Pork and Apple: Bogota

Bogota, Colombia's Capital, with it's very British weather and different culture turned out to be a nice surprise. The very first thing we did in Bogota was a Graffiti Tour of the street art in the area we were staying in. Our tour guide was very keen to give a different impression of Colombia and he succeed. The Bogota community is very accepting of street artists, in some cases they've even had police guarding them while they finish a piece of work. This has lead to many international artists coming to Bogota for their art and staying for their new family. The street art in Bogota is world class.

Our Guide showing us some work by Spanish artist Pez

Possibly my favourite artist that we saw, Rodez

Awesome Art and a Fantastic Restaurant - French Style Cooking of Colombian Ingredients

Another of my favourite artists. After looking all around the city Alex ended up buying one of his t-shirts. Inside the building is a great sounding community hangout for local artists, complete with bakery.

Some more political work

One of the other big musts of Bogota is a visit to the Gold Museum. I was a bit skeptical but we ended up enjoying it. It was an interesting insight into the pre-Hispanic culture's skills and beliefs.

Adorable pottery that I found very entertaining

The intricacy of some pieces was amazing

Some pieces were down right scary

Funerary urns represented uteruses where the deceased were reborn into new beings. Since the bones of the dead were the lasting parts of the body, they symbolised the continuity of social life.

A few other activities around the city included taking a cable car up Cerro de Monserrate for the view, enjoying some of Colombian artist Fernando Botero's work where all things are chubby, even the guitars, and eating a local classic - hot chocolate and cheese.