El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 13: BEK Café

BEK Café
Av. 19 # 3a-43, Santa Fé

Serious measures have been taken to avoid #2 here

Although lacking personality and decent beer prices, this bar was an OK place to watch football.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 12: Pitia Beer Pub

Pitia Beer Pub
Calle 18 # 4-48, La Candelaria

This place has good coffee and orange juice, otherwise nothing special.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 11: Unknown Soldier

The entrance

spooky alley

The bar; lovely decoration

Bathroom door and comfy chairs

Urinal

Save time: wash your hands while you take a leak. This system resembles one previously seen in Valparaiso, Chile. It is a powerful evidence that there has been contact between the two cultures at som stage in history.

Cerveza de colores, how joyful. And very friendly wall decoration covering the zink walls.

We're not sure what this place is called, nor its address. However, it's in the dodgy part of la Candelaria, on the corner of the spooky alley where one can find bars like Bullitas del Callejon and Rock and Chicha. We kind of liked the place; cheap beer will have to take most of the credit for that. Also, the atmosphere was pleasant and definitely unpretensious. Outside, we were attacked by a young man who wanted our stuff one night, and a couple of nights later we found ourselves in the middle of a street battle between stone-throwing punks and armed cops.

Conclusion: not a boring place at all.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 10: La esquina de los mariachis

Another establishment storing the cleaning utensils in the urinal.

Somewhere in B. Galerías we met a rather drunk young man called Fernando, and together we went looking for open bars at 3 a.m. We found this one, about one block away from la esquina de los mariachis, where you can hire mariachis, buy drugs or simply sit down and inhale glue till you pass out.

The bar in question was much like la esquina, but without the mariachis. It had no sign, just a doorbell. Inside we counted seven persons sleeping, five persons sending a pipe around between them, and about twenty guys looking gloomily around. No women here, except the ones the owner kept in a room in the back and let out if a guest had special needs. We stayed untill Fernando began to loudly insist that he was a tourist from Leicester, although he is in fact a literature student from Bogotá.

Probably the seediest bar the IWCRP has ever visited.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 9: Miro bar

Miro Bar

calle 52 #26-56, B. Galerías

This is one of the better options in the area, despite there being many bars nearby. Miro is a rock bar, nothing special about it, but OK for a quick beer.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 8: Valledupar

Valledupar
Tienda vallenata
Calle 53 #27A-49, B. Galerías

Past grampa's bedtime

Attracting a younger crowd by hanging posters of the hippest new stars on the walls

The walls above the urinal were completely clad in mirrors

We stumbled in here because we were lost in Bogotá well after midnight and it was raining and freezing cold outside. It was a strange place; crazy latin love songs, people sleeping by the tables and elderly couples making out like teenagers on the dancefloor. This could also be an evil parallel dimension instead of a bar, we're not sure, but the beer prices certainly indicated evil dimension.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 7: Angel Rock bar

Angel Rock Bar
Cuadra 15 #80-46

Mr. Ángel and his wife, Angélica

Clean and functional, no funny smells

This lovely little basement near la Zona Rosa had opened just a few weeks ago when the IWCRP delegation came to investigate. Mr. Ángel himself turned out to be a very friendly young man, and even gave us a drink on the house. We must insist, though, that this was not corruption. The IWCRP always work completely undercover. This night we posed as olympic swimmers in order to confuse our surroundings.

Mr. Ángel plays music stored on his computer; mostly 80's rock. However, he let us connect our mp3 and be DJs, and he even claimed to enjoy the mongolian throat singing. It should still be stored on his computer, so if you like mongolian throat singing, get on the first plane to Bogotá.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 6: The Irish Pub

The Irish pub
Zona T (Zona Rosa)

This is the only picture we took at the irish pub. Click the picture to enlarge it and see a genuine colombian pubic hair.

A picture we stole from some web page. Sorry.

Irish pubs are like chinese restaurants and peruvian street musicians; they are everywhere, wherever you go. The irish pub in Bogotá is perhaps not as irish as one might be led to believe; they don't even serve guinness, which is an atrocity whether you call yourself an irish pub or not. Anyway, a hip and packed place, and much too expensive.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 5: Colombian Beer

Colombian Beer
calle 19 # 437

If the WC should be dirty, it's not because of a lack of cleaning utensils.

Colombian beer is a chain with several bars in Bogotá. This one, downtown, was a good place to watch football. The beer was good, too; they offer imported beer, including Erdinger, and what appears to be their own brand: Colon. Not bad, but way more expensive than other bars in the area.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 4: Bullitas del Callejon

Bullitas del Callejon

Cuadra 2 # 13A–42, La Candelaria

Someone has written the name of the bar in the filth on top of the wc.
A nice touch.

Scary alley seen from within the safety only a bar can offer.

Bullitas del Callejon was our favourite bar in this dark, slightly frightening alley. Good rock music, really cheap beer and less panic than outside.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 3: Rock And Chicha

Rock and Chicha
Cuadra 2N #13-56, La Candelarianot too many people present when the IWCRP visited

The urinal. Small, yet functional. A bamboo curtain separates it from the bar

Another decent bar in Bogotá, very small and in a dark, narrow, punk-filled street with several other tiny, dark bars. We do not give our Family Friendly award to any of these bars, but will reconsider if they paint the walls in jolly colours.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 2: Chirquox

Bar Chirquox - La guanda de todos
Cuadra 4 # 19-70

The bar seen from the outside, through beer glasses

Chirquox, or possibly Chimox, is hereby officially recommended by the IWCRP. It's a small place with decent music and cheap beer, three necessary elements in a good bar. The friendly Administrador, Ricardo Urrea, invited us to come back later for what we understood to be a bagpipe-concert. We appreciated the invitation, but mysteriously failed to show up later.

El Bogotazo: Bars in Bogota, Colombia. 1: Lymbo, Candelaria

Lymbo Rock Bar

Cra 4 #15-64, Candelaria

You must choose one, and only one.

Lymbo is a good place to hide if you feel that you are being followed, a common feeling in this area at night. Good rock music, decent prices, friendly and efficient service.