Bogota

Our tour this morning starts at Monserrate and the visibility on the way up is excellent. Unfortunately within minutes of arriving the cloud and drizzle also arrive. The plan was to take the cable car up and the funicular back down but there is a race taking place and all the participants are using the funicular down so for speed we go back via cable car.

From there we start our walking tour of Bogota and our guide regales us with so much information we'll never remember all of it. Graffiti is apparently no longer illegal after a young boy was shot and killed by a police officer for spraying his signature Felix the Cat on a building. A year later Justin Bieber visited and was taken undercover of darkness to graffiti a wall (a Canadian flag with a marijuana leaf instead of a maple). Although the painting was destroyed within 3 hours the injustice of this saw a change to the law where anyone spraying only has to have the permission of the property owner.

The gold museum is vast and has gold and other artefacts from all over the country. We only see the highlights but it is enough.

The site of the start of La Violencia in 1984 has plaques dedicated to Jorge Eliécer Gaitán where he was killed. Apparently this was also the start of the demise of the tram system as bus operators and the Conservative government were keen to introduce more buses.

Photo with a llama anyone?