Bogotá and Lima layovers for the European long haul crew: the altitude at Bogotá, the sea level at Lima, the ceviche rule
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#1 LATAM Lima, and I introduced myself with the Lima layover offer and Sofia wrote Bogotá from the Avianca side. The European long haul crews (Iberia, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, BA) do Bogotá and Lima monthly and the two Andean layovers are different in ways the visiting crews learn the hard way. Here they are together from the local crews.
Bogotá, the altitude
Sofia's 2,600 metres: the visiting crew land after ten hours and the altitude hits in the first evening (the headache, the breath on the hotel stairs, the sleep that is lighter). The rule the Bogotá crews give: no alcohol the first night, water, the coca tea at the hotel (legal and traditional and it helps), the short walk and not the long one on day one. The visiting crews who go out drinking the first night in Bogotá are the ones in the hotel doctor's room on day two.
Lima, the sea level
Lima is at the coast and the altitude is not the problem; the grey is (the Lima winter garúa, the mist that covers the city from May to November and that the visiting crews mistake for a bad day; it is every day). The Lima crew hotels are in Miraflores and San Isidro on the cliffs and the ocean and the layover is the cliffs walk and the food.
The ceviche rule
The Lima version of the pastel de nata and the bakery rule: every crew in Lima eats a ceviche at lunch (not dinner; the Peruvians eat ceviche at midday when the fish is fresh and the cevicherías close in the afternoon) at a cevichería with locals, within the first day. The visiting crews who order ceviche at 9pm at the hotel have not been to Lima. The Lima crew will take you at 1pm.
The security briefings that differ
Bogotá: the airline briefing is stricter (the hotel drivers, the Zona Rosa and the Chapinero in daylight and the known places at night, no walking in the centre after dark, the phone out of sight), and the crews who follow it have the Bogotá the locals have (the Candelaria in the morning, the Monserrate by cable car, the Usaquén Sunday market). Lima: the briefing is lighter for Miraflores and San Isidro (the cliffs, the Barranco walk, the Larcomar) and strict for the centre at night. Both cities are what the briefing says: fine inside it and the crew room story outside it.
The Andean layovers from the local crews
Bogotá: the Candelaria at 10am, the Botero museum (free), the Monserrate (the cable car, the view, the altitude's revenge at the top), the ajiaco at lunch, the Usaquén on a Sunday, the coffee that is the best on the network. Lima: the cliffs at sunrise, the ceviche at 1pm, the Barranco walk and the bridge, the Larco museum and its café in the gardens, the pisco sour at 7pm (one), the sleep by 10 for the sea level body that is still on European time.
For the European crews
Bogotá with the altitude rules and the briefing; Lima with the ceviche at midday and the cliffs. The Avianca and the LATAM crews at the hotels will take you to the right cevichería and the right ajiaco if you ask, and the altitude at Bogotá will take you to the hotel doctor if you do not listen.
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#2 Avianca Bogotá, and Carmen has the Bogotá altitude rules exactly: no alcohol the first night, the coca tea, the short walk. The visiting crews in the hotel doctor's room on day two are European and they went drinking. The Candelaria at 10am and the ajiaco are the Bogotá the locals give.
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#3 Iberia Madrid, Bogotá and Lima monthly, and the Iberia crews learned the ceviche at midday rule from the LATAM crew at the Lima hotel and the altitude rule from the hotel doctor at Bogotá, in that order. Carmen's two cities together is the thread the Latin America bid needed.
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#4 Air France CDG, the Latin America by choice, and the Lima garúa mistaken for a bad day is the thing every Air France crew does on the first Lima: it is every day, as Carmen says. The cliffs at sunrise through the mist is the Lima the local crews showed us.
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#5 KLM, and the KLM Bogotá and Lima flying is monthly for the Amsterdam crews and the Monserrate cable car with the altitude's revenge at the top is a KLM crew tradition and a mistake we repeat. The coffee is the best on the network. Carmen is right.
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#6 Aeroméxico, 2,240 metres at home, and the Bogotá altitude at 2,600 still gets the Mexico City crews on the first evening, which Hector will confirm. The altitude solidarity has a Bogotá chapter and the coca tea is in it.
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#7 Lima, different carrier, and the ceviche at 9pm at the hotel is the thing the Lima crews see the visiting crews do and wince at. Midday, the cevichería, the locals. Carmen will take you and so will I. The pisco sour at 7pm, one.
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#8 @rosaflores the order (the ceviche from the crew, the altitude from the doctor) is the European crew's Andean education and the second is avoidable. @arturolim the one pisco sour is the rule and the visiting crews learn it on the second Lima.