A common expression here in Bogotá is, "¡no tenemos playa pero tenemos ciclovía!" (We don't have a beach, but we have ciclovía). So what is ciclovía? The ciclovía (ciclo = cycle, vía = lane, road. So it roughly translates to Bicycle Road/Lane. However, ciclovía sounds cooler.) is the astonishing tradition in Bogotá of shutting down certain main roads and highways and allowing only people on foot and on bicyclers ride on them.
Ciclovía started in 1974 with 5,000 riders protesting against the increased presence of automobiles in Bogotá. Since then it has become a staple in Bogotá with more than 2 million riders 120km (74.5 miles) of roads reserved for bikes and pedestrians every.
Map of Ciclovía. It literally covers the entire city.
On Saturday, we bought bikes. Really cheap bikes.
Safety first! People here drive like maniacs.
Me being goofy on Ave. Boyacá.
Deidi resting after a long day of riding.
Bogotá is a bicycler's dream town, with over 313km (194.5 miles) of bicycle lanes crossing all parts of the city.
The bike lanes are really really nice. You can get anywhere in the city on bike. And Bogotá is 65 degrees year round. Perfect bike riding weather.
The city is also covered in incredibly elaborate pedestrian/bike bridges, which make crossing busy streets a breeze (if you're not afraid of heights).
Okay....about the mayor. He got suspended from office for three months. Here's why:
The city is littered with construction projects like this one (which has closed down one of the main roads in Bogotá). No progress has been made. And supposedly, the construction company used the money given to them by the mayor (who also received a kick back of 6%) to buy nice condos in Miami.
But rumor has it that Peñalosa (one of the great mayors in the videos posted below is coming back). Hopefully he knows what to do to clean up this mess.
Well, that's all for now! I'm still having fun and doing fine!
Saludos desde Bogotá!
