2. Exploring Bogotá
Day 88
It is Sunday here in Bogotá. And it is chilly. The temp goes down to 9˚C overnight. That’s colder then back in Canada! But it feels nice. Today’s program is to head to downtown and to see what I can find.
Downtown is exactly on the opposite side of the city. I can take taxi or Uber but why not join the locals and travel by bus. I’ve read that the transit system in Bogota is one of the best in the world so lets go and check it out.
I type start and finish of my route into Google Maps and it spits several bus routes. I picked up the one without the transfer and start walking to the station. Easy 5’ walk to the main road. There are many bus routes there including the express buses. Those have their own lanes. It is easy pay system. One trip anywhere cost the same no matter which bus you take. It cost $0.85. All cashless. There are kiosks at the stations where you buy a card pass. And you charge it with as much money as you want. I put in enough for 4 trips. What a spender… Depending on the route you either go through the turnstile at the station or in the bus. You scan your pass and it tells you how much you paid and how much you have left on your card. On each of the express lanes station there are always a police or a transit cop. Bus comes exactly on schedule. A nice, modern, double articulated bus. And they drive it like they stole it. 25’ later I am in downtown. Painless, I can watch my progress in Google Maps or on a local transit app.
There are hundreds and hundreds of bicycles on the road. Not sure what is going on. And roller blades and runners. I asked later and I’ve been told that every Sunday they close off all the express lanes for vehicles and allow only bikes there. What a smart idea! It looks awesome! Only other place I’ve seen so many bikes was Amsterdam. And there are refreshment stands and bike repair “shops” there as well. It feels like a half of Bogotá population of 8M is there. I should be riding with them. Not today.
Panama and Bogotá couldn’t be more different from each other. Panama has fancy high-rises with manicured waterfront and a life sucking heat & humidity. Bogotá, on the other hand is much cooler at 2,550m (8,360’). It is not as flashy, more run down and you can see much more poverty here. And there are people everywhere here. The other half of Bogotá citizens which are not biking are all in downtown. OMG, the sea of humanity. Throughout Central America people in each country were more or less homogenous group. Not here. For starters people here are much taller and bigger on average then the rest of the region. And they are all different colours, ranging from pale white to darkest black and anything in between. A definite mixing pot here.
And just like everywhere south of Rio Grande, people are very social here. Everybody’s outside in the evening and especially on weekends. Just walking around, families, groups of young and old. There is one main street here which is pedestrian only. Hundreds of stalls selling pretty much anything. Street performers, lots of fruit and food vendors, all trying to be louder then the other one. Absolute assault on your senses but it is a part of the life here. Very, very lively. It is great just to people watch here.
Then the rain came. None of my fancy app predicted any rain today. But looking at the locals who immediately pulled out their umbrellas or a rain coats, they knew what was coming. My rain gear is still with my bike at the customs at the airport … It is time to hide. I need a coffee anyway. Speaking off coffee … Colombia being world’s 3rd biggest coffee producer, I expected a coffee shop on every corner. Not so. There are almost none of the “classic” coffee shops here. But I found one right on time and dove in. It was Juan Valdez coffee shop. The rain came down HARD as it always does here. But it doesn’t last long. It was still drizzling after an hour so I bought a rain poncho from a street vendor for $1. Great deal …
I walked up & down the busy street and I couldn’t get enough of the lively atmosphere there. But the darkness comes very quickly closer the equator you get. It was time to head home. I checked my app for busses, found the one which goes direct. 5’ later I was heading home. Traffic was crazy but more about that in future blogs. I had a great dinner in Mexican restaurant and all of a sudden you are walking in the darkness.
It was a great day, again. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Time to do my pictures and write the blog and watch the F1 race. I have the fastest internet on this trip here so I can upload everything within seconds. Now I have to get ready to be reunited with my bike bright & early tomorrow.
Adios 🤙