It’s not usually too difficult to find people in the north of Bogota who speak English, so that if you visits here with no Spanish at all, you will eventually be able to make your way around (though you might get taken advantage of a few times). But finding books, magazines, and newspapers in English is harder than, I would say, finding the same in Spanish in most large cities in the US.
But there’s a bookstore in Rosales that has been open just about a year now that calls itself an American bookstore, and sells books and things in English only. It’s called Authors and is on the corner of Calle 70 with Quinta (Cr. 5). The owners are an American guy (named Steve, I think) and his Colombian wife. The store is pleasant, contemporary with lots of wood, tables and comfortable chairs for browsing, and a pretty good inventory of both contemporary stuff and classics.
Books in any language are expensive in Colombia. So books in English are pretty high priced by US standards. The owner told me the week that they opened that the policy of Authors is to price books at 40% over the US shelf price. Sounds high, but it is actually lower than prices you will find on English language books in any other store in Bogota. And, at least you know the pricing is consistent.
There are lots of travel guides, of course, and coffee table and informative books about Colombia, but also the store keeps up on what is hot in the US. They keep their window display changing, and sometimes it’s seasonal, sometimes it’s political, sometimes it’s travel-related or news-of-the-day-related, but it always has some sort of theme.
Since it’s located in Rosales, near a lot of upscale restaurants and in a neighborhood that gets a lot of foot traffic from gringos and also from well-educated Colombians who are pretty likely to be fluent in English, it seems to be a success so far. People go there as a destination, of course, but there’s also a lot of dropping in.
They have a great selection of kids books, and I think they even have story hours and such things. There was a coffee shop, which is now being moved to another section of the building so that there will also be a little outside space. Unfortunately (for them), a Juan Valdez cafe opened up about two months ago just half a block away, but authors might still be able to sell some java and brownies to their browsers. Their website has basic information, so check it out, especially on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, when everyone in north Bogota is out having lunch.
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