2,600 Meters Closer to the Stars

Bogota is the Capital of Colombia. It has more than 7 million people in the city. The weather varies between 5C - 20C. Since it is located high on the mountains(2,600 meters above sea level) cloudy and rainy days are normal (and cold) but on a sunny day the weather is nice and you don't need to use a jacket.  When you visit Bogota try to stay in the north side of the city. When looking for a hotel, the nicer areas are the ones located by "La T", "parque de la 93", and "Andino shopping center". Also there are a couple of nice hotels in "Santa Barbara" but this is more of a residential area.

I will definitely recommend a visit to this city. It has changed so much in the past 7 years it is amazing!!! The last city goverments have done a lot to clean up the city, add parks and bike paths,  and to improve the traffic that it was hell before!!! They have a bus rapid transit system (Transmilenio) like the one in Brazil.

The stations look very modern with schedules of the next buses coming up. People can no longer jaywalk, the sidewalks are elevated so that pedestrians have to use the bridges to cross the streets! I was impressed when I went back to Bogota 5 years after I moved to the U.S. To move around the city try to always call your taxi instead of using the ones on the street you can also use Transmilenio if you know where you are going and the bus route.

Bogota is a cosmopolitan city. You can find all kinds of people and activities. Shopping, restaurants, great nightlife, theaters, concerts and museums. Also, you can drive outside of the city limits and go to country houses or restaurants like "Andres Carne de Res". I like to go to downtown and walk around "La Candelaria".

This is the city's old neighborhood and also located in downtown there is the Colombian Government buildings and a few churches that are beautiful. The Fernando Botero Museum and the Gold Museum (the pre-hispanic gold collection is the largest in the world) are both located in Downtown.

Another nice neighborhood to walk around is USAQUEN. Usaquen is located in the north side of the city. There is a plaza with a church, and a few blocks away is Santa Barbara shopping Center. Also, there is  a flea market that sell lots of home furniture, jewlery & accessories, and also food.