The start of my first trip back to South America since November 2020. This is after living and traveling during the past couple of years mostly in Belize, Mexico and New Mexico. I'm happy to be back in Latin America, where I feel much more at home now than in the US.

One of the things I like most about this city - at least in the historic center or Candelaria - is the less car-centric transportation infrastructure. Some of the streets are used only for walking, biking or the TransMilenio bus rapid transit system. Cars are not so dominant.

The highlight of my stay in Bogotá was the time with my friends Jean and Farah, whom I met in Pasto in 2019. We shared experiences of our three levels of projects for a better world: the systemic, local and personal. In my case, the systemic level is primarily concerned with threats and impacts of resource extraction, such as those of mining and oil drilling in Ecuador and Peru. In Farah`s case, it is her work with the new Colombian government`s Comisión de la Verdad, trying to rehabilitate communities and natural areas devastated by the longstanding and ongoing armed conflict in the country.

My local projects are in sustainable agroforestry with Ya'axché Conservation Trust in Belize and forest restoration with Iracambi in Brazil. Farah has a project in protection of the spectacled bear of the Andean páramo and a community-focused coffee business. Both Jean and Farah have been simplifying and reducing consumption in their personal lives, starting to grow food at their apartment in the city, and planning a business in the nearby town of Choachí to promote a more satisfying and sustainable lifestyle to fellow Bogotanos.