Read more - Bogotá Wine and Food Festival

BOGOTA || THREE PERFECT DAYS
THREE PERFECT DAYS:
BOGOTÁ
From the green mountains that encircle the sprawling metropolis to its blossoming arts and
entertainment offerings, Colombia’s abidingly beautiful capital city is a place bursting with
optimism, energy and life
BY JANET HAWKINS • PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL HANSON
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THREE PERFECT DAYS || BOGOTA
CABLE STAR
Taking in the view
from the Teleférico de
Monserrate cable car
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BOGOTÁ || THREE PERFECT DAYS
BOGOTÁ IS USED TO BEING
misunderstood. It’s chilly, we hear, and
a bit wet. It’s true, the city gets a fair
amount of rainfall and the mercury
rarely climbs above 67 degrees Fahrenheit, but a shower here is as apt to last
a few minutes as an aernoon, and the
temperature rarely dips below the 60s.
Plus, it’s the weather that keeps the city
green and fragrant.
There’s also the misconception, a
residue from cinematic crime capers
and a history of news reports, that
Bogotá is teeming with drug lords. No
one would deny that this city of more
than 8 million people has had its share
of problems, but the crime risk today
is prey much on par with any major
urban center. These days, Bogotá is as
safe as London or New York.
As intensive public safety initiatives
have transformed the city’s streets, major
redevelopment programs have further
heightened Bogotá’s appeal as a place
to live and visit, helping the Colombian
capital to reposition itself as a hotbed
of art and architecture, hospitality and
nightlife. You can see evidence of this
in the leafy facade of its whimsical Bio
Hotel, and in the couples sipping mojitos
on the patios of upscale bars.
Walking around this vibrant city, you
get the sense that even Bogotans are
surprised at how much it has changed.
Residents who ten years ago le to seek
their fortunes elsewhere have returned,
and there’s a Sí, se puede air about the
place that’s infectious. Last summer, the
city hosted the third annual Bogotá Wine
& Food Festival, an opportunity to show
chefs from around the world just how it’s
done in this cradle of diversity.
As it turns out, it’s done very well.
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CHURCH AND STATE
The magnificent interior
of the Iglesia de San
Francisco; above:
Zipaquirá City Hall
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BOGOTÁ BY THE NUMBERS
POPULATION
8.7 MILLION
TOURIST VISITORS PER YEAR
850,000
ALTITUDE ABOVE SEA LEVEL, IN FEET
8,660
NUMBER OF NEIGHBORHOODS
20
NUMBER OF PARKS
4,500
DISTANCE COVERED BY BOGOTÁ’S CICLOVÍA,
THE WORLD’S LARGEST BICYCLE NETWORK,
IN MILES
186
PERCENTAGE OF THE WORLD’S COFFEE
PRODUCED BY COLOMBIA
12
PROFESSIONAL SOCCER CLUBS
BASED IN BOGOTÁ
4
DAY ONE | The shuers on the 15-foot windows are closed, the Sabogal says she sells 300 tamales, easily, during the week, and
light on the trendy phone switched off, so your sensory input is another 500 on weekends. You can taste why.
limited to the brush of a silky duvet and the scent of old money.
Aer a short plod you’re in Plaza de Bolívar, an expansive square
It’s not a bad way to wake up. You hop out of bed
whose disparate architecture aims for grandeur
and bring up the lights on a room that has a touch
and delivers a lesson in resilience. The neoclassical
of “Downton Palacio” about it. The Orchids Hotel is
Palacio Liévano—a replacement for earlier structures
DAY ONE
one of Bogotá’s most luxurious properties, and your
destroyed by earthquake or fire—stands along the
Dining on hearty
Midsummer Night’s Dream suite takes this to
western side, flanked by the colonnaded Capitolio
tamales, historic
extremes. A butler in a morning coat pours your sightseeing, indulging Nacional and the blocky Palacio de Justicia. “I was 13
coffee, which you sip beneath a gilded ceiling before
when the previous building was leveled. Now, it’s hard
in aguardiente
descending to the lobby in a glass elevator, passing a
to imagine,” a security guard tells you, referring to a
pebbled fountain and emerging into La Candelaria,
1985 bale between the army and a guerrilla group.
