I practically died climbing a mountain today. The trek was not particularly rigorous considering there was a stone path with stairs the entire way, but with lungs that I have now realized are still not adjusted to the altitude made it a death climb. I had to stop basically every five minutes and still wasn't able to catch my breath. But an hour and a half later I made it to Monserrate.
Monserrate is one of the most famous churches here in Bogotá. It sits on top of a mountain at the very edge of the city. Despite not being able to breathe, the walk up is actually pretty sweet. You get a great view of the city and the path is lined with street vendors selling food, drinks, and jewelry among many other things. There was a surprisingly large amount of people that decided to climb today as well. And it may be considered a tourist spot, but in actuality most of the people were locals. Sael told me that some people who, in order to pay for their sins, walk up with rocks in their shoes. I even saw people today walking up barefoot. 1, Ew. 2, Ouch.
At the top you can see practically the entire city. It started to get a little hazy so we couldn't see as far as we could if it were completely clear, but as long as the rain held off until we got down I was happy. The church is big and in my opinion the architecture wasn't spectacular, but it was still pretty. Right now it's adorned with Christmas lights, and at night it's all lit up and supposed to be really cool. There are also uber expensive restaurants at the top. We waited to eat lunch until after the descent.
Since none of us felt like walking another hour and a half and I was already sunburned and may not have lasted walking that long, we decided to take this train thing down instead. There are three ways to go up and down the mountain. One is walking. The second is this train thing that we took. I really have no idea how to describe it... it's really weird. It's like a vertical monorail that goes inside the mountain through a tunnel. But it's made so that you can stand up straight the entire time. The third option is to take this gondola-like ski lift looking car on a cable. This option seemed a little unsettling to me.
I was pretty pumped that I did something touristy today. For being here two months, I really haven't done many things that my Lonely Planet guide suggests. Now that the new trainee Anna is here, I have a picture-taking tourist buddy. If I want to make the trek again I better join a gym and start training my lungs to breathe this high above sea level. Or maybe I'll take up yoga and practice my breathing techniques.
