Below are some photos of the apartment I am currently living in. I booked it through Airbnb outside of the city center and further away from the main tourist spots in Bogotá. It has a full bed and a full bath on the main level (with kitchen and dining/living room) and a loft with an additional bed and bathroom. The 5 nights I booked this place costed me a whopping 92 dollars TOTAL including all fees. I am starting to see how far the US dollar can go. Maybe it’s time to move?
When the sun came up, I could see that the view from the window overlooked some other residential housing and I was instantly humbled by the scene. I have been so accustomed to a privileged life in Colorado that when the environment features such drastic changes, it is overwhelming. I used today to explore the area in my “sector” as it is called here. There were a wide variety of shops, panaderÃas, supermercados (No… not like your neighborhood Target), and restaurants. I remember thinking that “ooo this restaurant looks like one of those hole-in-the-wall joints that always have authentic food.” Then, I realized that nearly every street corner has places like this because that is the way life is here. Smaller, family owned businesses that are all tightly packed together. Regardless, I sat at Doña Sol’s tamale shop where I was served the largest tamale I had ever seen (see the featured image of this post). It was absolutely delicious and costed 5500 COP (about 1.30 US dollars).
I spent more time exploring and found a local market to buy fresh produce. I negotiated for a half kilo of fresas (strawberries), one avocado, and a bunch of bananas for 8000 COP. By the time evening rolled around, I had forgotten to buy an additional meal to bring home to eat for dinner and it was getting a little late to venture back into the sector. Luckily for me, Uber has taken hold in Colombia and I was able to order about 3 days worth of groceries to my front door within 30 minutes for $25.
Today began the first full day of this trip. I felt freeing to wake up without a schedule or an itinerary. I plan to explore further away from the apartment tomorrow and see what else I can find.