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So far, I have to say, Bogota suits me down to a T. I think some people would think it's a little urban or dirty, but it's really a beautiful mixture of sprawling metropolis and traditional Latino town, yellow taxis and motorcycles fighting for space on the roads with horse-drawn carts. About a ten minute walk from my hotel, in Zona Rosa (Zona Trendy, like Northern Quarter in Manchester), is a shopping centre overflowing with shiny Bershkas and Massimo Duttis and Diesels, but to get there you have to walk past countless corner carts, with indigenous-looking old men selling papaya slices and fresh squeezed juice. There are also cevecherias dotted around in the rural Latin American way, the little counters selling beers and snacks while caballero-types sit on plastic furniture and discuss the business of men. In spite of all these little rural touches though, the word HUGE doesn't begin to express the city. I'm told it's the third largest city in the Americas (that's right, including the US of A), and I cannot begin to get to grips with the size of it. It's surrounded by mountains and hills which give it a beautiful sense of seclusion, but apparently if you hike to the top of them you still can't see the city limits. This is something I must see for myself...
All in all I think my least favourite aspect of the city has got to be the altitude. Bogota's city slogan is 2600 metres closer to the stars, and while that's a charming way of looking at it, the slogan should really be Running? Pah. You're walking, b****, be glad you can breathe at all. From the moment you wake up in the morning you're short of breath, and walking up a flight of stairs or jogging across a road is a whole new challenge to wrap your head around. I'm hoping I'll acclimatise, although I don't have it as bad as some of the people here (rampant vomiting is apparently a potential side effect). What I'm really putting my faith in though, is that the second I get back to England I'll be so suffuse with oxygen that I can run a marathon without even pausing for breath. Blind faith I tell you.
Anyway, these are just a few quick impressions of the city, I plan to fill in the details much more in the future as I get to know it better. I also haven't had the guts to bring out my camera yet (I think I scream Tourist!! Enough as it is, thank you), so I've included a Googled image to give you an idea. I promise to add proper pictures soon. Hasta luego!
x Erin x
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