My 325th and one and only Pinmapple pin in Colombia

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Twelve years ago I went Latin America on a business trip. It was my first time in the region, and I went to Brazil and Colombia. In my quest to pin as many countries to my Pinmapple map as possible, I posted about Brazil a few years ago, but I never got round to post about Bogota as I only have a few photos which are not very high quality. Most important of all, I had no idea where I went, until I came across a post by @sofiaquino98 a while ago.

Turns out I was at Monserrate Hill, and before you wonder, the low quality image is a combination of the foggy weather and it really being low quality because of the crappy camera I had back then.
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Monserrate Hill

Although called a hill, Monserrate Hill is actually 3152 meters above sea level. That's really high, especially by UK standards where our tallest mountain is only 1345 meters above sea level. I have very little memory of how I got there, my colleagues from the local office probably came to pick us up (my self and my two other colleagues from UK) from the hotel. I remember back in those days, Bogota was still quite an unsafe place, and we were told not to go out on our own. I don't know if things have improved now.

In fact the week when I was there, one of the top executives from our client was robbed at home and he had to go into hiding with his family. We had to cancel our meeting with him. I'm not sure if this was a one off incidence, whether it had anything to do with his company (they're a major global distillery company), whether wealthy top business executives regularly get robbed at home, or whether he was involved in some shady business. I was told drug cartels was a big problem in Bogota hence it being quite dangerous. By the way, if there are any Colombians reading this, please tell me if I'm over reacting. I'm only going by what my local Bogota colleagues told me.

Anyway, I digressed. I vaguely remember taking the cable car up the mountain, and these photos certainly jogged my memory. I can't remember if I took this going up or coming down. This is probably one of the, if not the steepest cable car I remember going on.
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According to the official website, the ascend from the base to the top of the hill is 820 meters and takes 4 minutes in the cable car. Here's the view as we leave (or approach?) the base.
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And the view as we are further up the mountain, the scenery is actually quite amazing.
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And we finaly get to the top of Monserrate Hill.
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During my two weeks stay in Brazil and Colombia, the weather was always foggy when I got to the top of the mountains. It was like that when I went to the Sugarloaf summit and Corcovado to see Christ the Redeemer at Rio de Janeiro the previous week, and now it was also foggy at Monserrate Hill. Can anyone from Rio and Bogota tell me if I was just unlucky?

There's a church at the top of the hill and I remembered we walked around for a while. The foggy weather was a bit of a disappointment otherwise I'm sure the view of Bogota would have been quite spectacular.
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In the evening we were taken to dinner at a really nice restaurant that was decorated like a toy shop. It was really cute. One of the ladies bought along their two beautiful girls that day and they were such darlings, so well behaved. Our dinner turned into a beauty session when the younger one let me plait her beautiful blond hair 😊
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And finally to round of our evening, we stopped by some sort of layby for a spot of night view of Bogota city. This must be a popular site as there were many cars here. And I can understand why. Although I have only met all these Colombian's that one time only, they have cemented a spot in my travels around the world, and made it to my 325th one and only Pinmapple pin for Colombia.
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You can checkout all my travel post on the Pinmapple here or click on Mr Pinmapple below



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26 comments
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Wow! Your photos may be blurry and foggy but you've definitely saved priceless images that remind you of your unforgettable travels in that region. I've never seen a cable car ride as steep as that (see photo below), and I wonder if I'd possess the nerves to survive an extremely angled view as shown. Congrats on your successful Colombian adventure.

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Thanks Erne. I can't even remember if I was scared at that point, I think I might be, but having made it such a long way around the other side of the world, and the likelihood of me returning is pretty slim, I think I would have embraced the experience. I'm glad I got the opportunity to make this post at last, it's been a long time

!ENGAGE 30

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(Edited)

Brave you.., if there's one continent I refuse to step foot on it's South America. My older self told me 'NO' a few years ago.

