Saturday 13 September 2014

Day 3: Bogota, Monserrate


Monserrate is a hilltop church that overlooks Bogota (you can just see it in this pic) and the 500m (1600 foot) climb to the top is a popular weekend walk.


You can also do it by funicular or cable car, so of course I did it the local (ie free) way, slogging up on foot (pic).


At the top (3200m, 10,500 feet) is the 17th-century church, a (local-) touristy avenue with tat- and food-stalls, and sweeping views of the surrounding hills. One has a statue of Christ on top (picture), appealing to the ref for a penalty that you suspect he went down rather easily for.


The views (pic) are amazing - mainly in the sense that you can't believe how far Bogota sprawls. The jaunt up took an hour, the lope down half that, and I snacked on a corn-cob from a street vendor. It tasted a bit different to what I'm used to: the kernels were larger, the size of chickpeas, not so sweet, and had the consistency of cheese. It was lovely. I scoffed it before I could take a picture.

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