DAY TWO
the cultural nexus of Colombia’s capital city.
You pass the Bolívar statue and sit on the steps of the
Spelunking in a salt
Whitewashed walls running along the avenue
Spanish colonial Catedral Primada, surrounded by a
cathedral, scaling
outside are capped at either end with swaths of
small army of pigeons.
Monserrate, digging
green—the Monserrate and Guadalupe peaks that
Next, you brave the onslaught of articulated
into some ceviche
shadow you throughout the city. You quickly become
TransMilenio buses on the Carrera 7 roadway to
lost in a warren of pastel-painted streets lined
find Iglesia de San Francisco, Bogotá’s oldest church.
DAY THREE
with dinky shops and homes with doors polished
Dating back to 1621, it doesn’t look like much from
Sampling the wares
to perfection.
the outside, but inside it’s a golden cocoon, its conat a tea café, appreciEventually, you stumble across La Puerta Falsa, a
gregants praying amid glorious carvings and dim
ating forbidden art
tiny family restaurant that has served santafereña
stillness, the only sound the scritch-scritch of a
and fine shopping
cuisine for seven generations. Inside, on a tight
woman hypnotically scrubbing the floor outside.
balcony above the kitchen, you sip hot chocolate
From here, you stroll through Parque Santander,
with melted cheese, then grapple with a huge tamale, peeling
with its skateboarders and dodgy benches, ending up at the
back plantain leaves to reveal a fat chicken leg in the embrace of
Parque de los Periodistas, a timeworn public square near Univercarrots, corn, rice, yellow peas and pork grease. Proprietor Mónica
sidad de los Andes. You’re taken with a mural of three enormous
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BOGOTÁ || THREE PERFECT DAYS
ladybugs and a life-size bear close by. This
area is renowned for its graffiti—there are
said to be 3,000 street artists in Bogotá—
and tours are devoted to the art. Later, you
will book yourself a place on one.
You’re lunching across the way, at Sant
Just Traiteur, a French café popular with
the university crowd. Perched on a high
stool, you watch owner-chef Eric Noirard
toiling in the tiny open kitchen. You have
the salmon, served on a bed of quinoa and
beetroot, accompanied by roasted veggies.
In true Gallic style, Noirard aims to marry
flavor and nutrition in everything he creates, right down to the apple pie sprinkled
with amaranth and topped with a dollop
of vanilla and passion fruit ice cream.
Fortified, you head to the Museo del
Oro to take in a few thousand years of
precious metalwork by pre-Hispanic
Colombians. There are 30,000 gold pieces
on display here—from animal figures to
breastplates—many of which were once
regarded as expressions of the soul. One
piece depicts a chieain standing on a ra,
ready to toss his riches into a lake as a harvest offering. The Spaniards, crazed with
visions of El Dorado, unfortunately did
untold damage retrieving such artifacts.
After a short cab ride back to the
hotel and a refresher in your capacious
bathroom, you head out to the nearby
Macarena district, an area of trendy galleries and restaurants clustered around
the Plaza de Toros de Santamaría, the city’s
striking but controversial bullfighting
ring. The taxi makes its way along narrow
streets, passing a series of illuminated
tableaus—guitar-strumming troubadours,
glass-clinking celebrants—so close you
could almost reach out and touch them.
You’re dining at Donostia, a restaurant
with exposed beams and whitewashed
walls that sits at the forefront of the
cocina de mercado (“market kitchen”)
movement here. You order hearty breads
with a coulis of pepper and tomatoes,
cheese ravioli with diced sausage, grilled
octopus with paprika and rosemary
potatoes and Catalan caramel cream, all
accompanied by a couple of glasses of
spectacularly good wine.
Your last stop is Quiebra Canto, a
renowned salsa club near the hotel. Here
you have your first taste of aguardiente,
the sugarcane liquor with a light anise
flavor that, as a bystander informs you,
“will make you happy and want to dance.”
