Bogotá

A quick stop in Bogotá before our onward flight to Cusco, Peru. I couldn’t find a cheap hotel so I decided to book a cheaper alternative at  £19 for a little apartment, all mod-cons etc! So we get off the plane, grab an UBER and head off to our apartment. We have initial fears of using UBER in Bogotá as we are not entirely sure of the safety, but from our experience, UBER is a better option as you know how much you should pay without need to get cash out, unlike the yellow cabs. In fact in Panama, we were told not to use them as they were overpriced and could be dangerous, having said that, the one we did take the driver couldn’t have been nicer!!

So we get in our UBER, a very friendly Colombian chap who is full of questions about our trip, and we rock-up at our accomodation after just a few minutes. Let’s just say it’s not quite what we were expecting, perhaps what one might describe as ‘the ghetto’. The ‘estate’ had a very shanty town facade, and after fumbling around the shanty-town streets, there was no-one to be seen at the address. Our incredibly helpful UBER driver remarks, ‘well it can’t be here’, but after scrambling around and finding a phone number, we manage to contact the apartment owner, who eventually emerges his head out of one of the ‘ghetto’ houses! We reluctantly leave the safety of the UBER, walk to the apartment past numerous families and weed smoking teenagers all looking at us with utter bewilderment, but all offering help to find our way in!  Eventually a doddery old man with purple scabby feet opens the door and invites us in to his humble abode 😳, all in 100mph Spanish! After a little initial discontent at mums choice of accommodation for the night, everyone is happy in the ghetto as it has a comfy bed (just don’t look closely at the sheets!) and WiFi!

Next problem…we have no money! I booked through booking.com (as usual) and thought I’d paid by card, but oh no, no card payments! Don’t worry he says, you can pay by some Colombian PayPal thing…hmmm, not a chance as all in Spanish and very difficult to use. After numerous calls in basic Spanish to the man’s aunties, uncles, son, daughter, cousins etc 😂, we finally found a compromise with some leftover US dollars, but OMG what a sticky-one! 

Next problem…no money, no drinking water!! Thankfully, the owner gave in to this and gave us a jug! We haven’t been sick yet…  😂

We all had a great nights sleep, no raids in the middle of the night and it’s a great travel story! Well done boys again, they loved the adventure of it all.