Bogota is really like the New York of South America. As we arrived over the Easter public holidays many of the stores were closed but this meant downtown roads were cordoned off to traffic and the streets were filled with teenage wannabe gangs, baby brats, dog walkers and bike riders milling about. There was everything available from llama rides, jugglers, chicks and bunnies for sale, food, helium balloons and cellphone chargers - it was like a visit to the circus! Our first stop for the morning was a visit to a recommended cafe for hot chocolate and tamales. The cafe was clearly a crowd favourite and we were squeezed onto a bench at a table with two other random tourists enjoying their breakfast. The hot chocolate was served as a block of glycerine soap (the chocolate) which is dropped into a mug of boiling water, no milk, and a piece of cheese provided for dunking. While I wasn't a fan of the cheese, the hot chocolate was delicious in the slightly chilly weather of Bogota. The tamales was served as a present! (happy birthday too meee....) We unwrapped the banana leaves to find a mix of rice, meat and chickpeas - a very filling but delicious mix.

As we strolled down the bustling streets we were on the lookout for the recommendations provided by the Colombian couple in Cartagena - rum, cigars, hot chocolate (check) and Juan Valdez coffee! After completing our checklist we moved onto the gold museum which has 34000 pieces of gold on display mostly from the pre-Hispanic era. We were really impressed with the attention to detail in the teeny tiny sculptures, however we managed to resist the 'pure gold' replicas offered by more vendors than tourists crowding around the entrance. We did get the T- shirt and a scarf from street vendors. Each time Tim pulled out his wallet to pay the whole crowd of people around us turned to check him out. While I was more concerned about a snatch and grab, Tim was convinced the city is full of gays and there may be some other grabbing going on. Clearly whipping out you wallet is not the thing to do. Somehow every person magically has the correct change stuffed in his/her pockets, bra or jacket. It's a cool party trick...I need to practise.

That evening we returned to our hostel for dinner and then headed out that night for more coffee and desert! Colombians have really yummy treats we've found. Although it was after 10pm the streets were still fairly busy. We found the streets fairly safe to wander around, although a few dear soles came up to us to warn us to hide our wallets and camera while walking around (which we had deliberately left behind for our nocturnal activities).

So we got the T-shirt ... That's all folks.