It does. Aer a while, the sensual strains
of salsa give way to the Afro-Latin beats
of a band whose 10 members swarm the
stage and fill the room with marimba and
clarinet, conga and rain stick. Many fistpumps later, you head outside and point
a cab in the direction of your gold-plated
retreat, the streetlights seeming to dim as
you pull away.
DAY TWO | With nearly 2,000 miles of
coastline, thick jungles and fertile plains,
Colombia is home to a dizzying array of
species—many of them edible. So it’s fitting that you start your day at the Plaza de
Mercado de Paloquemao, Bogotá’s bustling
central marketplace. You head there with
Andrei, your guide from ToursByLocals,
to gape at swinging sides of beef, heaps of
wide-eyed fish and stupefying quantities
of fruit—spiky green guanabanas, bright
orange lulos and luscious lile uchuvas,
perfect for snacking. You buy some for later.
FLOWER POWER
That aromatic bouquet you picked up at the supermarket? Chances are it came from the Bogotá savanna.
Bogotá’s Plaza de
Mercado de Paloquemao
isn’t the most glamorous
place on Earth. Located
in a gritty neighborhood
in a northwest corner of
the city, next to a couple
of major roadways, the
market occupies a parking
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lot and is advertised by
what appears to be a
large gray chimneystack.
Nonetheless, Paloquemao
plays an important role in
the daily life of the city—
this is the place residents
and restaurateurs come to
get everything from fresh
eggs to rare spices. It is
also the place locals come
to stock up on flowers.
Paloquemao is stacked
with carnations,
chrysanthemums, gerbera
daisies, roses, baby’s
breath and other blooms
whose names you might
not know. They’ve been
cultivated in the hothouses
that cover the Bogotá
savanna, and those not
trucked to local markets
end up at El Dorado
International Airport,
many bound for Miami.
Colombia is the world’s
second-largest exporter
of cut flowers—only the
Netherlands produces
more—a trade that adds
more than $1 billion a
year to the country’s
coffers. Much of the
growing occurs on the
high plain outside Bogotá,
because it just happens
to be the perfect place
for it: plentiful light, mild
temperatures, rich soil and
ready sources of water.
This trade took off in
earnest in the 1990s,
when the U.S. government
suspended import duties
on flowers in an effort
to reduce the cultivation
of coca, and so disrupt
the supply chain of the
drug industry. “This is
not just for the sake
of beauty,” says one
vendor, a middle-aged
woman holding a bunch
of alstroemeria lilies.
With this, she briskly gets
back to work. After all, as
she points out, “a flower
doesn’t live forever.”
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THREE PERFECT DAYS || BOGOTA
PHOTO CREDIT TK - REMOVE IF EMPTY
EAT, DRINK,
SLEEP ... REPEAT
Clockwise from top
left: Andrés Carnes
de Res; corn at the
Plaza de Mercado
de Paloquemao;
pouring a cup at
Taller de Té; a bed in
The Orchids Hotel
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BOGOTÁ || THREE PERFECT DAYS
ON THE SQUARE
Sightseers check out
La Plaza de Bolívar
Breakfast is at a modest counter in the
middle of the marketplace. You examine
containers of colorful liquids and pick jugo
de mora—a heavenly blackberry juice—
then order arepa con queso, a cornmeal
flatbread stuffed with a traditional mild
white cheese. Aerward, with a wave of his
arm, Andrei signals that it’s time you hit
the road for the Catedral de Sal at Zipaquirá,
30 miles away.
The city gives way to verdant savanna
hemmed in by hills. Soon, the car starts
on a steep climb toward the storied salt
cathedral. From the hilltop, you descend a
concrete slope into dark passageways dug
out of halite rock. The tunnels are lined
with recesses bearing blue-lit crosses.
After a while, you emerge into several
cavernous, rough-hewn chambers filled
with pews and religious carvings. Crystals
of salt cascade down the walls, alongside
pick and chisel marks. Created in the 1950s
as a chapel for workers in adjacent salt
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mines, the cathedral was reengineered
in the 1990s and now claims a top spot
among Colombia’s tourist attractions,
drawing tens of thousands of visitors
a month.
