Bogota, day 2

Summary

A traveler recounts their second day in Bogota, detailing their stay at Casa del Luz hostel, their experiences with the local bus system, a visit to the Gold Museum, and an excursion to Monserrate.

Abstract

The traveler is adjusting to the equatorial day-night cycle and has chosen to stay indoors after dark for safety reasons. They are impressed with their accommodation, Casa del Luz, noting its unique decor and comfortable amenities, despite initial issues with noise in room 6. They have navigated the city's bus system to purchase tickets to Villa de Leyva, observing the socio-economic diversity of Bogota's neighborhoods. The traveler also highlights a visit to the Gold Museum and a trip to Monserrate, suggesting advance ticket purchases to avoid long waits. They end the day with a walk down from Monserrate and plan to travel to Villa de Leyva by Uber after finding bus tickets sold out.

Opinions

The traveler finds the equatorial day-night cycle challenging to adapt to as a European.
They highly recommend Casa del Luz hostel for its ambiance and comfort, except for room 6.
The traveler notes that the bus system is not well-documented for tourists and that it took some effort to understand how to use it.
They enjoyed the diversity of Bogota as seen from the bus, mentioning specific commercial areas.
The traveler expresses a sense of caution regarding certain areas of Bogota that seem less safe for foreigners.
They are impressed with the Gold Museum and the view from Monserrate, though they suggest buying tickets online to save time.
The traveler prefers the flexibility of using Uber over dealing with sold-out bus tickets for their upcoming travel to Villa de Leyva.

Bogota, day 2

P. Matile

We are still recovering from the jetlag. We go to bed early and wake up at around 4AM. Additionally, we have to get used to living close to the equator, which is quite challenging for Europeans. Indeed, in Europe, we have long nights when the weather is hot, in Summer, and short nights in Winter. Close to the equator, as you will know, days have about 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. The sun rises at around 6AM and sets at around 6PM.

As we do not enjoy being on the street after sunset, mostly for security reasons, we enjoy a long evening in our room. We stay in an amazing hostel, Casa del Luz, on Calea 12, very close to Plaza de Bolivar. The hostel is an amazing house with many different rooms. Each of them as a specific decoration. Additionally, there are a few living rooms, all furnished with taste, a collection of objects from the past. There is even a small chapel with two seats to pray.

P. Matile

You can check the pictures on the website. A double room costs us about €30 per night. I am writing this story in front of a Christmas tree listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

The first 2 night we stayed in room 6. Do no stay in room 6. It is quite noisy due to the nearby restaurant that plays music until 10PM. We now moved to room 14 which is much better.

Today we went to the Terminal der Norte to buy a bus ticket to Villa de Leyva. The trip took us about 1 hour with the bus from Jiménez. It took us some time to understand how the bus system functions. You have to buy a card and load it with cash to pay for the transportation. It seems that tourists do not really use the bus system. The Lonely Planet guide, contrary to what they do in other countries, does not print a map of the main buses and stops and we did not find a map where they sell tickets. The map is of course on the internet, but we did not think about it.

We crossed the whole city from South to North and ended up close to the city's borders. It was an interesting experience.

P. Matile

The buses were not crowded, the passengers nice and helpful. As in many cities, the bus drives through rich and less rich areas. It seems that special products are mostly sold in specific areas. We saw the construction material area, the pet shop area, the bike's area and so on.

P. Matile

The city encroaches on the hills that borders Bogota. Many of these areas seems to be of limit to unaccompanied foreigners. The level of poverty seems to be changing very fast from one area to the next. A business center and, close to it, a street market and derelict houses

When we came back, we stopped at the "Gold Museum" and from there we went on foot to the funicular station to bring us to the top of Monserrante, a hill dominating the city from its 3125 m with an amazing view. We had to wait for about an hour to catch the cable car to the top. I would strongly suggest buying tickets online to reduce the waiting time. When we reached the summit, the sky was cloudy and the city lost in a water haze.

P. Matile

We went back on foot, a 40 minutes downhill walk with a lot of stairs. We did not want to wait for another hour to catch the funicular back.

Tomorrow, we will leave for Vila de Leyva. We did not find our tickets. The buses were sold out. We will travel with UBER.