To keep balanced with the eats and drinks in Bogotá, getting active was essential. Tracking progress and setbacks has been my practice for years. Adapting routines to a new city was always a challenge. But this one was an elevation…literally. At 2,500 metres above sea level, I learned to keep my endurance and pace.
Finding a gym wasn’t a hassle. I signed up with a chained gym blocks away from the apartment and renewed the membership monthly with no contract. They offered standard equipment, yoga, Body Combat classes, healthy brekky, and a spot for writing, except sauna. I was a tad surprised that sauna culture wasn’t a thing here either. Ah, well, life could go on without it.
At that high altitude, I escaped the hot and sticky DC summer to a cool and overcast spring in Bogotá with an average temperature of 13º-14º C all year round. So, the city was so walkable. Moreover, other supports such as Ciclovía encouraged outdoor activities. I wish I could join them jogging along the closed streets one Sunday. But the holdback was the same reason—its elevation.
I learned that the less oxygen there is at a higher altitude, the more easily you can be drained. No wonder I was so exhausted in Body Combat classes. I wasn’t built for this thin air or training for a marathon. So I paced and took it easy, especially with the sicknesses after the Medellín trip.
Also, a new data visualisation platform—Flourish—was introduced at work. That made my life easier than 400 Days of Digital Nomad production. I explored it and pulled some charts from the daily logged data.
The charts display significant changes in intakes and weights around the trip. The turning point started at the alcohol break before the trip. Things have been stirred up mentally and physically since. Fair to say, that was a domino effect from the ayahuasca ceremonies directly and circumstantial. That was probably the most unexpected and long-lasting takeaway from my first time in South America.
Nonetheless, the three-month experience in Bogotá was remarkable. The city broadened my understanding of some Latin American cultures. Colombia also established a progressive path to open society: LGBTI rights, legalisations of graffiti, and recreational cannabis (partially). The development is processed within less than a traumatised generation of conflict and violence.
I’m writing this to wrap up the Bogotá journey and about to head to another new continent—Africa. Frankly, South America wasn’t on my top list to visit. Nonetheless, this city changed my attitude. Thus, this wouldn’t be my last time on the continent and Colombia would be the perfect gateway.