Bogota

Bogota is nothing like we expected. Having seen many a Latin America capital I expected the usual flat, dusty runoff squat buildings with iron gates and endless tire and car part stores.

Instead Bogota is perched in the Andes mountains stylish apartments hanging off of precipices in the mountains that the city covers.

We are staying in the middle class zona Rosa which is home to green parks and a bustling night club and restaurant scene.

Today traffic is closed and the streets filled with joggers and cyclists. Bogota also appear to love dogs who are everywhere generally leash free but wa.ki g besides their people without incident.

From an architectural perspective it's a beautiful area with new brick low-rise apartment buildings constructed in a tiered fashion with balconies overflowing with plants which tumble down the walls.

Neither of us can get over the number of parks and green spaces which cover the area. Although there are 10 million residents unlike mexico city it doesn't feel crowded.

The green initiatives are big here focusing  on water conservation, recycling and energy conservation.  All the street trees have a rubber mesh cover at their base to prevent the base from being used as an ashtray but also hold in water giving the city tree a gooddrink.

Our hotel,s exterior is planted with grasses and plants up the entire structure.

With respect to the Bogotans themselves they are some of the friendliest people we,ve met .  Yesterday while trapped with thousands of Colombians in a tropical mountain deluge people kept asking g if we needed directions or any information.

The other surprise was how high this city is. One of the highest capitals in the world at over 8450 ft above sea level in the Andes. Thus C hS had some altitude sickness symptoms telling this morning that she felt like she wasnt getting enough oxygen only then remembering that a Montrealer in the airport warned about altitude sickness.  But that has so mewhat mitigated her fears was having a heart attack which plagued her yesterday at the gold museum.