Bogota Blogger

The guy who works on my bike is the best. His name is Mauricio, and I met him on the Ciclovia, where he sets up on the Septima where Calle 84 intersects and goes up to the Circunvalar. Here he does routine and minor maintenance for folks on the spot, and this way he meets clients to do more extensive work. He’s basically a domicilio bike maintenance guy.

His English is minimal, but he’s a super-nice guy and finds a way to communicate. He also knows bicycles inside out and is an avid rider himself. He’s told me about weeks-long trips he’s taken alone or with friends all over Colombia, which of course means up and down mountains and up and down again.

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On Calle 69A in the Zona G, and half a block from my house, is a little French bistro called Michel. It’s become a hangout for me and a few friends almost every Saturday and Sunday morning, and maybe one or two nights during the week as well.

This restaurant has everything to make it a really regular place. It’s charming, the food is always excellent, has a great menu, the staff are incredibly friendly and accomodating, and the prices are better than reasonable. Last week when I was there with three friends and I put the tab on my US credit card, when I got the bill it had converted to under $30 USD. I’ve heard that there is at least one other Michel in the city, but haven’t been there.

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In Bogota you can find  great doctors and dentists, many of whom have trained in the United States, and there’s a level of care that is probably superior to what we have in the US because there’s not the pressure put on by insurance companies and the malpractice issues that dominate medical care in the US.

Colombia can be a great place to have any kind of medical or dental procedures done that would be very much more expensive in the US.   So, I went to see the Smile Designer.  The Smile Designer is Christian Salazar, a cosmetic dentist who makes people look good.  I wanted my teeth whitened, and a couple friends had been to this dentist before for similar procedures.  Ever since I didn’t wear my retainer after I got my braces off when I was a teenager, I have had a space between my two front teeth, just like Madonna and Lauren Hutton.  I’ve never minded it, and I don’t think it has hindered me in any way.  But Christian said he could fix it for me (without braces), but that sometimes people don’t want that because it’s become a part of who they are.  While I never minded the space, I certainly wasn’t attached to it either, so I decided to go ahead and have it dealt with.

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