I have been in Bogotá, Colombia for a few days now. I will be here for a couple of weeks. The last few days at home were hectic, and since I got here I have been in the process of renewing my American visa. Everything went smoothly and now I just have to wait for my passport to be returned in the next few days. So now finally is the time to chill out for some days, and enjoy the city, which has wonderful weather these days. It is not the rainy city I knew. The skies are clear and in the daytime, it is even a bit warm in the sun.
Since I arrived last Wednesday, the weather has been like this. This is how it was that morning outside the El Dorado airport, which is one of the most modern airports in South America.
Bogotá is a congested city, and traffic can be hellish. There are traffic jams, trancones as the locals call them, everywhere. But the city does have a bicycle route. In different places, there are bicycles for rent. These were very close to one of the places I had to visit these days doing the paperwork.
I am not a bike rider but I have wanted to walk to keep the habit. These days, despite how tired I was, I went for a long walk to visit the Gran Estación Shopping Center. From where I am staying, I did a 15 thousand steps round trip, not shabby at all to keep me in movement. The mall is a nice place to go window shopping.
Here, as in Caracas, there are still Christmas decorations in public spaces. This is the access plaza to the mall.
And the view from the terrace. Blue skies with few clouds have given me the city these days.
I have tried to maintain my healthy eating habits as much as possible, although it is not that easy;) Near the hotel where I'm staying for these first days, I found a place that sells homemade lunches, very good. The place is clean and busy at noon which is a good sign.
Best of all is the price. A lunch with soup, main course, and juice cost me 17,000 pesos, just over 4 dollars. In Caracas, it is almost impossible to get something like that. The place is called El Lucero, in Quinta Paredes.
In the next few days, I will tell you about my explorations around the city. I have no specific plans. It's been so many years since I've traveled somewhere alone that I'll do it as I feel like it every day.
For now, I want to drink a lot of good Colombian coffee and enjoy the good weather of these days.
Thank you for reading.
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