Exploring Bogota

Hello Friends

Here we are three days after arriving and it feels like the most normal thing to be walking on the streets on Bogota. We´re in the oldest neighbourhood in the city, just a couple of blocks from the historical downtown core, which is also one of the business districts. The 150 year-old colonial  houses are made of adobe.

The Hostal Platypus has been a great place to land. It´s full of backpackers from around the world. While its two-foot (60 cm) thick adobe walls are great for sound and temperature control, they almost completely block Wi Fi signals.  Capturing a signal seems to require that travelers stand with their laptops in doorways or the central courtyard, doing something that looks like a slow-motion snake-charmers dance.  Not only are these gyrations entertaining to watch, they also seem to be successful in attracting a signal to their computers! Since we didn’t pack a laptop, we don’t get to join in – but we do enjoy watching the dance. (Emilia occasionally practices with her Ipod.)

Yesterday we ventured further afield in order to try the rapid transit system. Bogota, a city of 9 million people,  got it´s first rapid transit 10 years ago. The TransMilenio (Trans Millennium) is a bus system that is totally separated from the rest of the traffic. It moves people very efficiently and feels pretty much like an above-ground subway.

Bright red TransMilenio buses. with Monserrate mountain, Bogota´s version of Vancouver's Grouse Grind in the background. Thousands pay penance at Easter by going up to the cathedral at the top on their knees.

Locating the bus station was a journey in itself. Finding that we were getting almost as many different directions as people we asked, I had to inquire again at the end of every block.  I was enjoying meandering along though, taking in the sights as we searched. However, at one point, Philip-Maynard blurted out, “Mom, you look like a tourist, walking so slowly, looking around at everything. We have to walk fast so we look like we know where we´re going.” He´s learned well from our previous travels how to avoid being a target for pickpockets. Emilia and I had to practically trot behind him as he led the way every time we got directions. Our man with a mission!

After the new, well oiled TransMilenio system, we transferred to an old rickety bus with one door. We had to squeeze through the turnstile and cram in, hoping that nobody would have to squeeze by to get off. When I asked a fellow passenger where we should get off, a feisty debate broke out among those around us. Finally, one woman took us under her wing, and as we got off, she explained that her choice was based on there being a stoplight where we could cross the street safely, rather than having to dash across four lanes of traffic. When we parted ways she called out, “Que Dios la guarde a usted y sus lindas hijas.” (May God keep you safe, as well as your beautiful daughters.) I received the blessing for all of us – including our lovely son, who´s never phased by people mistaking him for a girl. It´s fairly common to see young men here with long hair, but not boys.

Tree hugging in Bogota's Botanical Garden

Our destination was the Botanical Gardens, an oasis for our green-starved souls. After the din of traffic, and kilometers of concrete sprawl, seeing trees and hearing the sound of water felt like heaven. We were actually quite surprised at the the size of the palm trees  in the gardens, given that Bogota is at 8,000 ft. (2600 m) elevation and can get very chilly.

Street food tasting - a favorite pass-time

Some of my favorite childhood memories in Colombia involve food. We’ve been having a lot of fun re-living them, sampling empanadas, arepas, buñuelos, pan de bono, obleas with arequipe, patacones, and drinking the many tropical fruit juices (guanábana, lulo, curuba, maracuya). So far, Emilia and Philip-Maynard have been pretty good about going with the flow; some days we wander around without a clue what our next meal is going to look like.

Well folks, that’s it for now. Stay tuned – our goal is to add a new post about once a week.