La Candaleria and Monserrate

We spent the day on Wednesday August 3rd visiting the La Candaleria and Monserrate in Bogota.  These are the last two areas of Bogota that we wanted to see.  La Candaleria is a historic district with really neat old buildings and alleyways.  It is where schools and universities are located and students of all ages were everywhere.  It is situated on the side of the mountain and the inclines are pretty intense.   We got some lunch at a very authentic Colombian cafeteria-style restaurant where we all ate way too much.  After we had enough of the walking on the side of a mountain and saw all we could see, we took a cab to the cable car entrance to go to Monserrate.  It is a monestary and church situated some 4000 ft above all of Bogota with incredible views of the city.  The cable car ride was great and the kids loved it.  Monserrate church was incredibly peaceful and scenic.  You could hear the chants of the monks while you prayed at the chapel.  Life size statues of the Stations of the Cross lined up the side of the mountain leading the monk living quarters.  We felt like we could stay there and pray all day!  So peaceful.  But we needed to get back to the Zuetana and prepare for bed.