Tag Archives: South America 2017

Last Day in Bogota

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We started off the day getting caffeine at Juan Valdez near our hotel.

Then we went to venture off around Usaquen, where we stopped by a “Mac Store” (where it was basically an Apple store, but they did not have any iPhone X).

We grabbed a light lunch at Osaka.

And then stopped a nearby shopping center called Hacienda Santa Barbers.l (where they also had a La Plaza de Qudres).

On our way to the museum of Gold, I thought it was interesting that people sell things on the roads:

At the Gold Museum, it was super cheap to enter (like $1.50 USD or 4000 pesos)

After the Gold museum we went to a a church called Catedral de la Virgin.

We went our way back to Zona Rosa, where we stopped by a Taco Bel and I got some Nachos and a bunch of candy (the equivalent to Hershey’s in Colombia is Jet):

We then got a full body massage at Chairama spa (it was $151000 pesos, which I though was a bit pricey for Colombia).

After the massage, we stopped by a bar called La Cerveceria.

The last bar we went to was called Cabrera Resto Bar, where they had really good deep house music (much like Roxanne, except they had a DJ).

To end off, some interesting things I thought I should mention:

  • Empanadas are more corn-like in Colombia compared to the US
  • The exchange rate was about 3 times the US
  • Alcoholic drinks were almost the same price as the US, but good in general was cheap

Touring La Candelaria

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We met our waking tour guide at El Chorro de Quevedo around 2pm.

She started off the tour by briefly talking about the importance of Graffiti (apparently a past president once endorsed it).

She then went on about Chicha, which was the main alcoholic drink before beer came into play. It actually tastes pretty good (like orange cream soda and vodka).

We then went on to try some various popular fruits in Bogota (not sure about most of them, but apparently Guanabana is believed to get rid of cancer. That fruit is green, with pointy sides).

We then made our way to Embajada de la coca. There we tried coca leaves (by chewing them on one side of the mouth, which had a bit of a numbing effect on the tongue and side of the cheek). We also tried some tea, which also had an interesting neural effect. In addition, we tried some cookies, which didn’t really do anything.

They also talked about a device that they used to mix coca leaves with one of three ingredients, which helped connect the “coca leaves to Mother Earth”.

After, we made our way to where the Senate and the Justice building were (and apparently Narcos spun the story a bit different about the Justice building being attacked by Pablo Escobar. Apparently the M19 was not hired by him, but did it on their own since they wanted to put president at the time on trial for trying to disrupt the peace process).

After, we made our way to the president’s buildings.

The last stop of the tour was a coffee shop, where we had some drip coffee (forget the exact name, but it had 60 degree in it). Apparently most of the best Colombian coffee gets exported while only some stay within the country. This place had some the good stuff that stayed inside.

Nightlife in Zona Rosa Pt. 2

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After BBC we headed to La Plaza de Qudres, where we sampled a bunch Spanish food.

The dishes we tried were Arepa Chico, Endselada des fruitas, and Cervache.

After, we headed to Qudres D.C, which was 5 floors high. Our waitress was from Colombia, but stayed in Toronto for a bit (so she spoke decent english).

The drinks we had at Andres was Aguardiente (tastes a bit like absinthe) and Refajo (a mix of Colombian Soda and beer). I also added a bit of Aguardiente to it (as recommended by the waitress.

After, we explored a bit more of Zona T, and had some hookah. We ended of the night chilling to some deep house music we heard earlier at Roxanne, but back at our hotel.

Eating and Nightlife Around Zona Rosa Pt 1

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We arrived at our hotel, NH Royal Boheme, around 12PM.

After we explored Zona T a bit, then tabbed some lunch at Roxanne’s where they were playing some really good deep house EDM (one song from N’To was really good).

After eating, we went back to our hotel to take a nap.

Around 5pm, we headed out to explore Zona Rosa. Our first stop was BBC (Bogota Beer Conpany), where I ordered a drink that had a mixture of espresso and beer:

Off to Bogota

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We left the Hilton around 7am to catch our flight.

We ended up getting to the airport early.l, so we check out the Copa Lounge.

When we arrived at BOG, we ended up paying a visiting tax of $75 (since Canada and Colombia have a reciprocity agreement. Colombia does not have this with the US.

When we arrived, I definitely noticed the air being a bit thinner. I just drank plenty of water, and at times took deep breaths to help with this.

Nightlife in Panama

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After visiting the Canal, we headed towards Casio Viejo, which basically reminded me of New Orleans (which makes sense since it is supposedly the Jazz area).

We went to a place called Tantalo Roof Bar, which played top 40 music spanning a couple of generations (including some EDM).

After, we grabbed dinner at a fine dining place called Capital Bistro, which is where we had our dirt small serving of Ceviche.

We then made our way back to Calle Uruguay to drink some more. We wanted to check out the Hard Rock roof top bar or the Trump’s roof top bar, but neither were open. We ended up at a bar called Acentos, where I had a good tasting Pina Colada.