Bogota: where the sky is on fire and the juice is ice cold

Bogota: where the juices are freshly squeezed, the sport involves explosives and everyone speaks Spanish to you because you look like a local. Bogota was our first stop in Colombia - we were almost convinced to not even stay the night here. We are so glad we did though. We had three nights here and stayed in Zona T - which is the nice, safe sector. Read about our other stops in Colombia: Cartagena and trekking the Amazon rainforest. Here's a highlight reel of the trip in its entirety:

Our hotel was Hotel Cabrera Imperial, it was fiiiine. I don't feel strongly one way or another about it but it was in a great location, we could walk to bars and restaurants at night and feel safe so really, that was pretty important.

Right when we got in we decided we needed a rooftop bar view of this amazing city, Bogota is nestled in the middle of mountains and it is beautiful. We found one on top of the Click Clack Hotel. The rooftop bar had about 30 minutes until it opened so we got a drink at their downstairs bar which was super funky and fun. The rooftop bar was fully enclosed which was good because it started raining and hailing once we got up there - we ate some really great burgers there, had a few drinks and waited for the storm to pass.

A good thing to note in Bogota is that the umbrellas in your hotel are there for a reason. It randomly, suddenly pours just about every day. And it's decently cold so be prepared.

One of our favorite things we did was go play tejo - this is kind of like corn hole/washers except you throw a rock at a mound of clay and try to explode firecrackers on it. While drinking of course.

We played at Club de Tejo La 76. They serve beer and bottles of liquor. It was a fun community feeling, people were there with groups of friends all yelling and making fun of how bad everyone was. It was great. You have to go do it. Don't wear all black like I did though, you get pretty dusty with all the clay you touch.

Ok. When they say to go see the sunset at Monserrate... GO SEE THE SUNSET AT MONSERRATE. This was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The sky was on fire. You have to take a cable car all the way up the mountain and you have to wait in line (so plan on that time-wise for the sunset). That was all pretty annoying but woah, it was absolutely so worth it. And the experience gets even better...

We saw they had a restaurant up there so we thought maybe we'd get a drink. I've never been happier that I know how to say 'a table by the window, please' in Spanish. Restaurante Casa San Isidro was incredible. You can make a reservation - and should. We just absolutely lucked out and got the last table by the window. About half way through dinner, a storm rolled through below over the city but below us and we got to watch the clouds pass through under us, it was really cool. Honestly, the food here didn't even have to be good, but it was. Kevin got the rabbit and loved it; I got the lobster (my dinner calculated out to be about $25 in American dollars and it was a huge lobster!) and it was delicious. This was a truly amazing experience.

The nightlife in Bogota is pretty perfect, the BBC (Bogota Beer Company) is an awesome place to sit down, chat and drink some local beers and wine. There are a million of them around town but we hit up one of the Zona T ones.

We had a ton of fun pretending we knew how to salsa along with some pretty talented dancers at Chachao. It was really fun just watching everyone burning up the dance floor. A must go to bar.

From there we wandered around to some different bars and stopped to eat at a nearby spot after deciding the wait was too long and the spot too packed at Andres DC. I did get a pretty excellent cocktail there first though.

My first and only restaurant MUST in Bogota: The Fish Market La Fragata. It has ceviche that literally blew my mind. It wasn't limey and acidy, it was almost sweet but savory. You have got to get it. We ordered the Capurgana ceviche and you should too. We also ordered the fish trio and got three different styles of fish to try. I'd recommend it too. But mainly the ceviche.

Yes, and chocolate cake for dessert.

We went and wandered through the hectically busy Plaza Bolivar. It was the first touristy feeling spot we'd been to in Bogota. There were street vendors and those statue people trying to get you to take their photo, but it was fun. There are some beautiful, old buildings lining the square.

We snacked on this beautiful, giant corn on the cob (don't do it, the corn here really isn't very good) and this Colombian dessert - I have no idea it's name but it was REALLY good! For those who like desserts that aren't super sugary, keep an eye out.

Bogota is a big city and has that feel about it. There was street art everywhere and a ton of people - well dressed people. Really, we looked like everyone else there and people consistently approached us as if we were locals, which was kind of fun. 

The streets felt very safe, though I am speaking about Zona T mostly. We did run into a British guy who was jumped a few days earlier jogging in the park alone so still keep your head on a swivel. He gave us some good pointers though - like only carrying one card and one phone out at a time so, if we get robbed, we still have a source of money. I also set up a photo sharing folder between our two iphones and kept it updated the whole trip so, if a phone was stolen, we wouldn't lose those pictures.

But really, we felt safe walking around Zona T, day or night, and we had a hotel driver take us right to the other locations so we didn't run into any trouble at all.

Bogota was an extreme blast along with being really relaxing and chill. Don't skip it. 

We're happy to answer any questions, just ask them in the comment section and we'll get back to you! Happy travels, cheers!