Bogota - Making New Plans
We went to the Brazilian Consulate for 9am and were told it would take 5 days to get a visa online or 10 days if we were to submit our application with their office. No exceptions! So we went back to JW Marriott to use the wifi, submited our application and arranged new hotel, flights and excursions for the next few days.
After the application for the visa was taken care of, Bill started working on rearranging the rest of our week with his colleagues and booking us rooms to stay here in Bogota. He accidentally booked us a really good deal for a hotel for tomorrow night (turned out we needed it anyway), then booked us at another hotel, with the same chain for tonight.
We headed to our new hotel and Bill finalized the new flights, hotels and excursions starting two days from now.
So, for the rest of the day, we decided to check out Monserrate. It is a mountain in Bogota that is over 3,000 metres. In 1640, Juan de Borja, a former governor, approved the building of a church in honour of Montserrat’s Virgin Morena. In 1657 a monetary was completed with a famous painting by Pedro de Lugo and Albarracin, “The Fallen Lord”. Prior to the construction of the church, the hill top was know as the Snow Hill Top and used for religious celebrations and devoted people began climbing to the top.
In 1656, Father Rojas ordered a carving of a crucifix and a statue of Jesus Christ after being take off the cross, earning it the name” El Señor Caido.” Originally, these sculptures were placed inside a small chapel but over time more people began visiting the sanctuary in order to see the statue of Jesus, rather than the matron saint of Monserrat. By the 19th century, the “El Señor Caido” Statue had gained so much attraction, that the Sculpture to the Virgin of Montserrat was removed from as the center piece of the sanctuary and replaced with “El Señor Caido” however, the mountain has retained the name Monserrate to this day.
We wanted to take the cable car, but it was closed, so we took the funicular instead of walking the 1,034 stairs to the top.
We enjoyed a fantastic lunch at the top of the mountain overlooking the city at Ignacio restaurant. We were seated along the windows and enjoyed the sun, the view and the cool breeze. The salmon and crab dishes were prepared in a French style and of course was very rich and very good. The restaurant, service and view were worth the extra expense.
We then toured the area with the stations of the cross and inside the church and took lots of photos of the city before heading back down.
From there, we walked the 2km through the city to explore Iglesia San Francisco. Along the way I stopped at Starbucks near a University to get a mug and an iced chai latte. The streets were filled with pedestrians, cars, buses, bikes and motorcycles. It was a vibrant and a very different vibe from Sunday when the streets were closed to automobiles.
St. Francis Church or Iglesia de San Francisco was built between 1557 and 1621 and it is one of the oldest colonial churches in Bogotá. From the outside it may look rather plain, but the interior very ornate. The ceiling is beautiful and the church is well known for the 17th-century gilded main altarpiece, which is Bogotá's largest and most elaborate piece of art of its kind. It is polished wood covered in gold, following the Flemish style.
We quietly walked around as a mass being conducted. We found the small statue of Jesus Christ with unusually long real-looking hair. It is said that, as a result of a miracle, this statue grew real hair which keeps growing to this day.
It was starting to get dark when we finished the tour, so we hailed an Uber and headed back to our hotel. One thing about Uber here, it is illegal, so someone always needs to sit in the front seat, so that it does not look obvious. Also, it is very inexpensive, about 1/2 as much as a taxi, but you need to be patient. If it says the driver will arrive in 4-6 min, that could mean you are waiting for 15-20 min. So, if you are not in a rush, use Uber, otherwise, pay extra and hail a taxi.
In the evening we walked the 200 m to the W Hotel and had a few snacks and drinks in the Lounge while working on the blog and photos before turning in early for the evening.