A Few Weeks in Bogotá, Colombia

Looking down from Colpatria building

Studying Spanish is a fascinating journey. The language understanding and improvements happen subtly and seemingly without notice. Most days speaking is a complete struggle and then, one day, the fog starts to lift and concepts start to make sense. Instead of saying 'I don't know' I'm starting to put sentences together. It's as if I'm learning how to think about how to speak Spanish and I'm training my mind to navigate the language. The words have suddenly started to come together easier. I still get letters mixed up and my pronunciation isn't the clearest but I am speaking a bit faster without as much hesitation. I can also understand more of what others are saying to me.   The place where I'm at in my Spanish learning is tough and I think I'm going to be here for awhile. I think this is the place where most people quit because it's really hard. I'm just starting to speak, without panic, in complete sentences instead of simply blurting out words. The process is slow and it will be awhile before I have any kind of mastery of past tense verb conjugation but at least I understand how to put together ideas. Speaking in the past tense is very important. It is how we tell stories.  I enjoy telling stories and looking forward to getting over this hump.

50-story Colpatria building

Bullfighting ring and city from Colpatria

Bogotá

The language school I am attending, Whee Institute, is very small. My classes have had 3 other students in them and I take classes for 3 hours a day  and 5 days a week. We do all kinds of exercises and games in class to stay interested and make the process fun. The people that run the school and my teachers are all very young, enthusiastic and also very sweet. A couple of times a week there are outside activities like learning to salsa dance, visiting local sites, going to the top of Colpatria, cooking classes, going dancing at Teatron (a club with 14 dance floors), learning to play Tejo or seeing a movie together. I've gone to a few of these extracurricular activities and found the students to be absolutely adorable. These are all really good kids.

Video of learning to play the Colombian game Tejo

Language school buddies

My first homestay has also been a fantastic experience. Maritza and Antonio Luiz are lovely and the perfect host couple. Their home is very comfortable in a walkable, safe neighborhood. Whenever I need something they have been very attentive and helping me resolve any problems. With the homestay room I also asked for breakfast every morning which is very nice. They often invite me for dinner as well. Maritza is a wonderful cook and I am enjoying her tasty food. I have met the whole family and been invited to many family events which has made this an even richer experience. They know people all over Colombia and have given me many contacts. I bet we will be stay in touch throughout my travels.

Video of riding Ciclovia

Originally, I had planned to stay in Bogotá and study Spanish for 3 weeks but something came up and I will be here for 4. My host family learned that I have trouble sleeping and didn't like that I take medication every night. They made me an appointment with a Dr. friend, a neurologist, who is head of a sleep clinic at a large hospital. I met with her last week and she gave me all kinds of terrific information to help me fall asleep at night.  So far so good, it seems the best piece of advice was to stop using electronics an hour before bed and make sure I am tired. She had me get up an hour earlier than usual and stay up an hour later - until 11 pm. Wow, by 11 pm I am tired and sleep is coming much easier!  I will meet with her again tomorrow for a follow up appt but I am happy to say I have been sleeping without meds. I have also gained 2 hours to do stuff during the day.

Over the weekend I had a bit of a set back when I got food poisoning from restaurant food. I was very sick for 12 hours and it has taken a few days to recover. My host family was extremely concerned. I'm sure it was hard for them to hear me be sick all night as well. Yesterday, Wednesday, I finally felt like I was back to normal.

Colorful neighborhood

I've taken care of some lab blood work here in Bogotá as well. The healthcare system in the US is so expensive that I like to do my lab work while traveling. Complete labs to check my blood levels to make sure my hypothyroid meds are the right dose was $40. I also got a 2-month prescription filled for $30.  In the US I have to pay $70 just to make an appt to see a dr plus the $600/mo for the insurance.

Surprisingly, I've also been losing weight which is great news. At first, the 9,000 ft elevation was keeping my appetite suppressed but now, I think the bus/car/truck exhaust from this city of 10 million people is making me feel somewhat nauseous all the time. The thick, black diesel smoke that comes from vehicles is truly shocking. I've actually had both pair of pants taken in ($5) which feels really good. I'd like to lighten my load by another 10 lbs and I hope to keep this weight loss happening.

Christmas Lights

Street food

Street art

Speaking of lightening my load, I'm also thinking to send home a box of gear.  It's been interesting to see how different Colombia is to what I read before coming here.  For instance, I had heard that Bogotá is cold at night.  It isn't. Everyday, the temperature is the same - high 60's during the day and 50's at night. I brought a 2nd sleeping bag rated to 20 degrees that I don't think I'll be needing. I had also read the food isn't very good and meat centric. I like meat but my body doesn't and I need to be conscious of how much meat I eat. Every restaurant I've been to has a good selection of healthier options. Plates with fruit, vegetables and also many soups are listed on every menu. So far, I really like the food in Colombia. There isn't nearly as much meat in the meals as there is in México. I love the food in Mexico but it has much more meat than my body likes. I brought cooking gear thinking I would start my mornings with a healthy breakfast of fruit, oatmeal and coffee.  I'm finding that it's easy to find healthy food for breakfast and don't think I'll need my cooking gear. I also read that, outside of the big cities, there isn't much. I was under the impression that hotels are harder to find than in México but this isn't true either. I really like to stay at cheaper hotels in towns. I only need a safe place for the night, the accommodation doesn't need to be fancy. For me, towns are much more convenient than camping. They have everything that I need. I carry a significant amount of electronics that need charging every day, I also really like having a shower after cycling as well as hotel wifi to upload photos, video and work on my blog. It's nice to walk around and explore a town after cycling all day and have conversations with locals. My host family assures me that there are hotels and restaurants everywhere.  I've already got a good mound of gear set aside to ship home. I'm still not sure if I should ship home my tent. We'll see .... It's Thursday and I'll make a decision by tomorrow when I'll find a Fedex office.

Monserrate high above Bogotá

Droneshot

Bogotá from the viewpoint

I've also done some sightseeing on my own going to museums, historic sights, gardens and Monserrate high in the mountain above Bogotá.  I flew my drone a bit over the city from a viewpoint on the road not far from the entrance to Monserrate. Security is always a concern in this enormous city but I didn't have any problems.  It was a very nice day and seeing the city from above is really impressive.

Botero 

Botero horse

Alrighty then - Sunday is the day I'll cycle out of Bogotá and make my way to the mining town of Zipaqauirá to start my tour. This town is famous for an huge cathedral underground in a salt mine. My 1st route in Colombia will go through the mountains making my way to Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast closest to Venezuela. This leg of the trip will go through lots of sweet touristic towns rich in history with fabulous scenery. From using Googlemaps, it is about 850 miles to the coast with 40,000 ft of climbing. Since I'm starting at 9,000 ft there should be a lot of down as well. As I descend, the temperature is going to soar and the climate will be much more humid than here in Bogotá. Probably similar to what I experienced on my last tour in México. I'm ready to get out of the big city and explore Colombia.

Route to the coast and Santa Marta

My plan for the blog is to update it once a week with photos, videos and links to Garmin GPS ride data. I would also like to do YouTube videos of my rides twice a week. This ride to the coast is going to be very relaxed. After riding to the coast I will follow the Caribbean to Barranquilla, Cartegena, inland to Medellin and then to Cali. I will be doing fairly short mile days so that I can take the time I need for photos, video, drone shots and to really explore Colombia. I also might stop in Medellin for a longer period to study more Spanish. Once I reach Cali, I'm not sure if I will continue south to Ecuador or fly to Panama and ride to San Jose in Costa Rica. If I do this ride as slowly as I'm hoping to, maybe I won't even make it out of Colombia. Vamos a ver! 

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