And so the journey continues. Following cheap flights and hostels in central America came to its end as I have decided to take a flight to my first south American country - Colombia - a place of many famous people including Simon Bolivar!
Because all sorts of restrictions of movement (at least in my case) I had to fly for two times quite unnecessarily. I was ready to keep on using buses to move around, but being it central america it is actually more efficient and economical to fly around...
So a cheap flight I found was from Guatemala city to Bogota. Departing at night I had plenty of time to get to the airport. I end up taking a direct shuttle as I was literary done with the Chicken buses after taking around forty of them.
My departure was scheduled at night and there was a stop over in Costa Rica. I knew I went and asked something at the gate - like if my electronic ticket from online check in is valid and I was offered a direct flight instead - Thank you Avianca!
Border crossing in Bogota required another stupid online form which I would have happily presented if even asked for... My hostel reservation was the only thing they asked and of course I didn't have that on hand. So I had to log onto the airport WiFi to get that information - in Bogota they give you only half an hour online for free - So do get your offline map in time. Which is what I did next when bought my fourth cafe on this overnight trip.
Than I tried to get to the center which was and wasn't easy depending if you're comfortable with big cities. It was quite a while I haven't been in a city of the size of Bogota. It welt a bit sketchy at first and I paid big attention to my pockets and backpack.
Arrived to city center as planed with the public bus - longer than anything I have seen so far. There is no metro system on here so the bus is almost like a short train.
It was still early and I was killing time by walking through the city before I felt like I could go to the hostel and wait for the check in hour.
Quite randomly I have crossed the main Bolivar square. I assume it is called after him as so many things and places are... Bolivar was definitely a monumental and nation defining person. In fact Colombia known to us now exist mostly thanks to him. Sadly the statue was vandalized by local feminists - which I am not sure what they have against Simon. I guess anything resembling the past is bad now.
Arrived to hostel still too early to check in but I was allowed in and rested over another cafe for a bit. I have met Rachel and David - both Spanish travelers speaking German as second or third language and we had interesting language exchange.
Next thing you know they both leave for a hike and Christian - a pure gringo takes their place and we venture out together after my check in.
The rest of the day was spend by sitting around the Cafe in our hostel. When I say Cafe I mean a cannabis club. Locals were visiting the hostel courtyard since early afternoon to have a beer and a joint. Colombian weed smells awesome and we have spend the rest of the day surrounded by cannabis clouds...
All the best,
Global Local