I have found a muse once again, a combination of suggestions from family members to document my life and the really exotic location in which I find myself... lying on the couch of my CouchSurfing host (Miguel) on my first night in Bogota, Colombia.
This being my first time in South America and my limited Spanish, had me initially nervous at the prospect of traveling alone in this hollywood-portrayed notorious land. On arriving in Bogota, i set my phone 6 hours backwards. My first impressions are that this city is in many ways anything but backwards when it comes to city planning and public transport. Although a city of over 8 million people and an intimidating vast landscape of apartment blocks, the naming of the streets & avenues by number (similar to manhattan) makes navigation easier. They have even added extra information in the addresses so that one knows exactly where an apartment is located by cross referencing it with its nearest carrera (streets running north-south) or calle (avenues running west-east).
Another feature of the urban mobility is that bicycles and their corresponding lanes are abundant here. The bikes tend to be flashy and stylish. Clearly an expression of their users' personalities. Met a guy (Hermann) who described the Sunday "no car times" in many cities. Basically, most of the city's roads are designated car-free for up to 7 hours on every Sunday, mostly morning and afternoon but also in the evenings. It was an experiment that proved so successful it continues to be rolled out in most of the mayor cities.
Get me on a bike, stat!
No comments:
Post a Comment