This is Colombia: Bogota Style
Continuing our journey in Colombia we go south of Cartagena to its bustling capital Bogota.
On Sundays Bogotanos can be found strolling along Calle 19 hanging out buying desserts, ice cream you name it. It's quite a lazy Sunday for them. A time for the everyone in the family to breathe and relax.
If you don't see them on Calle 19 most probably they are on the Ciclovia route. Every Sunday the city closes down routes which are usually crowded with automobiles and allow only bicycles, walkers, skateboarders, and rollerbladers, pretty much anyone not on a car or motorcycle on the street . Along this route you can find vendors on the sidewalk selling fresh fruit juice, fruits, sandwiches, churros and more.
Top: Fresh fruit juice made with mango, banana, and papya
Bottom: Fresh sliced fruit mango and watermelon available for sale, try the mango with lemon juice and salt
On my first voyage to Bogota last year I stayed in Usaquen. If you pay attention to the travel books they will tell you this is one of the best and safest places to stay. While this is true, it's best to stay there in December when the city is semi empty and the pic y placa rules are relaxed.
If you plan on living in Bogota any other time it's best to stay away from this area as it's pretty far from downtown and you could make an hour commute if the traffic is bad. Trust me traffic around here can be pretty bad any time of day outside of Christmas.
This time I chose to stay in Chapinero and boy am I glad I made this decision. The Chapinero neighborhood is pretty much the hippest, young neighborhood around. Downtown on a good day is not far maybe about a 15 minute drive ( on a good day and you're driving yourself).
Meanwhile, Chapinero itself has lots of trendy restaurants and bakeries like Krost, Mistral and Tostao. Not to mention the nightclubs around the neighborhood. My favorite hangout spot is El Recreo de Adan. This bar has two locations one in Zona Rosa not too far from the Chapinero location. The Chapinero location is open everyday and they have board games, karaoke and great happy hour specials along with great drinks.
Below is a video of our shot that was a mix of passion fruit, gin and curacao.
I love that everything is easy to get to, by way of carrera 7. For instance need a midnight milk run? Go on over to the Carulla on carrera 7 cl 63. It's a major supermarket in Bogota, and this location is open 24 hours. It's essentially a major hub/ hotspot in the neighborhood. In the afternoons after work you can see a line of outside the exit either buying lottery or paying their bills.
Across from it is the Bodytech along with a ton of other gyms in down the street. If you're like me you'll probably skip the gym and enjoy some arepas. I'm not the biggest fan of arepas, that was until I found Aki Barranquilla tucked away on Cl 63#8. By far my favorite type! These types are typical of the Barranquilla and coastal area. They usually are made of yellow corn versus white corn and stuffed with eggs and a meat ( I prefer carne)
Arepa con huevo y pollo
Well that's all for now!
KJ