Finding Bogota's hidden gems

Today was to be a tour of downtown Bogota. Up until now I'd only seen a fairly rundown little city, but clearly the route that the bus takes from the airport into the Calandaria area covers pretty much the grottiest part of the city.

Once I decided to head for the museums: Museo del Oro and the Donacion Botero art gallery, I got to see that behind the dodgy individuals wandering the streets lives a city bustling with youthful culture.

Museo del Oro

My first stop today was the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) which houses 5 floors of amazing golden retrieved artifacts created by the indigenous Indians since BC. Anything from tribal jewelery to mystical tokens created by shamans, this place has the lot.

It's really fascinating and some of the pieces are exquisitely designed which is remarkable when you consider the primitive tools that would have been used to created them.

Museo del Oro

Definately a must see. Plus the classy restaurant in the museum is top notch while still being remarkably cheap! I had a huge Colombian stew and beer, plus rice, salave and bread with olive oil for a measly 7 euro!

Next on my must-see list is the gallery created by the Colombian artist: Fernando Botero, called the "Donacion Botero"

Housed in a huge colonial mansion the gallery is split in two halves: One is Botero's private collection which spans artists from Dali, Renoir to Picasso plus a floor of sculptures!

Donacion Botero gallery

The other half is Botero's private work. The works are mostly recent as he is still an active artist and he has an obsession with making everything look "fatter" than real life. Pretty comical tbh.

Fat Mona Lisa

Wandered around Candelaria as the sun gradually set and enjoyed the company of tons of students out for a night of Wednesday revelry. The city is packed full of students as the country's main universities are found here.

My hostel seemed a lot more chilled out over the past 2 days too. Whatever noisy chick that was there on the first night thankfully scarpered!

Onward to Cartagena tomorrow at 2pm...