el crispito

Bogotá is delightfully cool, especially after the end of the pre-rainy season month of May here in Guadalajara. We had endured a long stretch of considerably hot weather, taunted by the promise of those refreshing and reviving rains, but as of the end of May, we'd not seen much of them. However, upon our arrival in Bogotá, we were welcomed by a slight drizzle on a nice cool night. Delicious!

The forecast said that we were to get serious rain the whole time we were there, but that didn't turn out to be the case. While it did rain now and again during our stay, we had a lot of relatively dry weather. It was pretty overcast the whole time, but we were told that the week before, it had been sunny and hot the whole week. The point of all this being, Bogotá has weather changes. That and the fact that it's beautiful to look up from the city streets and see the lush green mountains about the city, shrouded in clouds.

Bogotá

Bogotá

Bogotá

The fact that the city was not drenched in rain the entire time we were there allowed us to check out some of the city, which is exactly what we went for. On our second night in town, we went to a bar that charged a fairly hefty cover. When we got inside, we found out why: the cover bought you unlimited drinks from the bar for the entire evening. When this concept completely bewildered us, the bartender explaining it to us in Spanish thought we did not understand what he was saying. He sent over another bartender that spoke English, so that he could explain it to us. This bartender turned out to be one of the friendliest people we've ever met, a young Bogotano named Alvaro who is so proud of his city that whenever he has vacation time, he spends it in town going to the different attractions and excellent offerings that the city provides for entertainment.

He hung out with us for the rest of our trip as our friend and tour guide, and this absolutely made the trip an excellent experience for us. Without him, we would not have enjoyed our time in Bogotá at all like we did, and his being such an excellent human being helped to make up for my bad shoe cleaning experience and our discovery that Bogotanos are generally not as friendly as we'd expected them to be, after living in Guadalajara and having heard that Colombians are some of the nicest people on the planet. Alvaro certainly fit that description, making it so that we could say that at least some Colombians are the nicest people on the planet.

Alvaro playing before a statue of Giordano Bruno

Alvaro at the Museo de Oro

I believe I should say a word or two about the Museo de Oro. I will not say much because you can read all about it all over the place. It's a museum that showcases artifacts found in various regions of Colombia made and used by various cultures. The presentation is excellent, the artifacts themselves impressive, and the experience one that is called a "must-see" in every reference on Colombia that exists.

Exhibit, Museo de Oro

I think that is probably true, but my interest in museums tends toward those displaying fine arts, and usually even then, only more modern works. I do occasionally like to look at Indian (from Asia) artifacts, but for the most part, artifacts are not my cup of tea. Were I someone else, I might rave about the Museo de Oro, but it wasn't my favorite part of the trip, and it certainly didn't compare to the works we saw at either the Donación Botero nor the Museo de Arte Moderno (known as the MAMBO, tee hee!).

I recommend both of these places wholeheartedly. If you don't like modern art, you might not like the Museo de Arte Moderno, but I can't imagine anyone not enjoying the works at the Donación Botero, which include an overwhelming number of works by Botero, as well as spectacular pieces by Renoir, Dalí, Chagall, Picasso, Miró, and Bacon. You can't use a flash, but you can take pictures in the Donación Botero. Here are some of our photos, but without the flash, most turned out blurry.

Casa de Moneda, Bogotá

Casa de Moneda, Bogotá

Casa de Moneda, Bogotá

Donación Botero, Bogotá

Donación Botero, Bogotá

Donación Botero, Bogotá

Donación Botero, Bogotá

Moonlight II, 1997
Alex Katz, New York, 1927
Oil on Canvas

Moonlight II, 1997
Alex Katz, New York, 1927
Oil on Canvas

Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá

There were many more attractions to see around Bogotá, like the salt cathedral and the view from Monserrate, but due to a combination of time limitations, motivation and rainy weather, we didn't see any of these. I know this may disappoint some readers, but for us, there were more basic cultural things we wanted to discover, like the food of Bogotá. That is what we'll talk about in the next installment.