5 things I love about Colombia

1. Local fruit in all its varieties

2. Music: be it cumbia, merengue, salsa, or vallenato, the selection is huge and if you like dancing, Colombia is the place to be!

3. Seeing is believing: it is great to enjoy the positive sides this country has to offer, away from the rather sad reputation it has been suffering abroad. Colombia can be the worst, but also the best at the same time.

4. Sports commentators' "Goooooooooooooooooooooooooool" when presenting a soccer match on TV.

5. My husband, needless to say...

Noise

Bogotá seems to be the ciy of noise and it is nearly impossible to find a place of total quietness around here. The good thing is that you kind of get used to living in an environment that almost never grants a moment of silence. The most common noises are: construction sites with everything that comes with it (residential and office buildings seem to be spreading like mushrooms and are being worked on Mondays through Saturdays), car horns, car alarms (paradoxically car alarms don't seem to be of much use here, given the frequency with with they randomly go off - including ours...!), all kinds of traffic noises, tyres and brakes squealing, dogs barking (there are A LOT of dogs), music (probably one of the nicer ones!), televisions (including in doctor's waiting rooms) and of course people, who have a tendency of speaking quite loud, at least for my ears, be it on their phones or in person - but maybe it is precisely because of all that other background noise.

Bridal showers

My husband's cousin is getting married soon and we have been invited to a series of bridal showers in preparation of the happy event (note "shower" is pronounced "chower/chauer" here). We don't really know this tradition in Germany or France apart from American movies, and I find the different variations of it quite interesting:

First, my husband was invited to a "Bar and tool" shower - this was for men only and the gifts were supposed to be either booze or tools / tool kits for the couple's new home.

This week, I will be going to a women's only "Home and bathroom" shower - as the name says, you are expected to get a gift that goes more into the feminine homemaking area.

Finally, we will be going to the official "Entrega de regalos" a couple of days before the wedding. This is for everybody, men and women, friends and family, and is the actual bridal shower where all gifts are handed to the couple, mainly those purchased from the couple's different gift registries across town. The stores even deliver the gifts to the couple's home that day on behalf of the guests (most of whom will be at the shower anyways)!

Salpicón

This should probably go under the food section, but salpicón is just so good I had to post it here. It is a super refreshing, sweet and delicious snack/drink, somewhere in between fruit salad and fruit juice. It's very easy to make: you dice papaya, watermelon, banana and optionally pineapple, toss everything together with ice and let rest for a few hours before serving. It's the best!

Flowers

Colombia has one of the highest flora biodiversity in the world. Here is a little impression:

Traffic

Who says traffic in Bogotá says traffic jam, pollution, buses, taxis, taxis, buses, Transmilenio, pico y placa, and yet more buses and taxis. One of the major problems of this city is the what seems uncontrollable amount of vehicles and traffic chaos at rush hour and the lack of a proper public transportation system.
Traffic jam: weekdays between 7 AM and 9 AM and between 5 PM and 8 PM, Saturdays between 10 AM and 4 PM (terrible), at the beginning and the end of public holiday weekends, but also Friday afternoons and often around noon during the week - I think you got the gist of it :) The only thing to do is avoid going places by car at these times if you can and remain patient...!
Taxis: there are approximately 50000 (official) taxis in Bogotá; they are cheap with a minimum fare of $ 3400 COP (approximately € 1.50) and provided you order them by phone, a relatively safe and practical way to get around places.



Buses:
the streets of Bogotá are full of often old and everything but environmentally friendly buses, run by private organizations fighting for a monopoly of travellers and routes. Fares are $ 1450 (about € 0.65) during daytime and the buses follow a specific route without predefined stops. Meaning they stop anytime somebody wants to get on or off, so you can imagine how this impacts the flow of traffic when their only objective is to transport as many people as they can possibly pick up. Unfortunately it has not possible to replace this "clan" system with an official, organized, and clean bus system, so they seem to be everywhere, always getting in your way, with little to no respect for other vehicles, sometimes dangerous and ruthless, and rather unpleasant traffic companions.


Transmilenio: public bus system with predefined routes and stops (not to be taken for granted here!). This definitely helped alleviate traffic and shorten commuting time, though more routes would be needed and the buses are not able to follow a predetermined schedule.

Pico y placa: depending on the last digit of your number plate, there are two working days a week you are not allowed to use your vehicle between 6 AM and 8 PM. This is in theory a great measure to reduce traffic and the time of restriction was soon extended from a couple of hours in the morning and evening to almost the whole day. However, the effects are only mildly palpable (people with money just buy two cars) and the city is considering new measures such as congestion charges or more days of pico y placa.