Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [41]
Tranquil life in Bogotá was rocked again on November 6, 1985 when guerrillas of the M-19 revolutionary movement invaded the Palace of Justice in Bogotá and made hostages of the 300-plus civilians in the building. By the next day, 115 people were dead, including 11 supreme court judges.
In the past decade or so, Bogotá has made many surprising advances – murder rates are down by a reported 70%, and a host of progressive projects under successive mayors (eg the 300km of CicloRuta bike lanes).
Return to beginning of chapter
CLIMATE
Bogotá is the third-highest capital in South America, after La Paz and Quito. It sits at an altitude of about 2600m; at this height altitude sickness can occur. You may feel a bit dizzy when you arrive. Take it easy for a day or two – it should soon go away. Click here for more information.
The main dry season lasts from December to March, and there is also a second, less dry period with only light rainfall from July to August. The wettest months are April and October. The mean annual rainfall is about 1020mm.
The city’s average temperature is 14°C year-round. The temperature drops to about 9°C at night and rises to around 18°C (higher on sunny days) during the day. In the rainy season there is less difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures.
Return to beginning of chapter
ORIENTATION
Sprawling Bogotá stretches mostly north–south (and west in recent years) with the towering peaks of Monserrate and Guadalupe providing an easterly wall.
Locating an address in the city is generally a breeze. Calles run east–west, rising in number as you go north, while Carreras go north–south, increasing in number as they go west (away from the mountains). Handily, any street address also indicates the nearest cross streets; Calle 15 No 4-56, for example, is on 15th Street between Carreras 4 and 5.
The bulk of visitors stick with two major areas of Bogotá – Central Bogotá and Northern Bogotá.
Central Bogotá has four main parts: the partially preserved colonial sector La Candelaria (south of Av Jiménez and between Carreras 1 and 10), with lots of students, bars and hostels; the aged business district ‘city center’ (focused on Carrera 7 and Calle 19, between Av Jiménez and Calle 26); the highrise-central of Centro Internacional (based on Carreras 7, 10 and 13, roughly between Calles 26 and 30); and, just east toward the hills, the bohemian eatery district Macarena.
Return to beginning of chapter
* * *
KOOKY MAYORS
Not long ago, Bogotá wasn’t a happy place, with soaring crime, traffic-choked streets and a no love lost from bogotanos for their city. Problems persist, but recent mayors have had rather unique ways of leading the capital into a new era with public-conscious progressive projects – all achieved with a bit of quirkiness.
Son of a Lithuanian artist, ‘anti-politician’ Antanas Mockus is fond of sporting an Abe Lincoln beard and was married on an elephant. He has been mayor twice (elected in 1995 and in 2001, after a failed presidential bid), and is known for such inventive techniques as instituting ‘traffic mimes’ to mock violators and a ‘Night for Women’ when men were asked to stay home and female cops policed 700,000 women out for open-air shows and events. During a water shortage, he appeared on TV showering then turned off the water, still covered in suds, and asked the city to cut down water use; years later Bogotá’s water usage remains down 40%.
Mockus’ approach continued with his first-term successor Enrique Peñalosa, who often got around Bogotá on his bike. Peñalosa devoted much of his term to creating vehicle-free zones through the expansion of bike lanes and creating the Sunday Ciclovia, designed to encourage people to get outside and exercise as well as promote the integration of different social groups. He redid pedestrian malls in working-class barrios, leaving bumpy roads untouched. When he scrapped a subway proposal because of its cost and set aside bus lanes on busy streets he looked for a ‘sexy name’ to please commuters,