When it Rains, it Hails

Manuel holds a handful of hail during an involuntary pause during a bike tour.

Patches of hail outside the
Museo de Oro TransMilenio Station.

Bogotá has experienced an unseasonal amount of precipitation in recent days, some of it frozen. Despite the altitude, it never snows in Bogotá, but it does hail, suddenly, violently and even painfully for those of us who have experienced its impacts directly.

Poor tree wasn't born to be hailed on.

A TransMilenio bus rolls thru the weather.

The hail melts away quickly, washed out by the often torrential rains. But those rains inundate the city, many of whose streets appear to have been designed by people who didn't believe it rained in Bogotá. Intersections turn into pools, and streets into streams.

Water-cycling across Carrera Septima.

On Carrera Septima, a recently-built bike lane floods.

Amphibious bicycling in Santa Fe.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours