Bogotá, Colombia

You'll have to excuse my frustrated tone, but I spent a good amount of time last night preparing our Bogotá post. When I opened it this morning to do a once over and push publish, it was gone. 
I am armed with a fresh pot of coffee... so here goes nothing.
Bogotá
Matt and I returned early Monday morning for our weekend getaway. Before I share Bogota through the eyes of the McQuinn's, here are some facts:
*Bogotá is the capital city of Colombia
*The population is 8.8 million. To understand the size of the city, the only North American cities that are larger than Bogotá are Mexico City & New York City.
*Bogotá is 8,661 feet above sea level {you can feel it}






After checking into our hotel, we began our adventure at Cerro de Monserrate, which is a gorgeous church atop the Colombian mountains boasting amazing panoramic views of the city.










After adjusting to the altitude, eating at a lovely French restaurant, and taking lots of pictures, we headed back down to get out of the rain {common to Bogotá}.
For the evening, we moved to a trendier area known for its high-end shopping and restaurants. After window shopping, we settled on a cafe for dinner with an amazing Argentinian wine and some people watching. At this time, we were able to forget we were on a different continent in a strange city, which was a great feeling. This rarely happens in Cartagena, so the city feel that provided a comfort was a huge plus of Bogotá. While on the subject, here are a few of the other observations we made:
English:
Many more people in Bogotá are bilingual than Cartagena. Don't get me wrong, we still had language barrier issues at times, but every employee we encountered at our hotel was English speaking {we stayed at a Marriott} and many people that work in the service field were as well. We had read before hand this was the case due to the focus on education and Universities in Bogotá.
Graffiti:
Yes, graffiti is an observation. From the moment we left the airport we noticed the massive amount of graffiti throughout the city. It's hard to even explain, but you could not go further than a block without seeing some area covered in spray paint. It also appeared that nothing was immune; statues, businesses, apartment buildings, churches were covered. 



I mentioned we were staying at a Marriott and in true Eloise style, I enjoyed my time in the 'plaza'.  Not only did the staff speak English, they were incredibly helpful in recommending restaurants and other tourist spots. They had their own car service and our weekend included a couples massage.  Saturday evening we came back to turn down service, with slippers and robes, plush & soft, waiting to be crawled into and a mint on our pillow with a nighttime sound mix on the ihome. I would be lying if I said that Eloise thought about spending the rest of the weekend in this room.

Sunday morning we began by going to the highly recommended La Candelaria area. This colonial area hosts many museums, churches, and government buildings.
We started out at el Museo del Oro, The Gold Museum. I expected a glorified jewelry store. Instead I looked at this:

Matt loved it. Seriously.

Next up was an Art Museum that hosted the work of Botero, a Colombian born artist who is known for his paintings and sculpture of 'gorditos'. Fat people.


Cartagena has one of Botero's sculptures of a gordita in the Old City. The museum also contains works by Picasso, Renoir, and Monet.
And this guy

See where he is from. P.A.T.
We made our way to the government buildings, including the President of Colombia's Home.



{yes, that is a guard holding a weapon. Common sighting in Colombia}


We spent the rest of our afternoon admiring the architecture and people watching.










We went back to our hotel room to rest up before our massage {ahhh} and got ready for dinner.
Dinner was a highly recommended Colombian spot called, Andres D.C., a delicious restaurant with a menu that was a magazine and a high energy ambiance unlike any place I've ever dined before. I forgot to bring my camera so cell phone pics will suffice.



Our check arrived in this. With a flash light, a magnifying glass, a pen, and two bags of candy.


As we went to leave the restaurant, our server handed me this.

Our receipt.


We enjoyed our short adventure to see what the interior of the country has to offer and look forward to exploring more.
Now you will have to excuse me.
I have a to-do list staring me in the face with a deadline. Thursday. That's when the American Crew lands on Colombian soil. SO excited.