bogota

I used to look at the World Map (maybe it's a kind of meditation), so I know almost all the countries and their capitals. But South America always seemed too far away (more mentally than physically) that we don't really know anything about it.

That's why I want to begin with some info about its location and what its capital Bogota is famous for.

Colombia is located in the North of South America, part of it is in the Southern Hemisphere, but the main area is in the Northern Hemisphere.

It has borders with Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela.

It would seem that an equatorial country should have an equatorial climate, that is extremely hot, but no - thanks to the Andes, some cities in Colombia are quite cool.

For example, the capital of Colombia Bogota is located at an altitude of 2600 m (about 9000 ft), and because of this during the day it is no more than +20, and at night the temperature drops to +5 degrees all year round.

The same reason is for the locals to have multilayer clothes, you can see many people on the streets carrying their warm coats in the afternoon.

Also, you can notice them holding umbrellas all the time, this is because of the unexpected and frequent rains. The cloud comes from the mountains, drops a bunch of water on the city, and disappears in a couple of minutes.

If you're not a mountain person (I mean you don't live on the high altitude) you're going to feel bad at first.
You may have a headache, breathing problems, a lack of oxygen, and feeling sleepy — this is how a "mountain sickness" feels like.

To adapt faster it is recommended to drink more water, have limited physical activity, and maybe take an aspirin to make your blood less bold.

This is the interpretation of the name Bogota according to one of the legends.

If it were a lady, it definitely has been huge. From the height, this city broadens to the horizon.

Of course, Bogota wasn't always like this. People came here for better living conditions as in many other capitals of various countries. They were not afraid of the harsh times at first — this is how the city had more and more slums in the distant areas, which in time officially connected to the city and became its parts.

We will tell you later what these people were running from, but first let's see the scale of the city and how its government manages to keep it safe and clean.

Officially population of Bogota city is 11 billion people but in fact it's about 2 times more. This is because of the slums and the difficulty to count the real number of inhabitants there. Plus it's growing really fast since there are always new people coming searching for job opportunities.

There's no secret that it's very hard to manage and keep clean this huge city.

It was really chaotic some years ago (as many other cities in developing countries). It was hard to control as it had its own rules and was constantly stuck in traffic jams.

In the 90-ies the situation reached its extreme: not only because of the quality of life level but also because of the traffic collapse.

The way from the farthest region to the city center took 2-3 hours and crossing the city from one end to the other could take 6 hours!

But in 1998, Enrique Peñalosa was elected the mayor of Bogota — he was closely engaged in transport reform.

A bus network was chosen from various options, including metro and monorail. Its construction was cheaper, and it was possible to get it up and running faster.

In this network, buses move along dedicated lanes (two in each direction so that express buses can pass while ordinary buses are at intermediate stops).

Minibusses run along smaller streets that take passengers to the main network, and travel through them is included in the cost of the main ticket.

This network is called "TransMilenio"or BRT (bus rapid transit).

All stops are large, modern, and midway between dedicated lanes. Overhead passages, equipped for people with limited mobility, lead to them.

The stops themselves are high-covered platforms flush with the floor of the bus. The police are on duty at all stops. You can enter only through the turnstile (from all sides there's the fence).

Also, the reform meant the construction of wide bike paths separated from the roadway, fully equipped and lined.

Thus, Bogota currently has one of the largest cycle paths in the world and the longest in Latin America. And it continues to grow!

At first, when there were not many buses, there was a crush at the stops and some people even fell off the platforms.

Therefore, in 2006 the network had to be modernized: more buses were bought, and the buses themselves became the size of 3 metro cars or 15 minibusses.

By the way, the drivers of buses and minibusses, who because of this reform were left "overboard", went on strike and tried to sabotage the construction of the network.

The government had to pay them generously and in some parts of the city allowed them to work in the wee hours.

Now the network is working perfectly, red and yellow buses and green minibusses deliver residents of the most remote areas to the center in 30-40 minutes. There is no crowding on the buses, even during rush hours.

The network, of course, is quite complex - you need to know which buses stop at which stops, which of them are express, semi-express, and which operate only during high demand hours.

It is difficult for a tourist to understand this network, but it is possible. Although taxis are also a great option - they are inexpensive, Uber and Didi work good.

Read more about the structure of the city in the next article...