Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Ok firstly I would like to state that yes I am in Colombia, no I am not trying to score cocaine, no I am not stupid and if you talk to me please don´t say ¨goodbye and don´t get kidnapped¨. I am really starting to doubt the credibility of information that people have about Colombia. Noone I have spoken to outside of Colombia has once said enjoy the coffee at Juan Valdez, have fun with all the extremely friendly people or be carefull of all the attractive girls. If people had said any of these things I think my preconceived notions of Colombia would be a lot more realistic and I would not be sitting here in Bogota thinking that this place just isn´t exciting enough to have gained the reputation that proceeds it. Sure there is a war going on in part of the country, sure Colombia is the biggest exporter of cocaine (which doesn´t mean everyone here uses cocaine) and sure there are parts of the city where you don´t go because its too dangerous but on the whole I feel safer then many of the other countries where I have been.
I have been here in Bogota 3 weeks now, and if anyone has been to Bogota you will be asking yourself what could possibly entertain someone for 3 weeks in Bogota... and my answer nothing. I am quite bored to be completely honest and quite ready to leave this city behind, the city is so big, very contaminated, traffic is unbelieveable and in terms of attractions fo tourists, wel lets just say they are scarce. The truth is I have been waiting for my credit card to arrive from Australia, I am expecting it anyday now.
Now the good news, my time here has not been completely fruitless, I have met some really good people here and have been to a few small gatherings, one bordering on a fiesta. I have improved my Spanish a lot thanks to the mother of the guy I am couchsurfing with who just happens to be a Spanish teacher (Stupid me thought that Spanish teachers only teach people from other countries, forgetting the fact that we are taught English in school in Australia). My second day in the place where I am now staying I was invited to the school where his mum Angela works and so I went along as it is a school in a very poor part of the city so I thought it would be good to go in and have a look. I was not expecting to be a lesson to the students! It was fun though, I got put on the spot when asked to introduce myself in Spanish and could only get out ¨hola, me llamo Brendon, Soy de Australia tengo 21 años¨but I was a hit with the kids, all the girls wanted my autograph and kept waving at me the whole time I was there, the boys wanted to shake my hand and lets not even talk about the other teachers. i honestly had one female teacher introduce herself like this ¨Hola, Estoy soltera¨roughly translates to Hi, I´m single and then requested I sign her breasts. Very funny experience. It was good though and it did boost my ego just a little having so many young fans. Almost as good for the ego as my constant references to my music video clip I was in in Croatia.
Also I was taken up to Monserate, an old church perched on a mountain above the city centre with a view of the whole of Bogota. An amazing view.
I have to give mention to Martis who lives in the apartment where i am couchsurfing and prepares all the meals, wow I think if i stay here any longer I will become fat because of all the amazing food I have been eating lately.
I saw my first film in Spanish the other day,´batman´and tonight I think I will be seeing my second. I dont understand everything but i like to think I know whats going on.
On Saturday morning at 7am after getting home from an almost fiesta at 3.30 am we got in the car and headed to the ´Finca´ Spanish for holiday house in a village an hour outside Bogota. It is where the people with money from Bogota go on weekends to relax and and hang out at ´el club´. The holiday house of Alejandro´s family is really nice and relaxing. After 5 minutes of relaxing I found out we would not be staying there that night but at their uncles new house in another city so Alejandro and I went to the club and went for a swim and hung out with some other people before going to a fiesta at another holiday house in the Valley. A big BBQ lunch:-) I was really missing talking in English as I still find it really difficult to converse fluently in Spanish. Luckily for me the fiesta was for the return of 3 Colombian girls who have been living in New York and have come back for a visit so they all knew English which was relieving and then I found out one the other guys that was there also speaks English really well so it balanced itself out quite well. We returned to the club and after a bit of swimming tried to go down the waterslide while it was turned off... didn´t really work so well so I had a sauna instead:) By this time it was about 8 at night so it was time to head to Alejandro´s uncles place for another fiesta.
This fiesta was interesting. A lot of dancing, a lot of karaoke and a lot of Aguadiente and wine. After quite a bit of Aguadiente I was ready to dance vallenato. It was strange for me being from Australia to see such a display of culture. But I had a fun time and it reaffirms the reasons I enjoy travelling alone and the reason why I believe couchsurfing is such a good thing when travelling.
The night before was quite scarce on sleep as was the night before that so when I was dragged out of bed at 9.30 am to go play tennis I was feeling a mixture of that it would be good to play tennis again after so long and also that I really just wanted to sleep. Luckily for us the courts weren´t available so we could take it slow and eat breakfast and relax before we played. We finally got a court at 1.30 and I have to admit I was quite afraid of how I was going to play in a doubles game with 3 people who train at the club every week. The game didn´t go very well.. we lost 8-3 but it was fun and nobody took it too seriously which was even better. The trip back to Bogota couldn´t have been more painful, I said early that the village is 1hour out of Bogota yet it took 3 hours to get back to Bogota on a Sunday night because of traffic.
It is now Tuesday and I have to send out a Happy Birthday to my sister!!!! My birthday is only 10 days away so I am looking forward to all your birthday wishes. I am still still waiting for my credit card and it looks as if tomorrow night I will be going to a farewell party for one of the girls I have been hanging out with here who is going to Chile for 6 months so maybe Thursday I will finally leave... Fingers crossed...
Thinking of you all. Saludos!!!
- comments