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Yes, we ride the last Friday of every month!

19.9.06

Safe in Bogota

Well, here I am. The journey was fine except that my bags didn´t make it! I`m glad that I didn`t bring my bike and have them lose that. I have to phone the airport tommorrow and then go back there tommorrow night and hopefully they will have my stuff.

I got there extra early because of all the toothpaste paranoia at the airport. But it turns out the check in gate wasn`t open until 6am anyways. The security was actually fine to get through. I was able to get food.

It was interesting to see land use patterns from the air. Definate changes over the journey. Hard to describe in words, kind of geometric differances. Houstan Texas is super sprawl suburban development. And lots of oil refineries. I took some pictures of these weird green circles of agricultural land on a dry brown landscape. Petroleum powered irrigation!

I`m not sure but I think between Houstan and Bogota we flew over Cuba? Anyways there was this green area with tiny grids of development that was in stark contrast to texas.

I took a few pictures on the digital camera which arè`nt that great but get the point across. I`ll try uploading them soon. Problem is the batteries on the camera die after 5 minutes because they are not the right type or something.

So I really hope to get my stuff. I have no clothes or toiletries. (remember the toothpaste paranoia). But things are relatively cheap here, so I`m OK I guess. I just don`t want to lose my nice MEC sleepiung bag and jacket and bike pump.

The platypus Hostel is quite hospitable. Not posh. Sharing a room with Jason from SF, Haley from Vancouver and Rachel from Brooklyn. All conference goers. This is going to be fun. Just was trying to help Jason edit his presentation for tommorrow. All about Latin community carfree organising in SF. Problems of gentrification. Does high density carfree promote gentrification? Better quality of life is not exactly the same thing, it does do that.

from Platypus Bogota,
rusl

2 Comments:

  • At 10:52 pm, September 19, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    That sounds like an awesome trip! From my looking, you might have flown over the tip of the Yucatan, skimmed North of Nicaragua, but Cuba's way northeast of there, not on your way.

    I checked with Google-Earth first, and then with my kids' globe and a rubber-band. Guess which was more satisfying?

    I look forward to more updates on what you find.

     
  • At 10:05 pm, September 20, 2006, Blogger VanCM Blogger said…

    thanks for the tips. the rubber band must have been fun! I thought that because the map in the airplane showing those curved routes to all destinations they service seemed to cross cuba. but politically for an american airline I was doubtful

     

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