Living la Vida Loca: Bogota: carreras; calles and transports

bogota is full of contrasts. one of the most striking must be in the architecture. There are areas that are very poor, and others that are extra rich. it goes From perfect brick pavements and tarmac to dry dusty tracks and roughly layed stones. The diofference between the two is obviou, and the poorer areas are not necessarily dangerous. You need to know your way around, and since I work at a bar where customers are essentially travellers, I get a lot of information, and i even find my self giving some advice.

Fortunately; there are lots of means of transports to get you anywhr ein the city and you can see most of it trhough window of a Colletivo if you won't risk a walk. But it turns out that Bogota is safe as long as you don't "dar la papaya"(litterally "give the papaya": basically means that you shouldn't show off objects that could be tempting to rob - but after all, that's a very basic rul when travelling). Taxxis are cheap too. You cn get from one end to another of the capital for just approx 5 euros. The transmilenio is a rather good mean of transport: they have lanes of their own on the roads. It makes them quit quick and it costs less than a euro to take the,. They're trying to xpand the netoork to all the suburbs. Problem i that the transmilenio is always extra crowded.

I've been here for approx two weks now. i thought it was about time for me to show you a bot ore of my environment. Bogota i mush bigger than the Candellaria. This area ilive in feels like a village within the city. A bit like Montmartre in Paris. It's rather calm compared to the rest where the dense traffic, crazy buses make it impossible to get anywhere without waisting the whole day in public transports. Since my working hours in the bar are from 6 PM to 1 AM, it leaves me all day to explore the city and its curiosities. Lately, I've been struggling with paper work to try and get the "cedula de extranjero": the residence card, or local ID for foreigners. That also got me to travel left right and center. The bus system is a mess and doesn't always make sense. No map, no apparent organisation. Buses are of all shapes and colours with just a piece of card stuck on the front window with what seems to be some messy juvenile collage of colourful numbers, and street names umong other things like super market logos (french market Carrefour is quite big here). Those are unfortunately the only indicatiosn you can use to identify where the bus is going. Its always an adventure to hop on one, coz you could end up anywhere. It took 4 buses to get me to the DAS (departamento administrativo de seguridad) Fortunately, people are always nice and do their best to help. At least, you can be sure it will be a differente xperience everytime, and it's definitely an optimal way to see the city.