First Weekend

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The trip from Atlanta was uneventful and easy. The food on Delta business class I can say is exceptionally good. I flew business since the difference was almost paid for by the free bag check-in and I had a lot, including a suitcase of books.

Mauricio from insidecolombia.co, which arranged the internship, met me at the airport as planned and took me to the apartment I had rented. Mauricio is a philosophy grad from San Tomas University, which happens to be right next to me strangely enough. He will also take me to work the first day on Monday and I hope to speak with him more over time. He has worked with the Foundation before.

Since it was late, the keys were left at the front desk with security. The security, by the way, is great in this complex. I brought the staff some apples the next day to introduce myself. I always like to treat doormen and security well since they have your back.

I explored my surroundings and will fit in fine. The area I am in, Chapinero, is somewhat a transitional neighborhood. The nearest Starbucks is like a dozen blocks north, which is just fine with me There are tons of little coffee shops and places to eat. There is a bit of a party aura in general in Chapinero, but there is a lot of activity around me caus eof the University. Let's just say I am no more than 50 yards from beer in any direction. I found a great supermercado which will have anything I might need. I do find a bit of shortage of vegetable selection, but the fruits are bountiful including papaya, which is one of my favs. In fact, I have seen more papaya in the last three days than I may have ever seen in my life. It is literally everywhere, which may be why they have the saying here of "don't give up the papaya" which is kind of a be on guard and don't show off, from what I have heard. On the last point, I have never really been concerned for safety, but I have taken the same precautions I use everywhere (moneybelts, dress local, have a war face if needed, etc.)

In terms of the atmosphere, I like the vibe. There are many economies in my area alone. You will see people well dressed and sitting in nicer cafes, and then you will see someone without shoes fishing in barrels. I have to say, there is a lot of graffiti, but it seems to blend as the store owners I guess stopped getting rid of it. You have have a meals for $5/6 (more western standard), $2/3 (more local), or even a $1 (portable vendors). The latter is done with big pans sitting on a motorcycle or regular bike. They sometimes have microphones announcing which can wake me up at times, but everybody needs to eat I guess and there is no overhead budget for a storefront. I have tried both the $5 and $3 options and although the $5 is tastier, you will survive fine on the $3. You can even get more food on the $3 at times. I sometimes am curious about what is served on the bikes, but I guess I am not that curious. Speaking of bikes, there are a lot of them here as Bogota is the bike capital of South America. There are many designated lanes and today, Sunday, half a major road was shutdown for biking. I may get a bike while I am here as it is a good option for transportation as the buses, although high speed, are crowded and there is a fair bit of pollution waiting for them. A few people wear masks for it, but most don't. It hasn't been too bad for me as the weather is nice in the 60s and it rains ever so lightly every other day or so to clean it up. Better than some Asian cities I have been to, and about par for an emerging economy.

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Photos

muchas papayas
At $0.50 a pound, I can eat this for breakfast everyday.

Transmillenios
They have two dedicated lanes in both directions so one can pass while another makes stops. They work OK it seems, but I think this city could benefit from a metro.

Church plaza
Mountains to the backdrop in the East. It makes it easy to know which direction you are going since the mountains are almost always visible anywhere I have been,

Washing machine
I have a degree in Computer Science and I am afraid to touch this thing. The sign about "Fuzzy Logic" on the upper left kinda scares me.

Suitcase of books
Didn't know what I was going to need.

First photo
In front of a church next to me with my reusable bag. Please try and use these and while I am at it, the water is fine, so don't waste by buying bottled (I use little flavoring packs to take the mild chlorine taste). Give your reusable to someone before you go home.