It was time to finally get back to South America. Brazil was my main destination but a crazy good deal to Bogota made me add that as a pit stop first. I would soon regret for making just that but more on that later.

The flights while a bit bumpy were mostly uneventful. I was also pleasantly surprised the altitude (8700 ft) wasn’t affecting me much… yet. It was also very easy getting out of the airport and making the relatively short trip to my hotel. That’s when the easy part stopped.

After checking in, the very nice bellhop offered to bring my luggage upstairs. We boarded the elevator, and I noticed the doors shut very hard and fast. I joked that I need to be careful or I’d lose a foot trying to get into it. He used my key card to go to the 6th floor and then… nada. To make matters worse, now for some reason the 2nd floor button was lit up but we weren’t moving. Uh oh.

To add to the comedy factor, the walkie talkie the bellhop had kept saying over and over “please change the battery now” I also couldn’t get any signal so we appeared to be stuck, literally. Perhaps it was because of the long travel and my overall tiredness, I didn’t really panic. My new amigo however was saying a prayer repeatedly asking God to open the doors.

About 45 mins later and after several failed attempts to pry open the doors, we were told a technician was coming to free us. My amigo kept insisting they call the fire department but the manager (“Don Pedro! Don Pedro” as my amigo pleaded) said the technician would handle it. Finally, after about an hour, he did just that and I quickly crashed in my very basic but spacious room.

The next morning I worked for a bit and now the altitude had caught up with me. With a dull headache, I headed literally across the street to a place a friend had recommended – Mesa Franca.

A very cool little spot, I was presented with a menu in Spanish as well as English – except for one section which they didn’t have to translate. It was a mix of very creative sounding dishes. However, my garlic issue made the list a lot shorter. That actually turned out to be a good thing as I probably would have never ordered what I did.

First up was a combo of yuca based focaccia with a local honey butter, which was delicious. This was paired with watermelon “tartare” with horseradish, capers, lacto fermented chili, chives, cashew cream and dill infused oil. This basically blew my mind as it tasted exactly like steak tartare with an amazing blend of spices.

I’m a sucker for roasted beets and this preparation sounded very intriguing – Red beets – Roasted and smoked, goat cheese emulsion with kefir, chimichurri, mizuna. This was another winner with a very generous portion of hearty beets in a very rich sauce. The beet greens as a salad on top was a nice touch too.

I headed back across the street to do some work (hey I have to pay for this somehow!) and a much needed siesta. While still feeling the effects of the altitude, I wasn’t about to miss my reservation at one of the top 50 restaurants in Bogota – Harry Sasson.

Named after the famed Colombian chef of the same name, his flagship restaurant was located in a tonier part of town. After walking through the very attractive patio, I entered into the massive main room but was soon escorted to a smaller side room with a fireplace roaring away. A really stunning restaurant.

The menu had at least 20 things I wanted but given that was impossible and wanting to take advantage of the massive wood ovens, I decided to go the wood roasted route.

It was a cool rainy night so the wood roasted tomato soup sounded particularly appealing. For such a simple name, the flavor was anything but that. It was quite simply, the best tomato soup I had ever had. Bursting with flavor from the roasted tomatoes and whatever magical combination of smoked herbs, I eagerly ate the large bowl of goodness along with the excellent bread.

Keeping with the wood roasted theme, next up was the season wild mushrooms with herbs. I thought it might be a nice side dish but was soon presented with a sizzling forest of wild mushrooms on a fajita plate. Clearly meant to share for the table, I had no issues making it my main dish. The mushrooms were perfectly cooked and seasoned, with the hot plate allowing me enough time to enjoy them at a leisurely pace without getting cold.

I was pretty full so the famous Harry’s Bar Hot Dog would have to be another time. I wasn’t sure how I could keep up the wood roasted theme with desserts but then I saw the rum soaked wood roasted pineapple item. Sold.

The pineapples were diced and layered on top of a biscotti with roasted coconut ice cream and pina colada foam. This was Colombia in a dessert – from the rum in the pineapples to the mix of tropical and sweet flavors. A great capper to a great meal that cost less than $50.

I took the incredibly cheap Uber home (eschewing the even cheaper motorcycle option) and headed to bed. Tomorrow would be my last full day in Bogota so I planned to make the most of it.