Flowering Tree on Monserrate

We saw this beautiful flowering tree throughout our travels in Ecuador and Colombia.

These two were in full bloom at the top of Monserrate.

Could one of my readers tell me the name of it?

In Spanish and English please?

Monserrate View Then and Now

At the Arango Library they were having a photography exhibit where I happened to run across this picture of the view from Monserrate in 1958.

Of course in the past 54 years the city has filled out a bit. The population of the town in 1958 was only around a million.

Monserrate (Part 2)

Like many miradors, Monserrate has a church on top.

Pilgrims walk to the top instead of taking the funicular like we did. It's 1,500 steps.

There are two fine restaurants on Monserrate with the best views in town.

Here is one of them.

And of course there are the usual souvenir stands and more humble eating establishments.

We came on a Monday, so business was slow.

Monserrate, overlooking a city of 9,000,000 of your fellow homo sapiens is a good place to contemplate your own relative insignificance.

Monserrate (Part 1)

We saved one of the best attractions in Bogota for our last day here.

It seems nearly every South American town has it's mirador (viewpoint), but Bogota's towers at 10,341 feet over the city.

Here's a picture I took of it from the second floor of one of the downtown art museums (please click to see the top).

Since 1928 there has been a funicular to the top of Monserrate. More recently a cable car was also built.

We wanted to take the funicular because Daniel had never ridden on one.

The station is only about a 15 minute walk from our hostel.

The funicular is fairly new, but you can still see the old one that was in use from 1928 to 1964.

The funicular takes you up nearly 2,000 feet. I felt a little woozy at the top. Of course the view was fantastic. On a clear day we would have seen a lot more.

This is the best place to get a sense of what a city of nearly 9 million looks like. Even though it is big, Bogota has a relatively small downtown and not a lot of skyscrapers.

Bogota Bakeries

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that our hostel is flanked by a really good coffee shop and a really good bakery. The smell of baking things pervades our hostel often during the day.

Columbia is big on baking.

There are panaderias that mainly turn out breads and other bakeries that mainly turn out desserts, and some that do both. Please click to take a closer look. How about that Eiffel Tower cake!

The one next to our hostel is a dessert bakery. Just look at their offerings. And they all are well made and taste really good, based on what we have sampled.

There's no cutting corners here on ingredients as is sometimes the case in the States.

Even the smaller towns in Colombia have great bakeries. We were in one in Cajica yesterday and shared a piece of coffee flavored cake that was heavenly.

A bakery like this one would knock out the competition (not much) in Salem, Oregon, where I live for sure.

Anti-Smoking Art?

At one of the museums around the Arago Library there was this unusual art installation.

Those are some big butts. Makes a point I guess.

blaa (Part 2)

Of course the Arango Library is a fabulous library, but being a librarian myself, I can always find things to criticize, right?

I think this is a very traditional and conservative library that places a high value on protecting the books for the ages. As more of a research library and less of a public library, maybe that's okay. But how many libraries in the States get library bindings for all their books anymore. Not many.

I wonder if they even considered more open stacks when this building was designed not that many years ago.

I was also miffed that they would not let me take photographs except on the main floor.

When I tried to take a picture in one of the subject rooms a security guard came over to tell me it was forbidden. Why?

They also really go overboard with the "Silencio" thing here, with signs on the walls, on the tables, and even on the staircase.

I guess I should cut them some slack, because this is an old library by South American standards and it is run by a bank. It has not evolved to the degree that we are used to in the States. Maybe they will loosen up in the future.