Under a warm sun, you descend from
the hill into Zipaquirá, described by
Gabriel García Márquez—who went to
high school here—as a “frozen town.”
(Originally from the tropical coast, the
author couldn’t abide the cooler Bogotá
climate.) In a central plaza bordered by
white stucco, blue balconies and red roof
tiles, you enter the towering 19th-century
cathedral, whose intricate, domed interior
is bursting with worshippers. A few old
dogs lie on their sides in the aisles, enjoying mass along with the throng.
Heading back to Bogotá, you stop for
lunch at Andrés Carnes de Res in Chía, a
restaurant known for its flea-market
décor and all-night dance parties. You sit
beneath a metal cage that contains naked
mannequins, inhaling the scent of sizzling steak. You choose the chicken kebab
with onions, peppers and bacon-wrapped
prunes, which comes with potatoes the
size of grapes and three traditional
sauces. You favor the picante, which you
apply liberally. As an antidote, you order
a Pony Malta, a soda with a deep molasses flavor so good you worry it might be
habit-forming.
It’s midaernoon and drizzling as you
reenter the city, but you decide to scale
Monserrate anyway. You’re dropped off in
Candelaria and trek up the hill to a cable
car station. A few minutes and a couple
of ear pops later, you’re at the summit.
At 10,341 feet above sea level, Monserrate
has its head in the clouds; they cling to
the peaks and dri across the rooops
before tumbling down toward Bogotá,
which extends in its entirety before
you. You climb the steps to the monastery, whose sharp white spire keeps vigil
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THREE PERFECT DAYS || BOGOTA
COFFEE TALK
Friendly folks
have a chat
outside Abasto
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BOGOTÁ || THREE PERFECT DAYS
over the city, and gaze for a while in
wonder, the murmur of the wind and the
scent of ozone lulling you perilously close
to sleep.
The return to street level brings you
back to your senses. You grab a cab and
direct the driver to the B.O.G. Hotel, in the
stylish Zona Rosa district, famed for its
nightlife and swank malls. Bogotá’s first
Design Hotel, B.O.G. is a kind of geometric
artwork, tinted with emerald and gold (a
nod to the country’s natural resources).
Your room, with its muted tones and
downy pillows, does not make it easy
to embark on a night on the town, but
you need to eat, which you’ll be doing
tonight at Central Cevichería, a 10-minute
walk away.
A lively place of patios and wood
accents, Central has a lot more up its
sleeve than marinated raw fish. You have a
grilled octopus salad, sea bass with yellow
potatoes and creamy (yes, creamy) ceviche with sweet plantains, accompanied
by plenty of mojitos and topped off with
coconut flan. You have a look at the prey
lile fish market next door before heading back to your hotel, seafood occupying
your thoughts and your stomach, to swim
into that pile of pillows.
DAY THREE | You present yourself at
Taller de Té—an atelier/café in a converted
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
HOW DO YOU LIKE
DEM APPLES?
Smoked tuna with
wasabi mayonnaise,
avocado, fennel and
dried apple at Matiz
1950s garage on a quiet street in the Chapinero Alto district—with a bit of a groggy
head (the altitude, you think). Owner
Laura Cahnspeyer makes you a cup of
coca tea, then warms an empanada stuffed
with leeks, carrots and quinoa and serves
it with olive oil and crushed chili, followed
by more tea: milky Masala and complex
Assam. You feel much beer.
Having learned at the hands of the
masters in Darjeeling, Cahnspeyer has
dared to peddle tea in the land of Juan
Valdez, and locals have been lapping it up.
Formerly a pastry chef at the Four Seasons
in London, she now works with Bogotá’s
trendiest bars and restaurants to concoct
tea infusions for fruit drinks, cocktails and
desserts. “Before I work with a restaurant,”
she says, “the owner has to come here and
have tea with me.”
Reluctantly, you relinquish your cup
and cab it to Bogotá’s Jardín Botánico José
Celestino Mutis, nearly 20 acres of lush
foliage near Parque Simon Bolívar. There
are magnolia blossoms here the size of
cabbages, elephantine palm trees, beds
of lemongrass and mint and rue. It’s a
splendid place to rehabilitate, but you’ve
reserved a spot on the Bogotá Graffiti Tour,
which leaves from central Candelaria. You
join a small cluster of backpackers and
follow Aussie expat Christian Petersen,
the tour’s founder and an artist himself.
