Last Day of "Summer"

We are quickly approaching our first day of school, the mark of the end of summer.  Back home in Sonoma County, the naked ladies (amaryllis) would bloom and usher in the beginning of school, but there don't seem to be any naked ladies here.

If fact, it's hard to remember that it's still summer.  The daytime temperature hovers in the low to mid-60's F, and we have been layering to stay warm.  Also, living up the mountain tends to be colder than when go just 5 or so blocks down to the flatter parts.  So, today on our last day, we took an urban hike.  After leaving our house, we walked along the main road until we came to a stone path that lead to a swift running creek.  There seem to be a lot of these little creeks bringing water down from the mountain.  We followed the stone steps to a tunnel that took us underground to the other side of the road.  

We continued on, walking past brick apartment buildings that reached up 8 or 10 or more stories.  We eventually made it to a point where the new brick buildings meet up with a barrio.  Around Bogotá, you can see a mix of extremely expensive and modern high-rise apartment buildings and then little community of modestly built houses that people call the barrio.  These are places where people have established homes, often without paying for the land.  Because of a Colombian law, once the dwelling has been inhabited for 25 years, it is legally theirs.  Because the neighborhood that we live in has newer buildings and butts up right next to the mountain, there are pockets of these barrio communities that were here long before the developers saw the eastern part of the city as a desirable and lucrative area to build in. 

So, as we walked today, we could hear the barrio before we could see it.  There was a soccer game happening on the street, children sitting in doorways and people walking in the street.  And, of course, the horse, eating corn husks on the sidewalk.  We certainly see people walking the streets near our house, but the noises of the city we hear are more related to cars than voices.  I kind of like the sounds of the barrio better.

We continued walking and passed through a large park, then started to make our way back to our house.  We passed this impressive graffiti.

We made it back to the park closest to our house.  About two blocks long and one block wide, it serves as our route down to the commercial district.  The kids seem to gravitate to this old tree that serves as a bridge crossing another creek.

It's incredible to me that this beautiful park is surrounded by apartments on both sides.  As I was taking pictures, a city bus passed by as a reminder that we are still in a city of 8 million people despite the abundance of green spaces.