We started the day with an interesting breakfast - tamales. But these weren't Mexican tamales, they were Colombian tamales, which are quite different. To quote Wikipedia:
In Colombia, they are wrapped in plantain leaves...Like other South American varieties, the most common are very large compared to Mexican tamales — about the size of a softball — and the dough is softer and wetter, with a bright yellow color. A tamal tolimense is served for breakfast with hot chocolate, and may contain large pieces of cooked carrot or other vegetables, whole corn kernels, rice, chicken on the bone and/or chunks of pork.
Ours had whole chicken legs.
We then caught a taxi to Cerro de Monserrate (w) , a mountain on the eastern side of the city, and a popular tourist attraction. You get to the top of the mountain either by a funicular railway or a cable car. We decided to take the funicular up, and the cable car back down.
Here are some pictures of the funicular:
After we got off the funicular, we still had to walk for a while to get to the top of the mountain. A sign informed us that we were 3,127 meters above sea level. That's 10,259 feet, or just under two miles.
There's a large church at the top of the mountain (pictures to follow shortly), and along the path leading up to the top are a series of statues representing the Stations of the Cross (w) . I didn't take pictures of all of them, just this one:
Station 3 - Jesus falls the first time
And here's a picture of Terry and Graciela on the walk up:
We finally made it to the top of the hill, where we found the church:
There's a wishing well in the courtyard:
By this time, Terry was getting worn out from the climb, so she sat and rested while Graciela and I continued on up to the church:
...and I took this picture of Bogotá as seen from the top of the hill:
When we tried to take the cable car back down, we ran into one of the few instances of trouble with the dog. The guard adamantly refused to let Trooper on the cable car. So I walked Terry and Graciela back down to the funicular, and then went back to ride the cable car myself. On the way down, I took this picture of an interesting looking building:
...and this picture of an interesting looking sculpture:
There was a long line for the cable car, and when I finally got on it, it was so jammed with people that I didn't really have a good view, so I'm not sure it was worth the hassle. While waiting my turn, I took these pictures:
Let's take another look at that map, to see where Cerro de Monserrate is in relation to Graciela's apartment:
We took a taxi back to the apartment and rested for a while, and I walked down to the exito to get some cash from the ATM. On the way, I noticed a large number of bicycles on the street, and a total absence of cars:
In Bogotá every Sunday many streets are blocked off to traffic, and people get out and ride bikes. This is called Ciclovia (w) . Apparently, this started in Colombia, and has spread to many countries, including our own: (w)
That evening, we were visited by some people Terry had met through the Guide Dog users group that I mentioned on the intro page - Arian and Sandra, and Sandra's dog Ada. Unfortunately, I never did get a picture of them.
The five of us (plus two dogs) took taxis to Centro Mayor, a large shopping mall in downtown Bogotá, where we had dinner at a popular chain restaurant called Crepes & Waffles. I was interested to learn that this chain exclusively hires women who are heads of households. This was one of the best meals we had. I had chicken crepes with a tomatillo salsa. I also had a batido, which is a drink made with milk, fruit and ice - similar to a smoothie. This one was made with mango, pineapple, and maracuyá (aka passion fruit).