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                 Ibague, Melgar and Bogotá

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            After leaving Armenia I stopped for lunch in Ibague, then spent the night in Melgar, which is a weekend resort in the valley between the mountains where of the coffee plantations are to the west, and Bogotá to the east.

            Arriving in Bogotá felt like winning a game of Russian Roulette because of the absolutely insane Colombian drivers.  They're the nicest people in South America but they drive like it's a big video game where you can just add more quarters if you die.  I can't remember seeing any motorcycle accidents throughout my trip but in Colombia I saw at least eight, maybe more; most of those were in Bogotá and they all appeared to be pretty bad for the motorcycle guy.  To make matters worse, my back brakes were binding and it was getting difficult to move the motorcycle, so when I finally got to a hotel I was very very relieved.  Ultimately I ended up putting the motorcycle on the back of a flat-bed truck instead of trying to ride it to the motorcycle shop which was about 8 miles away on the north end of town.
 

Click on the image and call a lawyer.

 

Lunch in Ibague, between Armenia and Melgar.

I asked what I should photograph before leaving the city and they pointed to the Cathedral, as usual, so here it is.

Melgar, in the valley between Armenia and Bogota, was a warm little family weekend resort town.

Lots of kid's toys in Melgar. I spent the night here on the way to Bogota.

Hot-rod cutie.

Good lunch on the way to Bogota.

Colombians grill in many ways similar to Argentinians.

First shot from my hotel near the historic center in Bogota.

I got a new back tire and back brakes from these guys.

Fountain in the historic center.

The Museo del Oro, the gold museum, seen as one of the most important tourist stops in Colombia.

The museum has over 35,000 ancient gold pieces from indigenous cultures.

The shadows show how the decorative pieces were worn.

Great detail in many of these pieces.

It's hard to tell if these "outfits" are for men or women...

I saw this outfit at the Gap the other day.

Little 1,500 year old dog-bird things.

There's a round room at the end of the tour where they do this light show sort of thing.

The room is about 40 feet in diameter and has this amazing arrangement of gold pieces.

As the light changes the scene changes dramatically.

see?

Fat lady and trinkets in the area across the street from the Museo del Oro where there are dozens of shops.

Cleaning pigeon poo off the Cathedral in the historic center.

Better view.

Unique building wall in the center.

State building and Bolivar statue.

Posers.

Candy cane church.

This is one of my favorite Bogota pictures.

It's common to see donkeys and horse drawn carriages with down town traffic.

Hollywood in Colombia - they're doing a commercial here.

West side of the historic center area.

again.