Be Safe!

Do you know a lot about Colombia? I clearly don't as I have been spelling it Columbia for, well, forever. That's pretty embarrassing. Thanks Wikipedia for the help. Besides that I really only know that it has been a dangerous place for many years. And they had drug smuggling going on. A friend of mine back in Seattle spent a lot of time in Columbia and only had great things to say about it. I never got the feeling that she felt in danger there. I had heard in the news that there were peace talks in Cuba between the rebels and the government that had went very well and that violence has gone way down. So when I went to Bogota a few weeks ago I really didn't feel like I should feel unsafe there. Cautious, yes, but unsafe no. Apparently, according to everyone else, except my friend in Seattle, I was wrong.
From JFK we fly a 3 day trip to Bogota where we get in to the hotel at about 11pm and then leave the next night on a red eye back home. So you have about 24 hours to explore the area. I had done some research on Trip Advisor on things to do in Bogota, and decided that I was going to do a bike tour, I love bike tours, of the historic area. As it turned out our hotel was quite a ways away from the historic area/downtown. We use to stay closer till some people got robbed and then they moved us to the boonies for safety reasons. So the morning rolled around and I was up eating our free hotel breakfast planning my day. I had been told there was a nice lookout on the mountain where you can see all of the city so I thought I'd do that first and then catch the afternoon bike tour. Well, that plan began to fall apart very fast. First, my debit card didn't work in the ATM. I have never in any of my travels have a debit card that didn't work. I tried two different banks, no luck. I went back to my room and got my other, emergency bank card and tried again, no luck. Finally at the 4th ATM my card worked. By this time I was getting a late start. I stopped at the front desk to ask about getting to the lookout and to downtown. The front desk worker looked at me a little oddly and asked, "You are going alone?" "Yes, why?" "It can be a little dangerous. Be safe," he told me. He got out a map and pointed stuff out. The overlook was only a little ways to the downtown area that I wanted to see so I asked if I could just walk. He looked at me as if I had said, "Would it be ok if I murdered your mother?" "You do not walk!" He told me in a very stern voice. I felt like a child who had been reprimanded by their dad. He looked back down at the map, thought for a moment, looked back and me and repeated it again, "Do not walk!" as if I had been thinking about not following his advice. Taking my chances I asked him why. Horrified, as if I was also going to kill grandma, he told me it was not safe to walk alone. No problem, I thought to myself, I won't walk there.
  Next, I asked him what I could see in downtown. Again he looked at me sternly and said, "Be safe. Downtown is dangerous." So now by this point I was getting a little paranoid, was I going to make it back to the hotel in one piece? I'm no stranger to unsafe places, I even witnessed a back woods drug deal in the middle of nowhere Honduras. But I was getting worried about Colombia. I sucked it up, put on my shabbiest clothes, took off any make up, left on jewelery on and went out. My taxi (I got the horrified look again when I asked about the bus) to the outlook was very pleasant. I was even able to coordinate with the driver that I wanted to be picked up later.

Going up, literally.

I'd been told that I need not feel unsafe at the outlook. A lot
of tourists go there and it is probably the only "safe" place in
Bogota. But I was still very cautious. How beautiful it was!
I didn't realize that Bogota was at such a high elevation, but
it is in the mountains. The cable car ride up to the top was straight up! 

Church at the top.

 Once at the top though it was a breathtaking sight. There was a church up there, which I wasn't expecting. And behind it all you can see are mountains.


On one of the mountains there is a statue

Jesus statue.

of Jesus, sort of like the one on
the mountain over looking Rio. 

Looking on the other side.

 The views were so beautiful and the weather that day great for sightseeing.

Yours truly.

Lots of forest. 

Pretty rugged.

After the mountain I took yet another taxi into downtown, where I was on guard at all times.  I have very few photos because the hotel guy freaked me out so bad that I hardly wanted to stop walking long enough to look at something, let along get out a camera and look like a tourist! I was able to see some fun things like this super cool red and white church, Plaza de Bolivar and the president's house. My adventure with the ATM and time at the outlook made me miss the bike tour. I'll have to try that one next time.

Iglesia del Carmen

Plaza de Bolivar, aka The Birds 2

Very old cathedral in Plaza de Bolivar

President's house, guarded up!

Have you been to Bogota? What do you recommend? Did you feel unsafe?