, Ecuador. Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru and Colombia. Bolivia of course, named after him.
Statue of Simon Bolivar surrounded by the flags of countries he liberated from Spain.
The day’s plan.
This morning we decided, as the weather was clearing, to take the cable car or finicular railway to the top of Mt Monserrate, that towers 500m above the city or 3100m above sea level.
The incline from the bottom looks almost vertical and as the Cable gondola wasn’t operating, we took the finicular. There is a church and various food and souviner shops at the top, but the reason for going, wasn’t to visit either of those, but to view the city and suburbs. The city sits mainly in a valley and has an impressive high rise center.
Bogota’s 2024 population is put at 11,658million. Note the Eucalyptus trees in the foreground that reach to a staggering height. They were introduced in the late 1800’s to provide a fast growing resource to replace indigenous forests that had been cleared for firewood.
Finicular railway with a length of 880m. Construction started in 1928 and completed in 1955. A woman driver…Yikes…;)
The alternative method is by cable car.
The Sanctuary of Monserrate
Our flight to Cartagena departs at 9.54pm so we had the day to explore. After spending a couple of hours on the mountain the return was by cable car. There is a walking path too, but not for these two.
At the foot of the mountain is the former residence of Simon Bolivar, who lived there for approx. 18months and it is being well maintained as a museum of sorts. His wife died a year after their marriage in 1803, of Yellow Fever. He died of TB in 1830.
By 3.30pm and after wandering around the city and doing some shopping for socks for Jen, our clothes are in Poki, we got something to eat then went back to the hotel to rest till the taxi picked us up at 6.15pm. What followed was a demented drive to the airport. Not that we needed to hurry, but the driver was on a mission for some sort.
Wall mural in a cafe.
Arrival in Cartagena
Arriving from a very cool 17deg Bogota to a furnace at 11.30pm in Cartagena, tells us this is going to be a very different experience. Driving from the airport to our accommodation took us past a huge former Spanish fort. I won’t discuss it now, but in coming days, we will get to explore and report back.
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