Doug's Travel Blog

 Good Morning! Today will not be a repeat do nothing day. Today is a big biking day in Bogota, so this morning I will be collecting a bike and join the masses biking. Here is a little information about Sunday biking in Bogota. There’s a cycling revolution happening in the streets of the Colombian capital every week. More than 100km of roads are closed to motor vehicles during the event called Ciclovía and are flooded by people of all ages on all kinds of bikes. Little girls on barbie-coloured trikes share the road with stylish teens on urban bikes, handicapped people on handbikes or laughing moms with prams. Everybody moves in an orderly fashion and just enjoys the moment. The weekly event takes place every Sunday from 7 AM to 2 PM and is now a firm part of Colombia’s culture. My plan is to get a  bike and join the masses riding this morning. Later in the day, I will go to see if I can get a ride on the cable car up Monserrat where there is a panoramic view of the city. I am n...

Good Morning! I got fully caught up on m journalling yesterday, so this morning I didn't have to do much writing. Traveling at this level, staying in hostels, you meet a whole cast of characters. Some really interesting and others not so. The talkers and the anti-social that just grunt when greeted. The experienced and newie travelers. The leisure travelers and the digital nomads. The sane and crazies.  The best ones are the ones that not only share their travel experiences and recommendations for places to stay and things to do, but are also interested to hear other peoples stories to.  These are the people and conversations that you don't  experience when staying in private rooms and hotels.  Yes, the downside is you have to deal with a few crazies, unpredictable accomodations, cold showers (occasionally), lack of privacy and sometimes kitchens that stretch the meaning of the word. But, for dealing with these things you are rewarded by meeting some really interesti...

 Good Morning. I woke up early as usual.  My first task was to book a flight from Bogoto to Mexico. I have a Volaris Annual Pass and can only reserve flights 3 days in advance. Today was the first day that I could reserve a flight for my planned departure on Monday. I was able to make my reservation. I will be leaving Bogota on Monday morning at around 8 am arriving in Mexico City around noon. Only slightly risky, I also booked my flight out of Mexico City to Oakland, California later that day at about 5 pm. I just got back from breakfast. It is a 2 block walk  to the "included with the hostel booking" breakfast is served. It is always nice to be greated by smell of flowers returning to the hostel. My main activity for today will be to my laundry. I will go to a self service laundry and just wait while my cloths are being washed. I pay too much for self service because I am traveling with so few cloths, my load is small,  but still pay for a full load. Going the self...

 Good Morning! What am I doing today? I have no idea. Something will come to me after breakfast and coffee. Stay tuned. OK, I have a plan. I am going to head back to the Candelaria area. There are a couple churches I want to see and whatever else I can see on the way there and back. After spoiling myself yesterday with the electric bike,  I couldn't bring myself not to use one again today. Maybe I mentioned before that Bogota has an extensive network of bike paths. They are either one the road seprated by curbs or on painted pathways on the wider sidewalks. The first bike station I stopped at was across the street from some of the University of Columbia buildings. This is a very typical look for many ofthe buildings around Bogota. It was also across the street from the Parque Nacional Enrique Olaya Herrera. I had seen this park 2 years ago when on a bike tour of the city then.  A large part of the park is occupied by the Emberá indiginous people. Refugees from their home...

 Good morning! Last night while deciding on an itineray for today. I noticed that on Wednesdays from 3 to 5 pm there is free admission to the National Museum of Columbia. So that will be my afternoon destination. I just have to figure out what to do this morning. I do know it will include bike riding. I extended my stay here at the hostel until Monday. This is a bit flexible because I will be flying out of Bogota to Mexico City on my Volaris Annual Pass. Being an internation flight, I can only book 3 days in advance on a space available basis. Like standby.  But with my annual pass that will expire on Aug 4, I only pay the taxes on my Volaris flights. The annual pass is what made this whole adventure possible. Starting Thursday this week, I will start monitoring flights, but it looks pretty good  that I will be able to fly on Monday. I will also be flying out of Mexico City to Oakland California and the return flight back to Mexico City with the Annual Pass before it expi...

I woke up early as usual. The good thing about that is it gives me time to write. I was trying to make some updates last night, but that was too much chatter and distraction.  I did finally talk to friends in Sonoma, California to re-confirm may travel plans there. I will be in San Francisco, Sonoma area for close to 2 weeks at the end of this month. My flight will be into Oakland. That will be a first for me.  My plan for the day is similar to yesterday. Pick up a bike and ride aimlessly around the city. I am out of peso, so visiting and ATM is first on the list. On my walk searching for an ATM. The locations shown on google maps for  ATMs, aren't always reliable. I did a bit of  walking, backtracking, and walking in he opposite direction before I found one. It wasn't all wasted energy, I did see some unique buildings on the way. There is quite a variety of architecture here in  Bogota. One reocccuring type are these buildings with dormer type windows. I  ...