S.S. Part 2 - Bogota

On Saturday night we strolled through the streets and managed to eat the most delicious crepe I've ever come across before the tramping through the rain back to our hostel.  Sunday morning we woke up early and eagerly set out to explore the city once more.  Since we were staying in the Candelaria, which is the historic district, it really didn't take much to come across something of interest.  Every block had something exciting to offer and every street greeted us with new shops, beautiful churches and outdoor markets.  Since I don't really know what most of what we saw was, and we had no real objective for the morning I'm just going to throw up a few pictures and let you browse through the sites at your leisure.

These little guys were scattered all about the neighborhood in various poses.

Once we'd got our fill of street sweeping, we found a lovely vegetarian restaurant where we had a tasty 3 course meal before heading off for the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum).

Which has to rank in the top 3 museums I've ever been to (but I'm not sure I could tell you what the other 2 are).  The whole exhibit was immaculately laid out, with short but informative descriptions leading you through the history, forming processes and significance of gold in pre-Colombian society.  You'll have to visit it yourself to get the real feel of the place, but since they let you take photos, here's a few to tantalize your appetite.

 

On the top floor they had a special surprise....
You wandered through dark corridors with dimly illuminated displays of treasures that had been purposely returned to the earth to enable the completion of their cycle of use.  At the end of this section a museum attendant ushered the crowd into a dark, circular room.  As the doors slid closed, low chanting commenced, beautifully timed with spots of light that faded in and out alternatively illuminating and obscuring an impressive array of gold artifacts.  As the chanting reached it's peak, the full extent of the display became evident and before us was a jaw-dropping presentation of immaculate craftsmanship.

Of course, on the way to and from the museum, we also saw a few good sights.  The best of which was definitely the hamster races!

 Although, the bamboo covered car that acted as a cafe was pretty sweet too!

And we wouldn't want to neglect the people watching...

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable day. 

Monday morning was wasted waiting for my visa extension, which thankfully went through without a hitch.  That afternoon we visited the National Museum of Art, were we saw in incredibly large number of very fat people painted and sculpted throughout a building that had to have been an old villa or palace of some kind.

Having had enough culture for one day, and excited for the neg leg of our journey we grabbed our gear, caught a bus across town and found our way out to Suesca where some friends met us and drove us up a VERY bumpy road to what would be home for the rest of the week.  However, that's a whole 'nother story, so stay tuned!