Long walks in Bogotá

Getting around Bogotá is a unique experience in public transportation. The TransMilenio is a system of buses that pretend to be subways. They have their own proprietary lanes in the middle of major thoroughfares, and all boarding and debarking happens in elaborate stations in the median. It feels quite civilized. I'm also looking forward to Medellín's unique take on transit, a system of very elevated elevated trains.


I've walked my soles thin around various neighborhoods in the east-central and northeast parts of the city. I'm struck by the vibrant student culture. There are a ton of universities, most notably the University of the Andes and the Universidad Nacional. The modern buildings of the universities and the financial districts are often separated by only a block from old colonial cobblestone streets.


Bolivar has suffered from practical jokers...



...but Policarpa Salavarrieta seems to be susceptible only to non-human weathering processes. (At least I think that's who this is.) She was a heroine of the struggle for independence, acting as a spy for the rebels and eventually perishing before a Spanish firing squad.


The perennial plague of construction in downtown subtracts little from the majesty of the Sierra Oriental leaping up from the eastern edge of the city.