Bogota - The Big City

So, I left Bogota on Sunday. I didn’t really get a good feel for the city as I was there for only a week and spent a lot of time traveling to and from Spanish classes. To me, Bogota is just a really big city – about 10 million inhabitants. It was very different from Cartagena and I am glad that I decided to go to get a different perspective on Colombian culture. I guess it’s like a foreigner coming to Atlanta and thinking the rest of the county is like that. If I would have left Colombia only visiting Cartagena, I would have thought the rest of Colombia was similar. However, Bogota is totally, totally different. The weather for one! Colombia is in the mountains, so it’s cold! It has the same weather all year round where it can be warm in the morning and very cool to cold at night. I arrived without a jacket and had to purchase one upon arriving. Although it’s in the mountains (2640 meters or 8661 feet) it doesn’t snow. Winter is marked by rainy season, but the temperatures still remain the same all year round.

Another reason, I didn’t get a good feel for the city is I just stayed in the rich neighborhood. I’ve been really lucky and have been getting some great home locations. Because of the size of Bogota, I pretty much spent my time between Park 3 (2 blocks from me) and Zona Rosa (10 blocks from me). These two areas were pretty cool with tons of park space, recreation areas, restaurants, high end shops, and bars.

Saturday was really my only day to see the city. So after waking up, I decided to go on a walkabout and proceeded to walk…and walk…and walk. I lived on Carrera (Ave) 11 and Calle (St.) 95. When I finished walking I was at Carrera 3 and Calle 14…a total of 81 blocks, but is was probably more like 100 blocks with all the twists and turns I made trying to see everything. Without a map in hand, I was able to find all the major landmarks like the Bullfighting arena, the National Museum, Planetarium, several parks, La Candelaria, El Centro (Downtown), and ended at Monserrate.

Monserrate is a church that sits atop the mountians that create Bogota’s eastern border. You can reacheh the church via cable cars, a funicular (small train), or a 1.5 – 2 hour hike. I chose the cable car option since I just finished walking for two hours. However, with my fear of heights, it wasn’t the greatest ride! Monteserrate is 3200 meters above sea level. When I got to the top, I was pretty much in the clouds. I have pictures where the cable lines just disappear into the clouds. But when you get above the clouds and see the sun shine on Monserrate and it’s surrounding gardens, it’s definitely worth the trip!

I still think that Bogota has more for me to see, so I will be making another trip in the near future. I really liked the area that I stayed in and once again, I never felt threatened at all, even when I was out by myself late at night or walking around during the day with no idea of where I was going. I wish American media would do a better job of shaping people’s opinion of foreign countries. I know most people have probably been reading about the hostage rescue in Colombia and think that I run the risk of being kidnapped down here. That is a possibility. But I run the same risk of getting shot or killed in the US. I also think that no matter how bad the people are made out to be, they always turn out to be friendlier than like people in the US. I just think of all the instances where I was in a foreign land and couldn’t speak the local language, but people would go out of their way to help me out. I see people in the US who can’t speak English and they are looked down upon when all they are doing is trying to get around like me.