A Little Bit More about Where I Live

In the first few weeks here, I've heard some pretty funny questions from my American friends regarding where I live.  "Does your neighbor wear a poncho and walk around with a pet donkey?" "Do you have coconut water every morning for breakfast?" "Are any of your classmates supermodels?" The list goes on.  Colombia is a bit of a trail less traveled by my fellow compatriots, so I can understand the lack of knowledge.  That being said, I snapped a few pictures this morning, so I'll try my best to share with you guys a little bit more about my living situation.

Neighborhood:  Chapinero

As I mentioned in a previous post, Bogotá is situated in the mountains.  Therefore, the climate here is neither tropical nor desert conditions.  In spite of the thinner air, it's quite comfortable every day, except for when it rains.  Like any other major city, Bogotá has its good neighborhoods and bad ones.  The neighborhoods near my school, for instance, are not very good to walk around in after 8pm.  Fortunately, I find myself in Chapinero, a nice section of town populated mostly by college students and young professionals.  I'm literally a five-minute walk from the Transmilenio terminal, which means a ride to school doesn't set me back too much time.  The streets are pretty tight here, but at no point are you far from an arepa or empanada stand in the neighborhood.  I'm also a stone's throw from Calle 72, one of Bogotá's busiest streets.

On Sunday mornings, the streets are pretty empty, but one of the cool things about the area (and the city in general) is the presence of the Ciclovía on Sundays:  every Sunday, from 7am-2pm, the authorities close off a part of some of Bogotá's major streets for cyclists and runners to take advantage of the space.  Though I haven't gotten to run on the streets, it's definitely on my to-do list in the next couple months.  Comparing the area to Pittsburgh, think of Chapinero on Sunday mornings to Oakland or Shadyside.  It's pretty peaceful, and the busiest times are for the most part dependent on the work day.

My street is about a block and a half from the busy Carrera 14, where you find the Transmilenio, running parallel.  It only goes about two blocks before a group of houses breaks up the street.  My apartment is on the left in the picture, connected with the driveway in front of the car pictured.  I live on the second floor of a duplex house, sharing the floor with five other people.  My room is pretty small:  more or less a cell with a desk and a bed.  However, I've never been a person who needed a lot of space to function, and so the apartment totally serves its purpose.

Finally, I snapped a picture of the church where I attend Mass on Sundays.  It's located on the Calle 72, about a 3-4 minute walk from my apartment.  It's a Franciscan church, doing about half a dozen Masses on Sundays (this particular week, I went to the 9am).  It's a great start to my Sunday, especially on such a beautiful day as this!  Overall, I'm still learning how the prayers go in Spanish, but for now it's nice to listen along.  I hope all of you are enjoying your weekend, and I'll post some more about my weekend and the upcoming week later.  Take care!