My 325 and only Pinmapple pin in Colombia

Twelve years ago I went to 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 anchor as many countries as possible on my Pinmapple map, I posted about Brazil a few years ago, but was never able to post about Bogota as I only have a few photos that are not very high quality. Most important of all, I had no idea where I was going, until I came across a post by @ sofiaquino98 a while back.

Turns out I was on Monserrate Hill, and before you wonder, the low quality image is a combination of the foggy weather and the really low quality due to the crappy camera I had at the time.

Hill of Monserrate

Although it's called a hill, Monserrate hill is actually 3152 meters above sea level. That's really high, especially by UK standards, where our highest 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 (me and my two other UK colleagues) up from the hotel. I remember that in those days, Bogota was still a pretty unsafe place and we were told not to go out alone. I don't know if things have improved now.

In fact, the week I was there, one of our client's top executives was mugged in his home and had to hide with his family. We had to cancel our meeting with him. I'm not sure if it was a one-time incidence, if it had something to do with his company (they are a major global distillery company), if top executives of wealthy businesses are regularly robbed at home or if he was involved in some shady business. I was told that drug cartels were a big problem in Bogota, so it was quite dangerous. By the way, if there are Colombians reading this, please tell me if I am exaggerating. I'm just going by what my local colleagues in Bogota told me.

Anyway, I digress. I vaguely remember riding the cable car up the mountain, and these photos certainly jogged my memory. I don't remember if I took these going up or coming down. This is probably one of, if not the steepest, cable cars I remember riding.

According to the official website, the ascent from the base to the top of the hill is 820 meters and takes 4 minutes on the cable car. Here is the view as we left (or approached?) the base.

And the view as we get higher up the mountain, the scenery is truly amazing.

And finally we reach the top of Monserrate hill.

During my two weeks stay in Brazil and Colombia, the weather was always cloudy when I reached the top of the mountains. It was so when I went to the summit Sugarloaf and Corcovado to see Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro the week before, and now it was foggy on Monserrate Hill as well. Can anyone from Rio and Bogota tell me if I was just unlucky?

There is a church at the top of the hill and I remembered that we walked for a while. The foggy weather was a bit disappointing, otherwise I'm sure the view of Bogota would have been quite spectacular.

In the evening we were taken to dinner at a very nice restaurant that was decorated like a toy store. It was really nice. One of the ladies bought her two beautiful girls that day and they were so darling, so well behaved. Our dinner turned into a beauty session when the younger one let me braid her beautiful blonde hair 😊.

And finally, to end the night, we stopped at a siding of sorts to enjoy a night view of the city of Bogota. This must be a popular spot as there were a lot of cars here. And I can understand why. Although I have only met all these Colombians that one time, they have cemented a place in my travels around the world and have made my number 325, the only Pinmapple for Colombia.