Bogotá

Close by the hotel, the ‘T’ is the other cool district, a pedestrianised strip in the shape of that letter. The cocktails at a lounge bar called Pravda were made from coffee, tropical fruits and rum. Out on the heated terrace were small groups of executive slickers and lots of little black dresses – sexy but composed. Spanish decorum has survived the ocean crossing and 500 years of conquest and independence, at least among the middle-classes. The best cuisine is often Spanish, too. At the La Barra restaurant, we had delicious Madrid-style tapas, though with Argentinian wine.

On the wide avenues, Americanisms endure. There are sprawling malls, fast-food chains, big cars and joggers in tracksuits – though not in Nike but in Colombia’s own sportswear brand, Sperm, which has a little tadpole logo on the chest. But there’s a sexier Latino edge. Women in Colombia wear tight, bright clothes. The men dress chic enough to look elegant but loose enough to deliver salsa moves on spec. The streets have the vibe of a reggaeton video, all glad-eye and catwalk cruise.

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Some time around midnight, our ex-pat host – suddenly joined by a huge group of Colombian amigos – took us out to a bar on the edge of town. This is the kind of first evening you are always told not to have, especially in an unknown city with a dodgy past. But we wound up paying pennies for our cervezas and dancing cumbias with most of Bogotá. Dawn rolled on.

Between beery cross-cultural debates – Colombians are keen to know how Juan Pablo Angel is fairing at Aston Villa – people talked about the security revolution President Uribe had pulled off. ‘It’s simple. More police, more army, out there, on the streets,’ said Andres, a political science graduate. I’m sure it’s not that easy. But there’s a little revolution afoot in the city, too. Or perhaps it was always such fun, and none of us knew.

Getting there
Fly to Bogotá via Paris with Air France (0870 142 4343/www.airfrance.co.uk) or Iberia (0870 609 0500/www.iberia.com) via Madrid. Colombia’s national carrier Avianca (0845 838 7941/ www.avianca.co.uk) flies from Madrid. Returns from £580, including taxes.

Where to stay
Hotel Boheme Royal
Calle 82 No 12-35 0057 1 657 8787/www.hotelesroyal.com).

Where to eat and drink
Bogotá Beer Company
Carrera, 11A No 93-94 (Parque 93) (0057 1 621 9914/www.bogotabeercompany.com).

La Barra
Calle 69A, No 5-8 (0057 1 321 0839).

Pravda
Carrera 12, No 83 (0057 1 236 5055).

Fondo Cultural Cafetero
Carrera 8, No 7- 93 (0057 1 282 1439).

Safety and security
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (0845 850 2829/www.fco.gov.uk) advises there is a ‘continuing high threat from domestic terrorist groups in Colombia. There is a serious risk of kidnapping. (It) advises against travel to southern parts of Meta department and to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta’.

Three trips out of town
Salt Cathedral (49km, 1 hour by taxi)
In the early ’90s, the government commissioned a group of architects and artists to turn an abandoned salt mine into a cathedral. Before you arrive at the church, you file down labyrinthine tunnels following the stations of the cross represented in abstract salt, marble and granite sculptures. The main nave is an awesome, cavernous space full of eerie shadows.
Catedral de Sal, Carrera 7, Nos 3-63 Zupaquirá (00571 852 9890/www.catedraldesal.gov.co) Adm $12,000 (£2.70).

Me Importa un Chorizo (18km, 30 minutes by taxi)
Medellín is the source of much of the country’s wealth and culture – the fashion and textile industries are here, as is much of the agriculture (legal and otherwise). People from the region are known as paisas, and the nearest thing to a national dish is the bandeja paisa or ‘paisa platter’ (also the most popular dish in Elephant & Castle’s cantinas). At this countrified restaurant – the name means ‘I don’t give a sausage’ – they serve a mean example of this carnivore’s dream of steak, deep-fried pork crackling, blood sausage, fried plantain, chorizo, beans, rice and spicy dip. The bandeja is $12,000 (£2.70) and beers cost about $2,000 each. Note the interesting tourist sight right opposite the prison: the rusting shell of a Russian-built submarine that was commissioned by a local narco to ship coke to the US.
Me Importa un Chorizo, Autopista Bogotá-Medellín Km18 (0057 91 824 0284).

Salsa in the suburbs (28km, 40 minutes by taxi)
There’s only one way to wrap up a Saturday night here – at the bar-restaurant-club hybrid Andres Carne de Res. The name means ‘Andrew, Meat of Cow’ and the steaks are great. But this is a wild, salsa saloon with a very special atmosphere. Cocktails and sugar cane-based aguardientes flow and there’s manic dancing to all the tropical rhythms and an almost narcotic friendliness to the clientele.
Variante de la Luna, Chía, Autopista Norte (0057 1 620 6585/www.andrescarnederes.com).

Chris Moss is co-editor of the’Time Out Buenos Aires‘ Guide (2006)