Bogota to Cali by bus

Bogota to Cali, by bus
Left 9:30 am, reached 9:30 pm (12 hours)
Bus Service: Velotax
Bus fare: 45,000 COP (1 USD= 1876 COP)
Travel date: June 16, 2014

We went through a long stretch of sinuous road between the towns of Ibague and Armenia; few passengers threw up.  You see a lot of pine and bamboo trees in that route, and coffee plantations before Armenia.  At many places the road was single lane because of the construction work, and east and west bound traffic took turns in passing the site.  We were told the bus journey was 10-11 hours; actually, it took 12 hours to reach Cali.

Workers with fall protection harnesses

Being in the construction business I always look for the safety gear of workers.  Felt good seeing these high platform workers using fall protection harnesses.

Bogota to Cali

Spotted this very man tall man as the bus left Bogota.

Bogota to Cali bus

You can bargain on bus tickets in Colombia
We were told Bolivariano [http://www.bolivariano.com.co] was the best service to go from Bogota to Cali.  At the bus terminal in Bogota we asked the ticket price at the Bolivariano desk.  The woman said the price was 62K, but she would give it to us for 57K.  Coming to the terminal I had asked the taxi driver about the ticket price.  Based on that knowledge I told the Bolivariano woman the price was normally 39K; the best I could do was 50K.  She picked up the phone and pretended she was asking someone if the deal was OK.  While on the phone she wrote down 3000 on a piece of paper in front of her.  What 3000?  When she was done talking, she wrote 53000 on a piece of paper, gave that note to me, and asked me to come back at 8:30, to buy tickets at that price.  From there we went to the Velotax counter.  They had a bus leaving for Cali at 9 am, and the price was 45K per person. [1 USD= 1876 COP (Peso Colombiano) on June 16, 2014]

Street hawkers in Bogota

Street hawkers are found in all busy commercial centers in Bogota.

Bogota's climate

Owing to its altitude, Bogota, even being slightly north of the equator was chilly in June.  But tropical fruits were still in abundance.

Bogota

Colombia was very hopeful with her football team.  Replicas of the World Cup cup were seen everywhere.