Monday 29th July. Hotel Casa Deco. Bogota.

A groggy start to the day. Arriving at the hotel last night at 7pm, following a 7am start from Wineham, a two hour flight from Gatwick to Madrid and then a 11hour flight to Bogota. Our hotel room is above a busy old town, street. So this morning we were both feeling a bit headachy, no doubt due partly to the elevation, and our lack of acclimatising. Bogota is 2625m above sea level.

After a great breakfast we hit the streets to see some sights. WOW! it’s a very different culture and environment. The activity on the streets, footpaths and open spaces, is fascinating. Faces, shapes, dress, stalls shops etc. All in the effort to earn a living. Police and military everywhere.

I’ll try to capture the scene in the following photos.

In national colours

Magnificently uniformed Presidential Guards.

Unfortunately a little blurry as snapped from the hip, not wanting to solicit a sales pitch. This chap is making animals from old bank notes!!

A sugar cane juice factory. Note the cane on the roof rack.

A car restorers goldmine for the Rotorua VV Car club boys n girls. Of particular interest, the old 1950’s Mercedes Benz. The ’40 Packard, complete with motor and the ’60’s Mk10 Jaguar. The sign at the back say’s it all…:)

Exquisite but macabre, artwork.

Poki’s progress

Or should I say, lack of it! As Jen mentioned in a previous blog, we booked our flight from the UK to arrive here in time to clear Poki through customs on or about the 1st August. Well, we are now facing being here a whole month as the container is now not due till the 1st September!!! There is no guarantee it’s going to arrive then, either.

Tomorrow we’ll continue our exploring this fascinating city. The temperatures are certainly conducive, at around 18degC. It will be a very different story when we get to Cartagena later in the week.

A shout out to brother Ash, after enjoying his and friend Gill’s company the day before we left Wineham, Ash is cycling westwards in the UK. Hope you find solace Ash.

Also to friends Andy and Alison in Rotorua, they begin an amazing journey by plane and cruise ship in the northern Hemisphere, in the next couple of days. Bon Voyage guy’s.

Friend and regular blog contributor John, is commencing the first of two major cycling adventures in Ireland and the Continent, today. Enjoy, John. We are envious.

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