“Street art in Bogotá is prohibited, not
illegal,” he says, describing a rather murky
distinction that has nonetheless allowed
the practice to thrive.
With Petersen leading the way, you
wend your way up steep alleys and calles,
passing the works of artists with names
like Stinkfish and Toxicómano, along with
bars, jewelry shops and taoo parlors. At
the top of one alley is the circular Plaza
del Chorro de Quevedo, with its famous
THE INSIDE SCOOP FROM THOSE IN THE KNOW ILLUSTRATIONS BY PETER JAMES FIELD
Leopoldo Castillo,
Yuliana Saavedra,
Oscar Rodriguez,
CHAUFFEUR
SOCIAL COMMUNICATOR, JARDÍN
BOTÁNICO JOSÉ CELESTINO MUTIS
DESIGNER, PROYECTO SINERGIA
“Go to the Estadio El Campin, the fútbol
stadium near the Universidad Nacional,
and catch a game with the Millonarios,
if you can. You won’t see Bogotans any
happier than when they’re cheering on
their team, and it will probably make
you happy, too.”
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“The Botero has works by Colombia’s own
Fernando Botero. It also exhibits paintings
from his private collection, by artists such
as Chagall and Matisse, Dalí and Léger. The
people in Botero’s paintings are like the
hearts of Bogotans—big and beautiful.”
“If you want the perfect combination of
relaxation and exercise, visit the city on a
Sunday, when you can join in CicloRuta, or
Ciclovía. Miles of city streets are closed to
traffic, and cyclists, skaters and families
show up for fresh air and something to eat.
It’s a great way to be a Bogotan.”
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Hacienda
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Central Cevichería
Jardín Botánico
José Celestino Mutis
Bolívar Old Prints
B.O.G. Hotel
Calle 6
3
7
Carrera
Caracas
DAY ONE
DAY TWO
DAY THREE
Circu
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K30
Taller de Té
Ca
ll
C20
e1
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3
Monserrate
The Orchids Hotel
Carrera 5, 10-55, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-745-5438
La Puerta Falsa
Calle 11, Bogotá
Plaza de Bolívar
Carrera 8, Bogotá
Iglesia de San Francisco
Calle 16, 7, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-335-1634
Sant Just Traiteur
Calle 16a, 2-73, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-477-7555
Museo del Oro
Calle 16, 588, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-343-2222
Donostia
Calle 29 bis, 5-84, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-287-3943
Quiebra Canto
Carrera 5, 17-76, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-243-1630
DAY TWO
Plaza de Mercado
de Paloquemao
Calle 19, 25-04, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-742-6664
Catedral de Sal
de Zipaquirá
Carrera 6 and
Calle 1, Zipaquirá;
Tel. 011-57-1-594-5959
p084-094_HEM0214_3PD_Bogota.indd 93
Quiebra Canto
e
3
14
Plaza de Bolívar
LaCPuerta Falsa
0
all
e1
1
The Orchids Hotel
Andrés Carnes de Res
Calle 3, 11a-56, Chía;
Tel. 011-57-1-863-7880
Monserrate
Carrera 2 E., 21-48, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-284-5700
B.O.G. Hotel Carrera 11,
86-74, Bogotá; Tel.
