Everything is Closed on New Year's (In Case You Didn't Know)

Because of the room noise snafu, we didn't fall asleep until around 5am. Breakfast at the hotel is from 7am to 10am. We really wanted to get it but couldn't get ourselves out of bed or out of sleep in time. We woke up around 10:30am. 

It was too bad the room noise issue happened because the bed was very comfy and the shower was great and the hotel was very secure. We didn't let that poison our whole opinion of the place of course but we wish it would have started on the right foot. The late night's sleep really messed up our plans for the day. We didn't get up and do something until around 11:30am. 

We needed to eat. We hadn't eaten anything since around 7pm the night before and that was just some small pizzas in Miami. There was a chain sandwich place across the street from the hotel that we had when we went to Peru. We both got some sandwiches which were pretty good. It was kind of like getting a sandwich at Panera but a little better lol. 

We walked around the neighborhood that our hotel was in. The neighborhood is called Zona T and it's definitely a swankier area of the city. There are lots of food and clothing chains and there are two big malls. We wanted to try to find a cell phone store to get a sim card. Turns out, on New Year's Day basically everything is closed. Like literally everything is closed except a few chain food places. Imagine Christmas Day in the US sort of? So no sim card and very few food options.

That threw a wrench in our plans for sure. It was too late in the day to take an Uber down to the downtown area. Plus, with everything closed, we didn't want to risk not being able to see or do anything down there. Basically, we didn't want to waste the money and time. 

We walked north from our hotel into an area called Parque 93. The neighborhood we walked through had lots of nice-looking apartments and so many green spaces. The weather was BEAUTIFUL with blue sky and a pleasant 65 temp. There were lots of families out and about. 

It was very nice to walk around and stretch our legs but we definitely felt a missed opportunity. We spend so much time and effort getting to a place like Bogota and not using that time "wisely" feels kind of bad. 

That being said, it was nice to have a chill day and just get our minds right and get used to how everything works in the city. We rested in the hotel after the walk. There were some English channels on the tv which was nice. Then we had a drink at the hotel bar. The hotel has a balcony that overlooks the street. Beautiful to sit and relax. 

We did our usual song and dance of deciding where to eat dinner. No joke, we walked around for at least 45 minutes evaluating the options in the neighborhood. We decided on Chef Burger, a burger chain in Colombia. The burger was good and relatively cheap. Imagine a Red Robin...? But with more ambiance in the restaurant itself. 

All the restaurants in Bogota checked for vaccine cards before letting people into the restaurant. Everyone also wears masks almost all of the time. It was very safe both covid and otherwise. 

This was a transition day for us. We went to bed early and got ready for an action-packed full day in Bogota.