So, what is Bogota like, anyway?

Photo: Colombia Hermosa - Beautiful Colombia

Bogota is a flat city for the most part, with uneven land in the slope of the eastern hills (Cerros Orientales) and some other hills and hillocks. Its area is 300 kms² (more than 186 mi²) in its urban space, about 170 kms² (more than 105 mi²) of city outskirts and about 1.300 kms² (more than 807 mi²) of rural area. The population is about 8 million in the urban space and 9 million in the whole metropolitan area.

Photo: Colombia Hermosa - Beautiful Colombia

It is divided in 20 localities, some of them larger and populated than some capital cities in Colombia. Although not official, Bogota's metropolitan area is conformed by the city and the towns which sorruond it,  most of them in the Bogota's savannah (Sabana de Bogotá).

Photo: Colombia Hermosa - Beautiful Colombia

The temperature is cold, although sometimes it varies. So cold that some Colombians coming from the warmer regions of the country call it “The Refrigerator (La nevera)”. Its air is less contaminated than the other large cities in the world's. The vehicle traffic is complicated, due to the huge amount of motor vehicles in the city, about 2 million, and the slow development of the road network. Incredibly, it does not have a metro train.

The people from Bogota are known for being cold, compared to the people from regions of the country. but they are warm like most of Colombians. Bogota's people are multicultural, conformed by emigrants from other regions of the country and the world. Many have been born in other places of the country or inmigrant descendants.  

Bolivar Square, the heart of Bogotá

In the east of Bogota, in the Centro Histórico (the Historical Center), the city's first square is located, which was draw up by the Spanish colonists as a meeting public center and market. Some believe the city was founded here by the building of a church and 12 huts in 1538.

Simon Bolivar's statue

Today Plaza de Bolívar (Bolivar's Square) is an almost 14,000 squared meters (almost 46,000 ft²) inclined-surface rectangle, in the middle there is a small platform that holds the base and a life-size standing Simon Bolivar's statue, looking to the north.

It is surrounded by Catedral Primada de Colombia (First Cathedral of Colombia), Capilla del Sagrario (Chapel of the Sactuary) and Palacio Arzobispal (Archbishop's Palace) in the east, in the southeast by Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé (Saint Bartolome's Major School); by Capitolio Nacional (National Capitol), headquaters of Congreso de la República (Congress of the Repúblic), in the south; in the southwest by Casa de los Comuneros (House of the Comuneros),  headquaters of the Bogota's Recration and Sports Distric Institute; by Palacio Liévano (Lievano palace), headquaters of the Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá (Bogota's City Hall) in the west; in the north by the new Palacio de Justicia (Palace of Justice) and by Museo del 20 de Julio (July 20th Museum) in the northeast.

First Cathedral of  Colombia

National Capitol

Palace of Justice

The border with the previous buildings are the carreras Séptima y Octava (Seventh and Eight avenues), which are vehicular, and the calles Décima y Once (Tenth and Eleventh streets), which are pedestrian. Very close to Casa de Nariño (Nariño's House), headquaters of the Presidencia de la República (Precidency of the Republic), the Palacio de San Carlos (Saint Charles Palace), headquaters Cancillería o Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Secretary of State) and the edificio Manuel Murillo Toro (Manuel Murillo Toro building), headquaters del Ministerio TIC, antiguo Ministerio de Comunicaciones (Secretary of Communications) are located. This area is considered Colombia' brain, in it the headquarters of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branche of the nation are.

Where is Bogota?

Bogota is Colombia's capital city, in South America. This country is located in the Northwest corner of the subcontinent, bordering with Central America. Therefore, Bogota has a privileged geographical situation in the American continente.

The so-called 'South American Athens' is in the middle of a savannah named the same as the city and this, in turn, is over a plateau named El Antiplano Cundiboyacense. In Colombia the Andes Mountains Range is devided in three, entitled Western, Central and Eastern ranges. Bogota is on the last one, at 2.600 metres ( 8.530 ft) over the sea level. All of this in the center of the country, hunderds of kilometers (miles) away from the Colombia Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Bogota's shape is longer from North to South than from West to East. A small mountain range known as Los Cerros Orientales (rigth edge in the following map) are located parallelly to the city, from North to South. On the other side of the metropolis, in the West, El Río Bogotá (river) runs also parallelly in the same way. Both features work as the border between the city and the towns which surround it, most of them spreading out onto the Sabana de Bogota.

Because of being on Equator there are no seasons in Colombia, but two rainy ones during the year (something altered nowadays by the climate change). Due to its height, Bogota is a cold city, tradicionally some 14 degrees centigrade (57°F) average year round (this also altered by the climate change and now the city is warmer, like 18°C, 64°F).