Return to Bogotá: thirteen years after my first visit, I have returned to this bustling city, long regarded as Colombia‘s beating heart. But Bogotá is evolving – towering skyscrapers sit next to sprawling barrios, hipster shops and restaurants are slowly moving into the city’s grittier neighborhoods and the once-soaring crime rate is dwindling.

With its vast collection of burgeoning shops, high-end hotels, impressive eateries and unique plazas and museums, Bogotá is naturally one of the first places to flock to when arriving in the country.

I was hoping to visit the Museo Botero, but it was closed on the day I am here. So I decided to spend a couple of hours at the Museo Nacional de Colombia. Housed in the expansive, Greek-cross-shaped building called El Panóptico (designed as a prison by English architect Thomas Reed in 1874), the museum explores Colombia’s past via archeology, history, ethnology and art – with a few Botero pieces as well!