Bogota by call_me_rhia
.Bogota, the capital of Colombia is acutally called Santa fe de Bogota and it's a 7 million metropolis located 2640 metres above sea level - hence expect cool temperatures during the day and cold temperatures at night... moral of the story: bring a sweater and a jacket or you will freeze.
The city, founded in 1538, is all surrounded by mountains and it's a city of contrasts: modern skyscrapers and colonial buildings, incredibly wealthy people and plenty of homeless living on the pavements. Traffic from hell and the most amazing and modern form of public transportation (the new transmillenio).Bogota can roughy be divided in 4 large areas:
- the central area, between carreras 1-14 and calles 5-34, which includes the Candelaria and the international centre
- the northern area, very modern and rich, with many restaurants and businesses
- the southern area, mainly a large industrial area
- the western area, with the Eldorado airport, many parks and sportgrounds.
Due to my limited time in Bogota I did not have much time to explore it all, I only saw parts of the central and northen area. My first impression was that the central area had a lot more vibe and the people were more like the people I would like to be associated with: simple and unpretentious. I did not find much at ease in the northern area, especially at night - and not for safety purposes: people seemed a bit too loud and brash for my taste.
