So I've officially cleared one week here in Bogotá, and things are going pretty well. I've lived relatively frugally the past few days, opting to eat out just once a day while downing the occasional mortadella/cheese sandwich to hold me over during the other meals. One Friday afternoon, however, I decided to go a little over the edge and try the local fare. I found myself getting stuffed over the dish above, called bandeja paisa. While it may not seem like a lot of food on this mediocre-sized plate, I can assure you that it's far more filling than you can imagine. The rice and beans are hard to finish off in the end, and the meat, egg and arepa in the middle were more than I bargained for. Nonetheless, I polished it all off, much to the amazement of my friends, and I promptly fell down on my bed at home for a nice nap once I got there.
Speaking of bandeja paisa, it was also most likely the most expensive meal I've eaten here in Bogotá so far. Anthony Bourdain wasn't lying in Parts Unknown when he said that people from Bogotá enjoy eating out, especially for lunch. I can see why: it's no secret that you can get a relatively filling lunch for the equivalent of about 7,500 pesos, or about $4.50. That includes meat, rice, a couple different kinds of salad, soup and a glass of juice. I can live with corrientazo for the time being, for sure. In addition to restaurants, I've found that the basic necessities in the grocery store are affordable as well. I can get a pack of lunch meat ham and sliced cheese for under $5 as well, and up to this point it's like making sandwiches American-style. Liter-and-a-half bottles of water rarely graze $1.25, making it easy to stay hydrated in my apartment (My apartment, unfortunately, doesn't have a kitchen sink, which means I won't be enjoying Bogotá's renowned tap water anytime soon). The bus rides on the TransMilenio are pretty cheap too: at between 1,400 and 1,700 pesos per ride (both under $1), it's not hard to get around the city. If I make a mistake somewhere in transit, I don't have to pay for another ride until I physically leave the terminal area anywhere. It has its inefficiencies, but it's very good for the time being.
Wikipedia's picture, but same exact weather conditions during my walk!
Today was also the day that I went to the DAS building about 30 blocks north of my apartment (Calle 100) to apply for my cédula de extranjería. I got there nice and early, as I figured the bulk of their traffic would arrive right before lunch time. The process was pretty self-explanatory: as I had all the documents in line, I just had to fill out a form and turn it in with my documents. Beyond that, however, the wait was a bit silly. I had to wait a good 30 minutes for someone to bring me into a room to fingerprint me, which I didn't mind much because that kind of thing takes time for any customer. However, after that, I was sent to the third floor to wait for them to turn my passport back over to me. There I waited about 90 minutes for someone at a desk to stamp my passport, write a couple symbols in it that I didn't understand, and tell me to come back in 15 days to get the physical card. I took 90 minutes out of my day just in transit to take care of that, and gave up another 2-3 hours of my time waiting for them to take care of my passport. That's one aspect of Colombian bureaucracy that could do better, in my eyes.
Other than that, I don't have much else to report today. Tomorrow I'm going to try my hand at laundry, as I'm running low on socks and underwear and need to resolve that pronto. I bought a small bottle of what looks like Colombia's answer to Tide, so I should be golden. Then I have class tomorrow night. Talk to you all later!
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