The Quietness of Bogota

Bogota is big. When we flew in, I didn't see too many lights, but that's because the airport is on the edge of the city, and I was on the wrong side of the plane. Wikipedia has a good picture here that is too wide to put in a blog.

But for a city of 8 million people, Bogota is surprisingly quiet. We’ve been told that Colombians go to bed early and get up early, but at night in the hotel room, it is more than just quiet - there is complete silence. It’s almost creepy. There are no noises from cars, birds, air conditioners, heaters, dogs barking, or even crickets doing whatever crickets do. The only sound is the occasional random sentence in the middle of the night from a sleeping Wilmer. It makes it hard to go to the bathroom without bothering everyone.

With the general silence and occasional creaks in our hotel, it’s like being in No Country For Old Men, except without a determined psychopath hunting us down. I guess we were right to leave that bag of found money where it was.


Speaking of the hotel, here are some pictures of it. It reminds me of European hotels Jill and I stayed in during our trip to Europe almost twenty years ago.

Here’s the outside:

The lobby:

And our room, which is as good as three sloppy guys could hope to expect:

All in all, very appropriate for a Mennonite learning delegation - simple, not opulent, and very functional (showerheads are optional, though).