Bogotá

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So I've finally got some photos to post of general living in Bogotá, to give you a flavour of what day-to-day life is like here. Sorry its taken so long...foreigners walking around with their cameras out are generally asking for trouble so its taken until now for me to feel a little more savvy than the standard tourist and to feel comfortable taking photos! Anyway, I'm living in a barrio called the Candelaria which is the oldest and most traditional part of the city, and despite being part of the city centre is actually right on the east edge, pressed up against the mountains. Since being founded, the city has expanded mainly to the north and south and a little to the west, but is obviously hemmed in by the mountains to the edge, so the result is quite a long, thin city. The Candelaria is home to a fair few museums, plenty of small bars, lots of universities, and the government buildings (including the presedential palace which is about 5 minutes from my flat!). Being in the centre its also fairly well connected to the rest of the city, although transport in Bogotá is an absolute nightmare. 99% of Colombia has amazing, equatorial weather, but Bogotá is the 1%! It was founded here because of the high rainfall making it ideal for farming, as the clouds coming from the east come over the mountains and dump enormous amounts of water sometimes on the city. Just one hour in any direction outside of the city and you're back in the sunshine, so Bogotá is literally the only wet part of Colombia! However, when its not raining the weather is really nice, so its not so bad. Generally its a fun place to be, its also quite easy to get out into the surrounding villages and mountains. Here are a few general photos I've taken recently....

There will be more to come, I'll keep uploading more photos to this blog as I take them.

I recently moved flat, I still live in the Candelaria but now on the other side (about a 15 minute walk from my old place). The new place is much more comfortable and has one less unbearable Mexican landlord so all in all its a good thing! I've put up a few photos of the new place and will put up some more soon.

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Photos

Where I live in Bogotá
The top-left corner is North, so I live in the city centre even though it is right on the east boundary of the city.

My official ID
Have a look at the date of birth! They took 5 weeks over this, and charged a small fortune for it, and still got it wrong. But no problem, I successfully opened a bank account without anyone noticing the mistake... welcome to Colombia!

The Presidential Palace
About 5 minutes from my flat...we've often chilled on the roof to watch private helicopters coming and going.

Plaza de Simon Bolivár
The liberator and national hero of Colombia, this is an enormous square about 5 minutes from my flat. Many concerts happen here, including a free Manu Chao gig a few weeks ago!

The mountains to the east
With the rainclouds on their way!

A colectivo
The local bus network is dominated by these happy-go-lucky colectivos. Once you've eventually learned how to decipher the bus routes, and got used to the fact that they don't have bus stops but just pick up and drop off passengers wherever they fancy, including the middle lane of a busy road, they're great!

Inside a colectivo
Enough room to swing a very, very, very small cat. Although you will probably hit people with it.

How many Colombians can you fit on a colectivo?
Answer: the driver doesn't care, if you can pay, you can get on. Sometimesthere must be 30 odd people in these tiny minibuses!

The view from the roof of my new flat
Just to prove it doesn't always rain! At the top of the mountain you can just see Montserrate, a mountain-top church with apparently the best views in the city. I haven't been yet but no doubt will be heading that way soon.