Monserrate in December ("Novenas")

I went up to Monserrate today and decided to write some info in case you are interested in going... 1. Transportation is very easy by cab, and there is a safe parking lot right across the street from the entrance. If someone decides to take a bus, or a transmilenio, thy should get off in "Germania" (Carrera 3 and 19th), and just look up and walk towards the hill. You can't miss it. 2. Fares: normally the fare is two-way, and it costs 15000 pesos per person. However, since many people are going up these days to do the "Novena" at church there, there is a special fare of 10,000 (two-way) but ONLY if you queue and buy the ticket from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Any other schedule you must pay the full price. About the two kinds of transportation there, the "Teleférico" is the cable car, which has little space, so considerably fewer people fit in, hence the long queues. That queue is on the back of Monserrate entrance, so it seems a little hidden. The other one is the "Funicular", which can hold many more people, so the queues move much faster. What the people there recommend is taking the slower (teleférico) one to go up so you can see all the lights well, and taking the faster one to go down once you are tired. In that one, you will listen to some welcoming message in both spanish and english, along with some typical Colombian music. 3. The Novena: they have a catholic mass at 6 p.m., and I guess another one at 7 p.m. There's some praying and some singing (some old and some new x-mas carols), for those interested in seeing what the tradition is like there. 4. Food: There are three options (from the cheapest to the most expensive one)... -The cheapest option is to walk past the right side of the church up to the small souvenir 'stores' (almost a block up) until you find the typical food 'informal restaurants', so to say. Some like that kind of food, some don't. -There is a restaurant called Casa Santa Clara (http://www.restaurantecasasantaclara.com/), whose prices are pretty reasonable for the quality. It only opens untl 4 p.m. all the year ound, except for the Novenas time in December, when it is open until 10:30 p.m. They claim that all the tables at the restaurant have a view to Bogotá. I can say this is by far the best view I have seen in my city. Great service, good food, romantic atmosphere. ----Bonus: Under the Santa Clara restaurant is their cafe, where the view is not that, that good, but you can have some snack and hot drinks. Unlike the restaurant, this one is open until 10:30 p.m. all year round, not only during X-mas season. - There is another restaurant called San Isidro (http://www.restaurantecasasanisidro.com/en/), which I haven't been to, but everbody says it is also very special. The view from there is not as good, they say, but apparently the food is very good, if you can afford the prices there. 5. Hiking is possible too, of course, but only sometimes, depending on landslides. In the past, it was possible all year, but not anymore. Authorities decide to close the path to hike any time now. All and all, I think it is a good plan to do these days not because the tickets to go up are lower, but because it is one of our icons, because the hill is particularly embellished every december to please us all, and because from there, the city seems somehow, a bit different. I recommend it :)