Bogotá, Colombia – Arrival

After I learned our governor had declared a state of emergency, because of the anticipated snowstorm, I was very glad I had booked a room at the Hampton Inn near JFK. My reason? My flight was scheduled to depart at 6:30 the following morning. Why JFK and why so early? It was a direct flight and whenever possible, I avoid changing planes.

I wanted to increase the odds that my driver would get home safely, so I had him pick me up two hours earlier than originally planned.

Despite my earlier departure, I still had sufficient time to fix my clogged toilet, thanks to a tip my friend Susan gave me: fill a container with really hot water, then dump it fast and hard, and although it wasn’t part of her instructions, I kept working that damn plunger till all was right with the world…and my toilet. Bet you weren’t expecting a plumbing tip in a travel blog. You’re welcome.

About the surprisingly “low cost” to upgrade to Avianca’s business class, I mentioned in my last post? After having experienced it, I’d say “fairly priced” is a more accurate description. Think economy, but with bigger, more comfy seats in the first three rows of the plane. Had I known the food was going to be so bad, I would have packed more than a bag of cashews and chocolate. But look at what you could choose to buy if you were flying in economy. Hostess cupcakes have been revived and given a new name!

To me, what the upgrade offered that was more valuable were the priority lines for check in and security. I couldn’t believe how crowded Terminal 4 was at 4:15 AM!

Although business class ordinarily comes with lounge access, the earliest opening time was 5 AM. I had just received an email from Avianca telling me boarding started at 5:31AM. Wrong! The plane was late, and there were no updates from Avianca until we were told to board at 7:30. Damn. I could have been in the lounge, having breakfast after all.

There is something exhilarating about flying into sunshine after leaving a frigid, snow covered area. The traumas of travel just melt away. All is forgiven once you reach your destination and you find it is even better than the photos portrayed. Our hotel, De La Opera, is in Candelaria, a delightful section of Bogota.

On my first night in Columbia, my new friend, Elsie, and I walked to dinner at Aquelarria, which is about 6 blocks from our hotel. I’m so glad she also chose to arrive before the tour started because it gave us a chance to get acquainted. She has her PhD in Cultural Anthropology, is fluent in Spanish, and lives near Carlsbad (where my brother John lives).

Dinner was delicious and SO inexpensive. If you like murals of bare breasted women frolicking on the walls, this is the place to be.

So what did I do on my early arrival day, you ask? Before leaving home, I booked a tour through “Get Your Guide” to the Salt Cathedral, which has been described as Columbia’s first (and so far, only) wonder of the world. To get to this “wonder” , you’re looking at about a two hour drive EACH way in heavy traffic.

I didn’t realize it was a private tour, with a young woman whose English is about as advanced as my Spanish. Needless to say, conversation was extremely limited on our 2 hour drive. Did I mention that Bogotá is enormous and the traffic is much like what one encounters in most big cities?

Although I was promised a guide, what I actually got was a driver, because that’s about all she did. But she did it extremely well, which is something, given Bogotá’s traffic (and other drivers). The online description said the tour included “skip the line” tickets, which sounded good to me. What it meant was we stopped at a little gift shop near the attraction where I got to pay about three times the price I would have paid. When I arrived at the Salt Cathedral, I discovered there was no line and I saw what the price should have been. Okay, so I contributed to the local economy.

After all that, I expected the Salt Cathedral to be breath taking. It wasn’t. Of course, if your thing is walking along dimly lit corridors on the uneven ground of an old salt mine, you’ll be enthralled. Before you get to the “cathedral”, you walk along “stations of the cross” that are essentially stone crosses carved in alcoves.

Occasionally the lighting in the alcove varied. But that was it. Eventually you got to the main event, the cathedral, and it was indeed lovely.

Had the cathedral been a 15 minute drive away, I would have given it a rave review. But it wasn’t, so I didn’t.

To me, the best part of the experience was the 3D video about the history of the salt mine near the very end of the corridors.

The rest of the tunnel was jammed packed with souvenir shops and places to get snacks. I skipped the gift shops ( sorry, Sue), but bought an ice cream cone at one of the snack alcoves.

After 2 hours in the salt mine, I was ready to emerge, but how? The signage can best be described as fairly nonexistent, so I asked someone. In Spanish. Yes, those on line lessons really paid off. I even understood her when she told me I could either go back the way I came or wait for the train. Given that I had taken multiple wrong turns on the way down, the train was clearly the best option for me. I even was able to ask someone if I was in the right line, and he understood me!

By the time I got back to the hotel, it was too late to do anything other than get ready for dinner. Elsie, with the help of Alejo, our guide, had organized dinner at a nearby restaurant. Most of the group had arrived and decided to join us for what turned out to be a delightful evening.

Our first official day will include a walking tour of Bogotá, then free time in the afternoon during which we can either go off on our own or visit Monserrate, which our guide thoughtfully arranged transportation for us.