So I arrived in Bogota on August 15th--I expected the international arrivals section, at the ground level, to be chaotic and loud and people pushing into you as they tried to catch a bus or train. But, nope, it was pretty quiet with some taxi drivers around asking if you needed a ride, but my friend Andres was my ride (and host for the next week) and he had been waiting patiently for my delayed flight. Andres and I met each other in Burlington, because he had been a student in one of my English classes that I taught in the evenings. He was one of many Latino students in a class that was a lot of fun to teach and prompted me to really look into Central and South America for teaching opportunities abroad.
So...the drive to his house in the north section of Bogota. Again, I expected chaos and craziness...not wasn't any at 7am in the morning on a Friday. The driving did remind me of Italy and Paris, and as the week went on struck me as more chaotic than Europe. Andres lives in a gated condo community in north Bogota, which is pretty typical of most places there, to have a doorman/security guard keeping track of who is coming and going. We arrived at his place and his mother was the first to greet me with a big kiss and hug....I felt right at home at that point. She had made a great 'desayuno' (breakfast), which is typical of their breakfasts there: a 'caldo caillito' (spelling?) that consists of meat brother with large chunks of beef, potato, onions, and is topped with cilantro; boiled yucca and fried platanos (plaintains). It was the perfect comfort food after a long flight, and a great first meal in Colombia.
I won't go into everything in detail, because that would be incredibly tedious (and boring for the reader), but my initial impressions, after doing a whirlwind trip around the city with Andres that day was:
--Bogota is enormous
--air pollution was noticeable from the start, unfortunately
--No streets are labeled here--makes it challenging to get around, even for locals
--Transmilenio, a bus system with its own lanes, is pretty fast (wish they had a subway though!)
--There's a huge range of economic classes that all mix together (not much different than any other city center, though, although the really poor tend to come up to you and be more persistent in asking you for money)
--soccer fields are EVERYWHERE
--Latin music is everywhere (most of it is fun to listen to--and you see people dancing all the time, I love it)
--Altitude sickness....I had some reaction to the altitude which felt more of a tightness in my chest, shoulders, and neck because I was working so hard to breathe; we went on a long walk up and down hills the first day....maybe I should have taken it easy:)
--The city buildings are so varied--some are new and modern, others are rundown on the outside but the interiors are nice; you really can't judge them by their covers
--Not a lot of people that look like me (yes, I shouldn't be surprised, but I guess I was expecting something like Italy, where there are more light-skinned people mixed in with the darker-skinned people), and I got lots of stares...particularly if they heard me speaking English
--The city is very sketchy in certain parts, but neighborhoods that I really liked were Macarena (yeah, like the song), which is a cool arty/bohemian section of town, Usaken (spelling?), which requires 'silencio' during the day, and La Candelaria (El Gato Gris is a cool bar in that neighborhood), which had a cool party atmosphere on Friday evening.
--Feels like there's always someone selling something, like on the highways there are tons of vendors, and sometimes they go on the buses (not unlike parts of Europe, but I'd forgotten about that)
The first night we went to a bar called "Treffen" which had an eclectic decor and they greet you with a 'love shot' of juice. Fresh juice is common and delicious around here, people have it at every meal. There are so many kinds of fruit here, its impossible to name, but a lot of fun to taste! Anyway, the bar was cool and huge, you can play pool there or just hang out on the couches. I met Andres' friends Carolina and Carlos and shared a beer while trying out my limited Spanish. Lots of people here have learned some English and most of the people I met seemed to want to practice a little, especially if they knew my Spanish was really limited.
There are lots of cool craft markets in Bogota as well, in the city center...you can negotiate your prices there. I ran out of time and didn't have a chance to haggle, but hopefully I can go back and buy some of the beautiful necklaces or bags they have. Lots of the materials are from the native trees and plants in Colombia, very cool designs, some of which reminded me of Native American designs in the US.
The Plaza de Bolivar is also an interesting place on Friday evening--apparently they have concerts there and things for families to do most weeks. There is a connecting street that they block off on Friday evenings for just pedestrian traffic. So many people walking around...they have the typical mimes and such.
The food....I was definitely spoiled staying with the Salazar family. Andres' mother, Adela (or "Adelita," as she is affectionately called) makes paella for families so I had a chance to try that during a birthday dinner for Andres' cousin Carolina ('Carito'). Almost everyone here has some kind of nickname or second name that they are known for, because there are so many similar names. The meat has been excellent--the Colombians really love to barbecue and so churrasco and lomito are different cuts of meat, I think. The 'sobre regaille' or something like that was excellent, kind of like a pot roast, but even more flavorful; it's smothered in sweet peppers and onions. Absolutely my favorite. Arepas are pancake-like breads that you can top with queso (cheese) and eggs for breakfast, which I really liked. Not too many varieties of local cheeses that I could find.
Other random things I had a chance to try there were: cows' intestines, the balls on the foot the cow, and chicken feet. Out of all of those three things, the intestines tasted the best, I hate to admit.
So those are my initial impressions of Bogota--it's more like a report than anything else, so I'll try to tell more stories in the next one! Latin people are so good at storytelling, I hope I can pick up a few tricks while I'm here. Chau for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment