A Little Piece Of Bogota

And I mean little.  This city is huge. Not Mexico City huge but still maybe three times the size of the city of Vancouver and a population of seven million.  It rains a lot and right now (not this very minute right now) we are having torrential rainstorms with wind.  I got caught in it yesterday, late afternoon on a three mile walk from Usaquen, a quaint colonial barrio northeast of where I´m staying.  I had dinner there and walked around a bit and I really want to see more.  Of course the neighbourhood has been gentrified and only monied Bogotanos can afford to live there and it´s also nice for the tourists. (read the sarcasm).  But, hey, I´m a tourist even if I ´m still in denial about it and will only call myself a traveller.

 My tiny umbrella was no match for the rainstorm and I was kicking myself all the way through the cloudburst for not taking a cab.  When I got to the pedestrian overpass it was crammed with people.  It was 5:30, rush hour, and the sight of so many people packed together and not able to move on the overpass that spans the Autopista was surreal, to say the least.  Today I´m buying a proper golf umbella.

The mountains are beautiful and this city is over 8500 feet above sea level.  I am surprised that the altitude has not been a huge adjustment for me but I´m also drinking a lot of water.  I´ts too early to say anything about the people here.  They seem typical of many Latin American countries and Bogota being a big, and I suspect, self-important, city, they all seem to be in a hurry.

The room where I´m staying is like a combination of a chapel and a child´s bedroom, with ensuite bathroom and TV, of course.  It is quiet and peaceful and the door opens to a tangled tropical garden with lots of hibiscus.

The owners are professors at the local university.  Myriam is a professsor of anthropology.  We are still working out some of the details of my stay.  It turns out that the incredibly good price she has given me for a month doesn´t really square with the complementary breakfast and there were things she did not tell me before.  We had a good argument about it this morning, she got quite huffy and I basically treated her the way I often treat noncompliant clients at work.  It is very effective, by the way.

The bad news is I´m going to be paying for my breakfast.  The good news is that it´s good and very cheap, less than three bucks Canadian a day.
Sweet!