Monseratte is Bogota’s proud symbol and is a white church up 3152m and can be seen from most parts of Bogota. The top has unbelievable views of Bogota which I have not really captured here. Monseratte peak is one of the most popular destinations for tourists so we decided to wait for Dawn and Yves to arrive so we could all do it together. And arrive they did at 6:30 am this morning after flying all night and didn’t look too bad either. After a few coffee for Yves and a short cat-nap for Dawn we headed out to hike up to the Church. I was so looking forward to the hike which is a Mecca for pilgrims due to the Church’s altar statue of the Fallen Christ dating from the 1650’s. On Saturday and Sunday mornings hordes of people hike the 1500 steps to the top to attend Mass. Unfortunately, however, due to altitude issues in Bogota and certainly at the top of Monseratte it is not unusual for people to get dizzy, headachy, etc. Dawn was hit with this and decided it would be best for her not to take the 90 minute hike up but rather ride the funicular or cable car up. Being the good friend that I am I decided she should not do this alone so I accompanied her on her journey in the cable car up the mountain. On the way we met many Colombians who have to be the friendliest, most helpful people in the world! Beautiful Juliette had fabulous English so we chatted the whole way and she stressed to us the importance of pronouncing the second “o” in Colombia and not make it sound like a “u”(much like the actress on Modern Family whose name I forget). Anyway after a great ride up we wandered around, met a few people due to our very white skin and waited for Jim and Yves to arrive which they did some time later. One look at them and I was so grateful for Dawn’s headache because, as Jim said, “that’s one of the hardest 80 minute hikes I’ve ever done”………. Glad I missed it! The view, however, was magnificent and the number of adults and children on the top of the mountain was amazing. There was no way you could get into the massive Catholic Church for mass, but no matter, as there was another mass after. I’m not sure how many they had but as Dawn and I went down on the cable car they were still lined up to come up. In case you haven’t guessed it the guys got their second wind, and a lot of water, and walked down which they said was just as bad as the hike up.
Monseratte was definitely worth doing and we spent the rest of the day wandering around window shopping looking at people and the sights and visited the gold museum. By 4pm we were pretty tuckered so decided to have a couple of beer at our hostel and go for a very early supper. It was hard to believe that Dawn and Yves were still standing as they had been up so long but we managed to go out for a very typical ColOmbian meal and it wasn’t long after that that they became incoherent………and Jim too! So here I am doing my blog as everyone else is asleep and grateful for another fabulous day in Bogota, ColOmbia where the people are happy, kind and very hospitable. Headed to bed because even though I didn’t do that long hike I’m tired and eagerly awaiting what tomorrow has to offer. Hope you’re all well!u