Bogota - Colombia

We took a boat journey from Peru to the Colombian town of Leticia, also in the jungle. It took about 9 hours and was uneventful, apart from some military bombing exercises on the river, that held us up for a little while. Ian had a bad tummy here, so we did not venture far. Being the wet season it did rain for some part of each day, and was extremely hot. Being the furthest town south in Colombia, the only way out of the jungle is to fly. We flew to the capital of Bogota. We spent some time in the capital of Bogota seeing the Gold Museum, which holds more than 34,000 gold pieces from all the major pre-Hispanic cultures, Santa Clara Church Museum, whose walls are totally covered by large framed paintings, and the Donacion Botero Art Museum. Botero is a famous Colombian painter and sculpture, who specialises in large robust people. This museum also had some rather interesting paintings of Picasso - of which I would not have passed Year 12 Art by copying him! Who decides what art is actually good!! Cerro de Monserrate is 3160 mtrs and overlooks the city. It is a mecca for pilgrims who visit the statue of the fallen christ, dating from the 1650s, and to which many miracles have been contributed. Bogota is about the same size as London. Felt alittle dodgy at night so did not venture far, or just took a taxi. Zona Rosa was the night spot, so we had a night at the Irish Bar. Heading north via the salt mines in a town called Zipaquira, we visited the Salt Cathedral, which is found in the heart of the mountain, underground. It is 75 mtrs long, 18 mtrs high and can accommodate 8400 people. It was really interesting.