Bogota´s historic center La Candelaria holds many delights for the
intrepid visitor. Every cobbled backstreet and row of colorful houses
holds countless idiosyncratic bars, restaurants and cafés. Two of the very finest establishments
of this city are very distinct places which both share a
certain faded glory and air of nostalgia.
One is never far from a welcoming cafe and some fine Colombian coffee
here in Bogota. One you shouldn’t pass is Café Pasaje in the
Plazoleta del Rosario, conveniently located opposite the Museo del oro
Transmilenio stop. Café Pasaje is a Bogotá literary institution, where
in days gone by the reporters of El Tiempo used to congregate to drink
and smoke and argue.
Within the confines of its warm wood-paneled
walls the aroma of coffee and cigarette smoke fills the air, ensuring
that the aspiring writer will feel right at home. The walls are lined
with promotional posters from the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation,
ancient cigarette adverts and the odd poster of a girl in a bikini
enjoying a cold Aguila, all basking in a pink glow emitted by the
twirly neon letters that spell out the café´s name.
A rickety red vinyl seat by the window will afford the visitor the best
view of the comings and goings of the plaza: the artesanía stalls and
loved-up teenagers, pineapple vendors and security guards, old geezers
selling fossils and decrepit Bakelite radio sets, all under the
watchful eye of the miserable chap who mans the second hand book stall,
it{s rows and rows of yellowing magazines gently fluttering in the
wind.
A fine tinto arrives in a tricolour “Café de Colombia” cup, deliviered
by the efficient but bored waitress. While you sip your coffee, an
elderly gent will almost certainly sidle up to you and attempt to sell
you a selection of musty books, with titles ranging from Lives of the
Saints to the Origin of Species. If you decline this offer you can pass
your time in the Café Pasaje studying the other customers of the café,
and perhaps writing them into your unfinished novel. From the two
smartly dressed gentleman at the table beside you with a half empty
bottle of aguardiente sitting companionably on the table between them
to the group of serious twenty-somethings dressed in black with a hint
of existential angst hovering in the air, or perhaps the exciteable
ladies with their cappuccinos and impeccable red lacquered fingernails,
you can take your pick from the host of characters that make up the
clientele here and maybe finally finish that novel.
On the next street from this Plaza is the marvellous El Viejo Almacén,
hidden in the base of an office building and nestled between a dry
cleaners and an arepa emporium. El Viejo Almacén is a shrine to tango,
with low lighting and rickety wooden tables and chairs spattered around
a speckled marble floor. Hundereds of versions of Carlos Gardel´s
doomed toothy grin look down on the couples on the dance floor, lost in
their own worlds with only the sound of a crackly 45″ for company.
Groups of aficionados huddle around the small tables, taking advantage
of the owner´s vast collection of records to request their favourite
songs in all their original crackly glory. Tango stars of yore adorn
the walls and the atmosphere is one of having stepped back in time.
Sharing a table with your most interesting friends and a bottle of
aguardiente in this fine establishment is an experience which is
definetely not to be missed.