Beauty in Bogotá: she who seeks, will find…

My favourite day of the week to enjoy the beauty in Bogotá is Sunday, for several reasons:

1. The city is much quieter, due to less traffic on the roads because…
2. …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!
3. No work 🙂 and therefore uninterrupted time to spend with my boyfriend! (the whole reason for my being in Bogotá in the first place!)

We often go out for walks on Sundays, and I like to use this time to visit the parts of the city that I love, or to try to coax it into revealing its hidden secrets!

You see, during the last year and a bit, I’ve realised that Bogotá is not an easy city to live in; it has a difficult character and will not thrust its charm upon you, nor offer its beauty to you on a plate, as some places do; its style is more… ‘hard-to-get’; so if you want to discover its delights, it will expect you to invest the time and effort into finding these for yourself. But be assured – seek and you WILL find!

One Sunday, we were stuck for ideas on what to do; the ciclovía was about to finish so we looked at Google maps to see what else we might find in the area. Just above calle 70 between Circunvalar and carrera 4, there were a couple of small green areas, and I was curious as to what these would turn out to be, so we headed over there.

First, we came across a sort of park/green area perfect for kids and dogs to run around…and I have to say, the air there was amazingly fresh considering we were just a few blocks away from carrera 7! We climbed up the hill till we reached carrera 1.

We walked along carrera 1 towards another green area labelled as ‘Ronda Quebrada la Vieja’ on Google maps. When I touched it on the map, I could see someone had uploaded a photo of a little waterfall, and suddenly I vaguely recalled someone mentioning a waterfall up in Chapinero Alto…this had sounded unlikely at the time, but as we approached we could hear the trickling of water, and I was astonished by this beautiful little oasis we found within 15 minutes from our flat! It was an area of green woods bisected by a pretty little stream which flowed down from the hills. I felt so happy, delighted by our discovery of this lovely area so close to where we live, a mini-escape from the noise and bustle of the city. If you live near Chapinero or are planning to have lunch in the Zona G, I’d strongly recommend a stroll up to Ronda Quebrada la Vieja to build up an appetite! If you plan to follow the stream as far as you can go, wear some decent shoes (hiking shoes or trainers with a good grip) as it is a bit muddy up there!

I saw today as a reward from Bogotá, for having a little faith and persevering in my search for its beauty, and things to love!