A whirlwind of impresiones

So the last two posts were a bit of a cop out, since they contain some of the photos that I have taken without much explanation. However, I think it can be neat to illustrate some of what I am seeing.

I am in my fourth full day in Bogotá. The city, pop > 7.5 million, is gigantísimo! It is also a highly eclectic urban area located on a plateau and surrounded by various hills and mountains of the Andes range. Although the city is more or less flat, it attempts to reach upward, nor just with skyscrapers, but also onto the mountains. In fact, the subdivision where we are living, the Barrio el Castillo (yes it is kind of like a castle), is located on the side of a hill at the Eastern Cordillera.

Word of the day - Chigüire

A chigüire is a capibara - a large mammal in the rodent family that can be found in the llanos (plains) of Colombia and Venezuela. It´s meat, when grilled, can be considered a delicacy. Guess what I tried for lunch on my second day in Bogota?

This past weekend was a puente, which means a three-day weekend due to a Monday holiday (I still haven´t figured out what holiday it was), so we spent much of the weekend relaxing and adjusting.

We went grocery shopping at el Éxito, a hypermarket of sorts, about 20 minute walk down into the city. Somewhat well-stocked we have been cooking dinner and breakfast for ourselves, and so far it has been pretty successful. However, we are already running low on some things, especially frutas, which by the way are heavenly in Colombia. Yesterday I tried two varieties of cherry and and plums that were completely new to me, not to mention guanábana (soursop) juice - trying all of the fruit is one of the best parts of being a tourist in Colombia!

We also decided to trek by foot about 60 blocks on Sunday to glimpse at the historic center of the city. You can see a few photos below. Since it was a Sunday, there was a Ciclovía along the Carrera Séptima (7th Avenue), which means half of the road was closed to cars, and open to pedestrians and biciclistas. It was a very nice walk, and we got to see some local animals(see below), as well as flea markets and street musicians.

Yesterday we spent a large part of the day in a country club at the north of the city, which was very pleasant and quite luxurious. We were invited by our host "parents" María Consulo and her husband Ricardo, doctors afiliated with the Los Andes Medical school, where we have our internship.

We are actually starting our internship today. More details soon!