The Colombian Museum of Gold is an amazing place to see some of the Pre-Colombian crafted Indian artifacts. The items are impressively displayed, and really worth the trip. After the museum, the Princess and I headed down the five blocks to the Historic District of Bogotá. The downtown city streets are crowded like New York City (I imagine… have not been there yet). After passing through a police checkpoint, we entered a secure area where not only the historic areas of Bogotá are, but also the home of the President and also the Congress building.
Gringo’s in Colombia who are not worried about security are either a bit daft or carry nothing of value. Every street corner in downtown has police or military. Every building, either commercial or residential anywhere in Colombia has either security bars on the windows, or security guards or both. Colombians may not, in general, be able to protect themselves from assault (as we do in the U.S.) but they sure know how to make a fortress a home. Colombians, as friendly as the ones I know in the family are, are also a wary and careful people. Their advise on where to go and where not to is invaluable.
For all of these shots I used my Nikon D90 with the Nikkor MM f1.8G AFS Lens, sporting the Sun-Sniper camera strap. The 35mm field of view may have been sometimes limiting, but I had less worries (security wise) having this lens mounted on the D90 than the much larger Nikkor 18-200mm. And vacations are not about stress about losing your equipment (or worse), are they?