011-57-1-639-9990
Central Cevichería
Carrera 13, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-644-7766
DAY THREE
Taller de Té Calle 60a,
3a-38, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-255-4128
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM • FEBRUARY 2014 • MAP BY STEVE STANKIEWICZ
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Ca
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K1
DAY ONE
e1
Sant Just Traiteur
Ca
ll
Ca
ll
4
Nq
COLOMBIA
Ca
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Ca
rre
ra
6
Bogotá
Ca
ll
Iglesia de San Francisco
Museo del Oro
Bogotá Graffiti Tour
9
e2
ll
Ca
Donostia
Plaza de Mercado de Paloquemao
6
Jardín Botánico
José Celestino Mutis
Calle 63, 68-95, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-437-7060
Bogotá Graffiti Tour
Carrera 4, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-321-297-4075
Abasto Carrera 6, 119b-52,
Bogotá; Tel. 011-57-1-215-1286
Hacienda Santa Barbara
Carrera 7, 116-60, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-612-0388
Bolívar Old Prints
Calle 79b, 7-46, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-317-427-3048
Matiz Calle 95, 11a-17, Bogotá;
Tel. 011-57-1-520-2003
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BOGOTÁ || THREE PERFECT DAYS
DINE AND CLIMB
A few plates at
Donostia; Mount
Monserrate
in an old Spanish mansion. Your inner
fountain, and the Callejón de las Brujas
conquistador leads you to L.A. Cano, which
(“alley of witches”) with its murals of manysells fine reproductions of pre-Colombian
eyed monsters and painted Madonnas.
jewelry. You also stop at Acuaró Arte &
The group stops before a candy-colored
work by Barcelona native Pez: a trio of Artesanías, with its striped sombreros,
wide-eyed, smiling backpackers in the and Colcra, where exquisite Wayuu bags,
forms of a rabbit, a reptile and a pig. Look- crocheted by the tribe of that name from
the arid North, employ a muted palette
ing yourself and your fellow travelers over,
suited to modern wardrobes.
you think he prey much nailed it.
Next, you catch a cab to Calle 79b in Zona
Suitably edified, you head north to
Rosa, a narrow street of antiques shops
Usaquén, an area of cobblestone streets
selling everything from large weathered
and upscale shops that in previous times
doors to delicate crystal. You’ve come to
provided a rural backdrop for the haciendas of the rich. You’re having lunch at see Bolívar Old Prints, with its profusion
Abasto, near the old plaza, a restaurant of musty maps and books and pricey
Simon Bolívar prints,
renowned for its
LIKE THREE PERFECT DAYS?
to wh ich c le rk s
elegant simplicity.
Get them on the go, with our free
Christelle and Camilo
Yo u s i p u c h u v a
Three Perfect Days iPhone app
allow you to get danjuice and order an
antipasto of roasted vegetables and local gerously close. They open a priceless book
and let you touch its pages, thin as buerfly
cheeses, which includes paper-thin slices
wings, and take you in the back to see a
of zucchini and tiny onions caramelized
with raw sugar. Before you leave, you visit stunning, half-finished drawing of Bolívar
the bodega in back and buy a jar of exotic by an artist of some renown. It’s one of
your favorite things in the whole city.
fruit jam to take home.
Tonight you’re dining at Matiz, in the
Your next stop is the Hacienda Santa
leafy, boutique-y neighborhood of Parque
Barbara, an expansive mall housed partly
de la 93. You try the tasting menu of chef
Nicolas Quintano, who introduces each
course with a movie-star smile. There are
lile piles of sea scallops in garlic and chili,
tuna tartare with plantain, caramelized
carrot ravioli with warm pickled lemon,
and short ribs that have been cooked for
two days. The Shiraz and the Malbec are
magnificent, but the small mounds of
banana soufflé, jellied fruit and sherbets
take you over the top, and you stumble a
bit heading back to the hotel.
Before turning in, you nip up to the rooftop bar for a last look at the city. Warmed
by the flames of gas heaters, bathed in the
blue reflections of a long, sleek pool, you
watch a smiling couple sip cocktails with
Bogotá twinkling in the background, and
get the sense that history may have finally
made peace with this abiding, abidingly
beautiful place.
JANET HAWKINS is a New York–based
writer, editor and teacher, and a frequent
visitor to Colombia. She misses having a
personal butler.
BOARDING PASS
You can experience this centuries-old jewel in the heart of the Andes with nonstop flights to Bogotá from our hubs in
Houston and New York/Newark. In booking your flight, consider flying Economy Plus. You will enjoy more room to relax and be seated near the
front of the cabin, so you can exit the plane more swiftly at your destination. For more information or to buy tickets, go to united.com.
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FEBRUARY 2014 • HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
08/01/2014 10:23