Bogota
It is said that the history of graffiti in Bogota dates back to the 1980s, when the president managed to secure the first peace agreement with the FARC and invited the population to “paint peace” in the streets.
Messages appear on the walls of Bogota, often messages of a social nature, political powers, guerrillas, paramilitaries, drug traffickers…
With the influence of American hip-hop culture, young people are going to grab paint cans and start “tagging” city walls.
Long considered as an act of vandalism, graffiti has now been revamped and has even become one of Bogota’s major tourist attractions in a few years.
We have scheduled a two-hour "Graffiti Tour".
We are about twenty people of all nationalities and follow our exciting and passionate guide in different areas of the city.
Throughout our journey and through graffiti we discover the history of Colombia and especially the last years under the different political regimes.
All the walls of the city are tagged ... It must be admitted that the whole does not give a beautiful image of the capital.
The vast majority are not "quality ones" and it is difficult to find real graffiti painted by renowned artists.
We end our visit to Bogota by
* Museo Iglesia Santa Clara: Built between 1629 and 1647, its single nave structure is decorated with a barrel vault covered with golden floral motifs. Its walls are fully dressed with 148 paintings and sculptures of saints. Interactive panels now display explanations in French, Spanish, English and Portuguese.
Bogota
Yesterday we booked a "Graffitis Tours" for today but this one is postponed to tomorrow because it is the « Independence day of Colombia » and therefore a holiday.
We modify our program and decide to go to the Colombian Customs Service "DIAN" to regularize the "TIP" of our camper. Every day we receive an email indicating that our "TIP" has expired.
Kika, a Frenchwoman who has been living here for several years, helps all French tourists passing through, on every possible subject and is the reference for all campers.
It confirms the exact address of the offices because there are several of them throughout the capital and checks that they are open.
Christophe prepares his file and leaves in Uber .... for nothing .... the offices are closed.
On his return he contacts Ana in Carthagina who advises him to wait 2 weeks to rectify and extend it. They agree to come together to do all the things.
The city is left to bicycles and many roads are closed to vehicle traffic, almost the entire city center is pedestrian.
The number of street vendors has doubled and a human tide is flooding the historic district.
The day is dedicated to visiting two museums:
* Botelo Museum : This pretty little museum houses a large collection of works donated by renowned painter Fernando Botero. One of its only conditions was that the museum was free, to allow everyone to access art and discover the beauty of the works.
* National Museum : It occupies a building that was originally the Panoptico Penitentiary. It is an interesting museum but it presents too many things, and is aimed mainly at those who want to deepen the understanding of the country.
Bogota
The night was short for Jean-Pierre with a wake up at 3 am, Christophe waking up at 6:30 am.
We don’t have our "paper" guides that we left in the camper ... We’ve been stupid...
But we have epub guides on our e-reader ... It’s not the same and we have a lot of trouble reading and organizing our day.
All in all we search on the internet and develop a first program.
Departure on foot from our hotel which is not far from the historic center towards the "Plaza Bolivar".
It’s 9 degrees and the sun is there.
At an average altitude of 2.625 metres, Santafé de Bogotá was founded on 6 August 1538 by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada after his victory against the Muiscas Indians.
Bogota soon became the capital of the Kingdom of New Granada, created in 1550, but attached to the Viceroyalty of Peru.
It was in this city that the independence movement began, and in 1819 Bogota became the capital of Greater Colombia, which at the time included Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama.
* Plaza Bolivar : Built in 1539 under the name of Plaza Mayor is a true social and political nerve centre. It served as a framework for military parades, bull fights and the market.
* Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception : It is the largest religious temple in the capital and one of the largest in Latin America. It was built in 1553 in the neoclassical style. Inside, in addition to the 3 naves and the high altar, there are 10 side chapels.
On this same square are the Palace of Justice, the National Capitol, the Archiepiscopal Palace and other religious buildings next to the cathedral, and the Liévano Palace which houses the City Hall of Bogotá.
* El museo del oro : This museum preserves several Hispanic objects dating from ancient times. There are nearly thirty-five thousand gold objects and nearly thirty thousand stone and ceramic objects. It also houses many objects that symbolize Colombian culture ... We loved these collections
We discovered little by little this capital that has captivated us. There is a "good-natured" atmosphere in which dozens of street vendors settle to sell junk goods.
Throughout the day we visit other churches and museums:
Capilla Del Sagrario, San Francisco Iglesia, Nuestra del Carmen Iglesia, Colonial Museum
A busy day despite the fatigue of the trip and the time shift
Back to Colombia
Today is the starting day towards our camper.
We still call on Suzy to give us a lift to Montpellier airport. She becomes our personal taxi driver !!!
We have three bags, one of which is only filled with spare parts (oil filter, heating radiator, air filter and gas vent grille...)
Take-off from Montpellier1 hour late, which does not affect our connection in Paris as we had to wait 3 hours.
Very pleasant flight without too much turbulence with an arrival on time.
We were wondering how many days the immigration officer was going to give us.
Normally our first visa has not expired so we should have 57 days.... He gives us 90 days.
Another question: will we pay the VAT on the spare parts we brought with us ? ... no check.
ROAD BOOK 114
MAVROS ODYSSEE