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US the Great America is off the books for your already, and now South America? At this rate you'll just have UK, Thailand and Spain left 🙃

Peru was really nice, but that's the only other Latam place I've been. And I want to go to Argentine, I hear their steaks are really good

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And I want to go to Argentine, I hear their steaks are really good

I would get killed there, they don't like the likes of me. Too much bad blood. There was a great Argie steak restaurant in London once, near Victoria. Big, wholesome and cheap. I went there once in 2007.

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I am half Venezuelan and half Colombian, I have been to Colombia many times and I have visited several states including the capital Bogota which I could not miss.

I know many beautiful places but not Monserrate hill, for lack of time in my travels and is on my list of places to visit when I return.

I think you had bad luck with the fog, maybe it was the time. Bogota is very cold because of its altitude but I have seen pictures of my cousins there and they look so clear and beautiful all clear.

Anyway your photos are beautiful, what a pleasure to know that you stepped on my continent and that nothing bad to remember happened to you.

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ok, now your last sentence is really worrying. 😟

The only other place I have been is Peru, which was one of my best three ever trips, so your continent is pretty amazing!!! And glad to know that Bogota isn't always that foggy

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hahahahaha is that Latinos are afraid of us, but it's just a bad reputation. 😂

I also knew Peru although I could not go to Machupichu.

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Wow 3152 meters is super high. The air must have been really thin up there. That cable car is soon steep and sounds really fast. With the hike and the drama with the executive, it sounds like a pretty exciting trip haha.

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Come to think of it, when I went to Peru a few years ago, I was quite conscious of the high altitude and at one point had altitude sickness, but I don't recall that happening in Bogota at all. Maybe I was a lot younger in those days, it was 12 years ago after all!

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(Edited)

Age definitly plays a factor in most thing in life. If only we could be young forever! Though some things are better with age

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congratulations on your visit to the place, very beautiful by the way, very beautiful photos ...

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This is a bit strange. Responsible top shots hire bodyguards 24/7, install high-security walls plus grilled gates, and carried AK47. These are the truth in the Philippines and South Africa. If the matter is of urgent importance, and they were unable to source scarce talent within a certain timeframe, they will escort even foreign technicians directly from the airport.

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Maybe this one was a top shot but not important enough to have his own bodyguards 😉 It must be pretty scary when you have to live amongst people walking around with AK47, not that I've experienced it before

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Every life is just as important, but some are more paranoid than others due to repeated frustrations. In the Phillipines, there were cases where families were not only burglarized but were severely beaten up while unfortunate female members who happened to be at the crime scene were gang-raped.

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Foggy yet beautiful.
It's more beautiful on how looking into old photographs bring all the memories of people, places, and relations.
Oh, that cable car ride looks steep. Was it scary or fun?😄

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It's funny what impact photographs can have on you, particularly as you get older, and look back at your own hideous hairstyle and clothes.

Sadly I have no memory of that cable car ride. Probably fun at that time as it was an all-expense paid business trip, that always add to the enjoyment.😄

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It really is. I can't watch my old photos twice. lol.
Now that's sounds quite an amazing time to relax and travel🤣

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I am sorry you had such a bad weather that day, the view from the top of the hill is truly amazing with better visibility. That´s what we got up there, even though it was still cloudy.

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As for the safety in Colombia, I cannot say for sure as we only spent some two weeks there back in 2019 but from what we read and heard from the locals, there are still neighborhoods and areas where tourists should´t go. Btw we also heard that it´s recommended to take the cable car to get to Monserrate. There is a path leading so it´s possible to just walk there, which is what we would normally do, but they told us it´s where tourists get robbed too sometimes (on the path). So we better took the cable car.

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Wow, that is some view!!! Even if you take away my crappy camera and your excellent photography skills, there's still a massive gap due to the weather. Thanks for showing me!!!

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My photography are a far cry from excellent but thank you. It´s easy to take a nice shot up there if weather permits ;)

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