Bogota cuisine, meat and juice

As I mentioned already in my blog I really like the feel of Bogota. The people there seem friendly and the culture, sights, food and drink we found there were great.

One thing that really stood out was the meat. Many of the restaurants had grills which were inverted conical shaped bars coming to a point above a real fire with different levels for cooking things and keeping them warm. We also had a couple of really good lunches which were basically comprised of lots of meat. The first was from a grill restaurant on Jiminez called "la gran parillia de santa fe" where we started with tuna on top of guacamole (more or less). This tasted great and is really simple to make yourself on the road (I made it from scratch a couple of nights later with mashing up avocado, Tomato, red onion and some oil and serving with tinned tuna steak on top, definitely a good way to save cash). This was followed by something recommend by the waiter which was beef in a local sauce. The starter and main was more than enough lunch for both of us!

We also found that some restaurants have hot lunch plate specials which feature a combination of meats and sausage, another restaurant on Jiminez (whose name escapes me, which is my fault for waiting too long to write this up) served this for around 15-20 thousand pesos (around 7-8 pounds) and one of these lunches is more than enough for 2 people.

The final grill we went to was on Carrera 7, we only stopped because the guy was handing out free meat samples as we walked past (it certainly worked on me, after trying it I was in like a shot). We shared 1 between 2 of us and it was more than enough again. This was around the intersection with 17 Calle on the corner an all of the meat there was tender and excellently cooked.

The other thing we had loads of while walking around Bogota was fruit juice. Near our hostel were 2 smoothie/cocktail bars Yumi Yumi and Mora Mora. The cocktails in the former were great and there was a really friendly atmosphere for drinking in the evening, the smoothies in the latter we pretty awesome, and they had the option to add booze if you were in the mood (although we declined this) both also offered food (although cheap it was not brilliant).

So in summary Bogota lunches are usually big enough for 2, eating them alone would definitely be bad for you. To stay healthy there are some great juice bars (as long as you steer clear of the less healthy but very tasty cocktail option). I should also mention that Colombia has a pretty handy selection of local beers, club Colombia is a very tasty cerveza available as a blond and a red beer, both of which I would highly recommend.

Pictured below are the 7 pound hot plate dinner, a mixed grill and the guard and gates at the presidential residence

Bogota, city of surprises

From Quito the plan had been to get busses through Colombia, this would have taken a couple of days and allowed us to see Ottavalo, where there is an apparently great market, Pasto and Popayan. Sadly the coffee pickers in the south of Colombia had other ideas and decided to go on strike blockading the two main northbound roads. So we once again decided to fly (so much for our good intentions of taking buses and saving money.)

We booked a hostel in La Candelaria area of Bogota, which is the main historic old town where most of the tourists go, as well as having a large student population. It is also blessed with an abundance of restaurants, juice/cocktail bars (depending on if it is day or night) and eating options to go with a pretty impressive nightlife scene.

The first thing we noticed when arriving was it was cold, well, cool. I had expected it to be sticky and tropical but because Bogota sits at around 2600m above sea level it has an average temperature of 14 Celsius.

The second thing that became apparent is that tourists appeared to be giving Bogota a miss and instead heading straight to Medellin or Cartagena and the rest of the Caribbean coast in the North. I think this is a shame because Bogota has a great vibe as a city and there is plenty to do with around 50 museums, including the excellent Museo de oro (museum of gold), as well as having a 2 hour free walking tour (in English) run by the central tourist information and gives information on a bit of South American and Colombian history while introducing you the main historical buildings.

There is also a hill (Cerro de Monserrate) in the city (near La Candeleria) which has a church (sanctuario de monserrate) on it and once you have taken the cable car or walked up you are treated to spectacular views over the whole of Bogota.

Food wise making a decision on where to eat was difficult with many nice looking places offering a variety of food.

There were a few things in Bogota I really wanted to eat. The first is a chicken soup called ajiaco which, like much of South America has its origins with the South American tribes (not the incas in Colombia, they did not get that far north) and the Spanish conquistadors who conquered them. The basis of the soup is a corn and vegetable broth (traditional indigenous Indian staples) with chicken added and served with pots of cream, avacado and capers (all Spanish additions) which you can add into your soup in quantities you want.

I had the one pictured at the bottom of the blog at a restaurant called Sanalejio on Jiminez ( the Main Street running down the side of la Candeleria) which was filling, tasty but not exactly haut cuisine. The idea of eating avocado floating in soup was interesting and not unpleasant.

The embrace and extend attitude of the conquistadors can be seen all over South America, with many of the churches are built on inka (or other indigenous) sites of worship. The church also incorporated a lot of traditional aspects into its art in South American churches with the sun and moon featuring strongly as they were also worshipped as part of the earlier religions here.

Anyway, I digress, I have to say that my first impressions of Bogota were very favourable (and not just because the cool temperature and inclement weather reminded me of Britain). In my next blog I'll go into the other food we had here and maybe a bit more about the city. Pictured below are the ajiaco and accompaniment, the church in bolivar square and 2 views of the city from the cerro de Monserrate.