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Bogota zones..

Hola amigos, to those living in Bogota, what is Centro Internacional like as an area to live in? Is it near La Candelaria, and/or La Macarena or Teusaquillo, I'm not familiar with them and trying to get an idea of places and locations when looking at photos on the Internet. Hope to visit the actual city soon, but would love some more expert opinions before.

Also is Carrera 7 a big road that crosses the city? like Insurgentes with Mexico City or the Castellana in Madrid? Is it like a road to live near?

A couple of more questions: Can you walk to places La Candelaria or Zona Rosa from Teusaquillo? And is the Zona Rosa in Chapinero Alto, or a different place entirely?

Gracias por sus consejos, queria saber principalmente si el Centro Internacional es buena zona, los apartamentos parecen ser un poco mas baratos alli.. y cual es su ubicacion relativa a La Macarena y Teusaquillo, que segun mi impresion son barrios de artistas or jovenes.. o me equivoco?

saludos a todos..

By Alidad on Oct 8, 2008, 12:57 in Friendly Talkzone.

Gator says on Oct 8, 2008, 14:18:

Traditionally Chapienero is made of the following areas and the north end hits the zona rosa. Nice area lots of shopping and colleges but further north is expensive. CentralNogal, El Chicó, Antiguo Country, Rosales, Villa del Cerro, Chapinero Central, Chapinero Alto, Los Rosales, El Lago, El Virrey, Quinta Camacho, Pardo Rubio, Marly, La Salle, Bosque Calderon y La Porciúncula.

Cr 7 is a main road and is slated for a TransMilenio line. personally I would chose to live more north that Centro International. The Avenida Caracas line of TransMilenio,would carry you downtown and up to Zona Rosa. In reality your budget will determine when you can live. We live in Los Rosalrs and it ain't cheap.

"Bene, cum Latine nescias, nolo manus meas in te maculare" .

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adrimm (Moderator) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Oct 8, 2008, 20:35:

I would not go west of Ave Caracas.. actually I would be within 2 blocks east or west of Cra 7, somewhere north of Calle 60, 63.

Gator, is the TransMilenio still slated for Cra 7? I had heard they were doing a feasibility study for metro along there.

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Gator says on Oct 9, 2008, 08:57:

If your Spanish is up to it this site is updated and has a wealth of info and maps of the system. www.transmilenio.gov.co

Yes, they are considering a subterranean line metro/subway for Cra 7 that will integrate with TransMilenio. IMHO too many important businesses line this route to make it feasible. It is still at least a decade out so there are still calls for putting TM in to tide them over. The big problem is Cra 7 narrows in places, so that is a big factor in why TM would be difficult to put in. The politics would be huge. A lot of the people living to the east own cars and would raise hell if they lost traffic lanes. But these same people are always bitching about travel time due to congestion. It's getting to the point a car in Bogotá is already pretty useless and expensive. We are about ready to sell ours and just go with the TM, buses and taxis. If we need to get out of the city I will rent a car.

Bogota just does not have the pesos to do a true subway so the TransMilenio was chosen instead. To me the only logical larger capacity system worth spending on is an extensive subterranean system, which will take decades to install.

We can walk to the TM at Cl 85/Héroes, downhill all the way, but man that walk back to apartmento is a bitch up hill- about half the time we take a taxi.(Old age is a bitch).

"Bene, cum Latine nescias, nolo manus meas in te maculare" .

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Alma del Norte (☼Travelguide writer) says on Oct 9, 2008, 12:42:

Gator says on Oct 9, 2008, 08:57 (today):

Bogota just does not have the pesos to do a true subway so the TransMilenio was chosen instead. To me the only logical larger capacity system worth spending on is an extensive subterranean system, which will take decades to install.

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Gator, I understood there are issues over the geological stability of the area, and that they were actually considering a monorail type system, installed above the existing road infrastructure - did I miss something?

La vida es una rutina

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Gator says on Oct 9, 2008, 12:56:

Ya got me on that info. Because of the cost and disruption I believe they will stick with BRT. It has been looked at but I just do not think it would be viable. If anything came out of it I think it would be a "downtown loop" type of thing. I guess they felt an earthquake would bring the monorail down too.

"Bene, cum Latine nescias, nolo manus meas in te maculare" .

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