La Candelaria, Bogota

We are staying in the old town or "La Candelaria". Our hotel is in a Spanish colonial building and has simple rooms around a series of courtyards. It's a bit more rustic than we are used to, but it's quite charming. Whitewashed walls, wooden floors, exotic plants on the patios. Our room is tiny and the floorboards creek and move when you walk on them sending the wardrobe wobbling. The safe is in the bathroom. That's a new one. Despite this, we had a great night's sleep last night and the breakfast was fabulous. Juice, fruit, bread, eggs, cafe con leche. We sat on a little balcony looking over rooftops below and Montserrat Church high in the mountains above. We are within walking distance of Plaza Bolivar and most of the museums, so the location is pretty good. Even at night, the streets around us are fairly busy and it doesn't feel dangerous at all. There are a couple of universities nearby so there are always plenty of students around. We walked around a bit last night from dusk. We stayed off the quiet streets. We aren't so naive to think that the whole city is as safe as La Candelaria is. There are a lot of police around. With guns.