Field trip!

Mist over the mountains

Last Tuesday was a holiday, so we decided to take advantage of a free day to take some of our older continuing education students on a field trip.  The church of Monserrate is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Bogotá.  It's on the mountain overlooking the city and has amazing views. The walking path up to it was closed shortly before I first arrived in Bogotá, and just reopened the end of last year, and I've been wanting to go since then.

The morning didn't look to promising- grey clouds covered the sky as it gently drizzled outside. We met the kids outside the jungle around 8am and walked through the city towards downtown.  I noticed as we talked our breath coming out in puffs of white.  I wasn't sure that  a cold, grey, drizzly day was the best for this, but we were committed now.  Jessica bought some bread at the local bakery to share with the kids since not all of them had eaten, and we started off.

The girls taking a break at the top

We hadn't walked very far when we passed our first group of riot control police.  The girls were unconcerned, "oh, yeah, there's a march today", they mentioned.  Jessica and I looked at each other, slightly more concerned.  "It's labor day, it's a workers march" I said.  "I don't think it should be violent."  As we approached the Septima (the main street leading through down town) I became a bit more worried.  Riot police lined both sides of the street, with a sprinkling of regular police thrown in for good measure.  "Who's idea was it anyway to take a bunch of kids on a field trip through a protest march?" I muttered, "oh, right, it was my idea. . . " Jessica went over to ask what time the march was coming through and how long it would last.  They weren't sure, but it wasn't expected to get violent.  As we crossed the street we realized we were just in time- we could just see the beginning wave of marchers headed towards us and hear them chanting.

The church of Monserrate

ferns and moss growing along the way

We left the march behind and headed to the foot of the mountains and the entrance to the pathway.  Our beginning altitude was somewhere around 8,832 feet above sea level.  (That's roughly 3, 600 feet higher than Denver, CO).  The path up to Monserrate is steep as you climb over 1,500 feet in altitude over the course of roughly a mile and a half.  The mixture of gorgeous views of the city with beautiful Andean mountain forest makes it well worth the burning lungs.  Half of the group took off running, but I stayed behind with the kids who wanted to take it slow.  We stopped for pictures, just to catch our breath, and to buy freshly sliced pineapple and bananas at a stand at the half way point.  It was still drizzling off and on, but walking had warmed us all up and my sweatshirt was off.  I was actually feeling glad it wasn't sunny.  The sun at this altitude and latitude is strong, making it feel hotter than the air temperature is.

View of the city on a grey day

Jessica and I

Mass was in session when we arrived, so we didn't go inside the church.  We sat outside and bought almojabanas and ripe roasted plantain with cheese and bocadillo (a guava based sweet)  to share with the kids.  It got cold sitting still in the shade of the church, so we got up to explore.  There are a lot of souvenir shops, an outdoor "stations of the cross", and a path to the view of the mountainsides behind the church.

The souvenir shops

We finally decided it was time to head back down, and started off running down the mountain.  Stone steps that are wet from rain are not easy to navigate, so running didn't last long, at least not for most of us.  When we got to the
bottom, hot and tired, with the sun finally peeking out from the clouds a bit, Edwin bought us all ice pops from a street vendor.

That's when I wished we could take a bus back, because we still had almost 2 miles to walk across town to get back to where we started.  We finally made it, saying goodbye to kids along the way as they passed their homes.  Six and a half miles of walking had tired me out, so I decided lunch and a nap were a good way to spend the rest of my holiday.