I have had Colombia on my bucket list for some time now; with the security situation well improving over the last couple of years – and a good offer at hand (for both tour and flight), I decided to get booked for this summer.

I made it into Bogotá in the evening of July 6th after a quick 11.5 hours flight (straight in from Frankfurt). After a good night of (jet-lag induced) sleep, I had a full day to explore the city – before the initial meeting with my group in the evening.

This morning I had a walk around the touristic center, making my way around to Plaza Bolivar, the cathedral, the presidential palace and Santa Clara museum; I also paid a visit to Bogotá’s Gold Museum. In the afternoon – after a late sandwich lunch – I walked up to the cable car station, to make the way up to Monserrate to see the church and shrine – and (certainly more important) get a view of the city.

I made it back to the hotel in time for the group meeting. It turned out, that there were only four of us (including myself, plus Andres, our tour leader) for the next ~twelve days (until Cartagena), so a fairly small group. After the usual introduction, we made our way into a nearby restaurant for dinner – followed by a first visit to the BBC and a great IPA introduction.

The next day – after a tea-based introduction to Starbucks – Colombia’s air force (or better the air force controlled airline SATENA) was happy enough to get us to the first stop of our tour itinerary – San Agustin.