Bogota, Day 4

We started our fourth day with a funicular ride to the top of Monserrate, a mountain that dominates the city center of Bogota. There's a 17th century church at the top which makes the mountain a pilgrimage site (if you walk) and a tourist attraction (if you funicular it). 

The funicular was very steep and just a wee bit scary. When you finally reach the top, there's that roller coaster feeling where you think it might click into place and then rush back down the mountain. Luckily, that didn't happen. 

Apologies in advance for the picture overload. The place has amazing views:

(Pantalones de Bogota! Mark my words, USA: these will be hot hot hot next season.)

(There's a lot of graphic Jesus imagery in Colombia.)

Alexis throws a coin in the well for good luck!

And just in case you needed one more shot of these amazing pants in action:

We funiculared it back down the mountain and left for our next adventure, a Bogota food tour!

Once again, our tour consisted of only us. There doesn't appear to be a whole lot of tourism in Bogota. Our guide had been giving tours for 16 years (he speaks Spanish, English, French, and German) and said we are his first Americans. Also, he's never been outside Colombia. Interesting. 

First stop on the food tour, "pan de bono." There are two kinds of these snacks: one is savory and made with cheese, milk, and special flour (think a breadier popover) while the other is almost the same dough but with passion fruit jelly inside. 

The pan was accompanied by a cold drink of milk, oats, and cinnamon, called "avena." It's typically drank in the mornings, with an afternoon snack, or with dinner. Given that lunch is the big meal of the day here, dinner is usually very light and can be as simple as pan y avena. 

Next we went to explore a fruit store. 

There are so many unique fruits we'd never had before. Don't worry, we only ate fruit with skin that we could peel off. First taste, "granadilla."

It was gelatinous, sweet, a tad tangy, and...goopy?

Next fruit: can't remember the name but very similar to granadilla but used for juicing. It was tangy and made your mouth pucker. The Colombians looooove fresh fruit juice at every meal. 

(This is a slice of the fruit. Even goopier.)

Third fruit: "tomato del arbol," tree tomato. This was my favorite of all. It is very VERY tart and used in juices but mixed with something sweeter. Isn't the design amazing? Watch out Tory Burch, I'm totally using the tomato del arbol design in my next line of preppy lounge wear. 

Fruit #4, "higo." Sweet but supposedly medicinal. Gross mushy texture. 

Fruit #5: "pitaya." Looks the same on the outside as higo but couldn't be more different. Like a gelatinous kiwi. 

(If you're not exhausted from fruit pictures yet, keep reading; otherwise, feel free to scroll down.)

#6- "lulo." I take it back, this one's my fave. Similar to kiwi taste, but more like jelly around the edges. 

Next stop, a cafe with typical northern Colombian food. We had "arepa huevo"(corn fritter with egg in the middle) and a blended fruit drink called "corozo." We broke our no eating fruit that touched Colombian water rule and hey! we're fine (so far).

Next stop, fancy restaurant that was Spanish-Colombian fusion. 

I was so full by this point, I got a little lazy on the picture taking. We had fresh baked bread with olive oil and Hawaiian black salt, brisket empanadas, salmon civiche with pistachios and Parmesan, and coconut rice with shrimp. 

Final spot, dessert: "obleas." Wafer thin waffle cookies sandwiched between sweet spreads. We chose caramel with peanuts. 

I bid farewell with a final picture of my awesome Bogota outfit. I've begged Alexis to let me wear it again tomorrow but you probably already know what her answer was...