Life in Bogotá

Bogotá vs. London – Things I miss about Bogotá

June 19, 2015 // 5 Comments

Bogotá has a bit of a marmite quality about it. People seem to love it or hate it. For a long while I certainly fell into the latter category, though in time I have acquired a taste for it. They say you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone… well my story has become a Tale of Two Cities. I’ve recently had to leave Bogotá and return to London [more]

Bogotá’s Got Talent: Erin* the street-performer

May 14, 2015 // 0 Comments

It was a bank holiday Monday and I was on the cross-trainer in the over-priced (yet conveniently close to my building) Bodytech gym in Chapinero, when I spotted street-performer Erin* performing at the traffic lights next to Carulla supermarket. I’ve seen her numerous times since I moved to Bogotá, and always watch in admiration. I approached her that day to tip [more]

Car Horns and Cacophony: A Tale from Gabo’s Colombia

April 24, 2015 // 0 Comments

I’m so pleased that a piece I wrote about one of my everyday experiences in Bogotá (namely sitting in traffic!) was accepted for inclusion in this anthology. It includes work by a number of writers with a connection to Colombia, in memory of the great Gabriel García Marquez, who passed away one year ago on 17th April 2014. My piece considers themes [more]

Musings from a Bogotá café

February 7, 2015 // 1 Comment

Sitting in a chic Bogotá café in El Nogal, one of the city’s most exclusive neighbourhoods, I find myself in the not-entirely-unfamiliar position of patiently waiting for a student who has clearly forgotten all about our appointment. As I still have an hour until my next scheduled meeting, this means that I am left with time to kill. I start writing, as it [more]

12 things Londoners will notice about Bogota

January 22, 2015 // 1 Comment

Queuing for a bus is rare. On the TransMilenio in Bogota, it’s every man for himself; unlike London buses, on most TransMilenio buses there aren’t specific doors for people getting on or getting off (although these are being introduced on certain routes, thank God!), so as the doors open at the station it’s like two opposing armies clashing as each side [more]

Beauty in Bogotá: she who seeks, will find…

January 18, 2015 // 0 Comments

My favourite day of the week to enjoy the beauty in Bogotá is Sunday, for several reasons: The city is much quieter, due to less traffic on the roads because… …Sunday means ciclovía! which means that the main roads are closed to traffic, and cyclists, skaters, skate-boarders, joggers and walkers can take to the streets and enjoy the space and relative peace! No [more]

Bogota Safety Tip: don’t give anyone a papaya!?

January 13, 2015 // 1 Comment

Colombia has received a lot of bad press over the last few decades, so it’s natural that people are often concerned about whether Bogota is safe. Last week I received a message from one of my Colombian readers saying that the best Bogota safety tip is not to ‘dar papaya’ :). Now, ‘give papaya’ doesn’t mean anything to us English-speakers, but it’s a [more]

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