Helloooooo!

Im sorry this has been such a long time coming- life here has been fairly hectic so far, good hectic but hectic none the less!

So, I´ve been in Colombia for about three and a half weeks now. I'm based in Bogota but am actually going to be/have been travelling around a fair bit which I am very happy about!

I arrived to Bogota early in the morning and was instantly very impressed 1) because it really was nowhere near as cold as I was expecting, probably the same as England at the moment but from what I'd read I had visions of it being like the antarctic and 2) because although I'd seen some photos, the enormous mountains (the andes) literally just seem to jut out of the city as if from nowhere (apparently Bogota is the (or one of?!) biggest high plateau in the world and it is very, very cool. I went up one of the highest mountains (nearly 4000 metres) to see the views (and not be able to breathe!) and the plateau is definetely pretty large because the city just seems to go on forever and ever (have put some photos up but I'm afraid the weather was a bit rubbish).

I am living with the sister of the Head of the Campaign I'm working for and her daughter and Claire (who if you don't know, is from Durham as well) and all are very friendly! The flat is quite far north in a place called Usaquen which is a really nice suburb and it overlooks the main square of what used to be a little village but is now part of the city, it has the feeling of being like an alpine village (RIGHT next to a mountain) but with lots of trendy (not cheap!) bars and restaurants and lots of market stalls dotted around selling my favourite kind of trinkets/jewellery etc. and which needless to say, I have been making the most of!

Bogota has alot going on being the capital, in an attempt too be cultured I went to an Andy Warhol exhibition, unfortunately this was not Colombian Culture so I'm definetely going to have to check out the National Botero Museum one because he's kind of a bit deal, and two because I had to write a 50% essay soley on him (and Rivera, whos weirdly enough also got an exhibitition here at the moment) in January, and I didnt spend two weeks reading more than Ive read about art in my life (a topic I know buger all about) to not go! As for the music, along with hearing a fair amount of cheesy eighties/early nineties music Id forgotten existed but seem to know all the words to dotted about, the big dogs are salsa, merengue, vallanato and a bit of rumba- all of which unfortunately require a certain amount of coordination which funnily enough I lack and so am rapidly trying to educate myself in how to actually dance by going to salsa lessons again (although Im trying to keep the three months worth of salsa lessons I went o on my gapyear quiet because it definetely doesnt show)! To further this education I also went to 'Salsa Al Parque' (Salsa in the Park) which is one of the big, free festivals they do here where I definetely realised how far Ive got to go seeing the most ridiculously good dancing from all these cuban and cali dancers (I think the people around us also realised this as they put a great effort into trying to help Claire and I out). Fortunately when Jaime and his friends were here (who again is from Durham and who it was so nice to see when they were passing through), we managed to avoid anwhere sampling such music so could dance like the English people that we are! I've also bought a new, cheap guitar here to keep me entertained which comes with 12 free lessons so this has the potential to be a very educational trip!

I am working at CCCM which is the Colombian Campaign to ban Landmines which was founded about 10 years ago. The people there are sooooo friendly (as everyone here seems to be) and its generally a pretty young team in Bogota. The headquarters is here but there are people working in 22 departments where there are landmines. Unfortunately it is a very serious problem here and whilst the government has signed a treaty (the ottawa treaty) to say it will stop using them, encouraging the non-state forces is not so easy and Colombias terrain is not easy to demine. There are still on average three landmine accidents everyday here. The campaign is trying to promote a politically neutral, humanitarian ban and demining in Colombia and also to provide mine risk education and care for the victims of landmines. This is a very busy time here as COlombia (Cartagena) is going to be the host of the Second (five yearly) Revision Conference of the Ottawa Convention (created ten years ago and signed by hundreds of nations to implement the total ban and irradication of landmines in each country within four years, unfortunately this hasnt happened in many including Colombia) which I will be going to at the end of November. So representatives from about 170 nations will be here as well as lots of NGOs etc to assess and try and push for its realisation. And it is also the opportunity to present COlombia's problem to the world. I am going to be travelling aroud a fair bit going to public forums all over the country to discuss each regions main problems in preperation for this and also helping translate alot of stuff in to Engish for thye convention.

In fact... I went to the fisrt forum on wednesday which was in the middle of nowhere (about an hour from the caribbean coast) in a town that I dont think has seen foreigners in decades! I couldnt stop laughing at the whole towns (very unsubtle) eyes (and pointing hands) following Claire and I literally everywhere we went! Very surreal! We were also on live national tv as the forums are filmed so that the general public can phone in with their opinions, we were in the audience but the only foreign people there so they zoomed right in on us, again I started laughing so didnt think they'd show it but I came back to Bogota to be introduced to someone who said 'Oh yea, I saw you on tv last night!' Crazy...

We went to the coast for a few days before this, to Cartagena, Santa Marta and a national park called Tarona which was sooooo beautiful. Ive put up some photos actually, the beaches were stunning and its protected so there is no development whatsoever, the biggest beach had nothing but a little campsite on and a wooden shack on the peninsular with hammocks in where we slept.

Back in the Bog, I have been getting in to the local pastime. I went with a guy I work with and his friends to watch the Colombia vs Ecuador worldcup quailifying game yesterday which in traditional style involved a sea of yellow shirts and people with those horn things in the bar, a fair amount of beer and aguardiente (the national spirit, tastes like sambuca, have to drink it as a shot, people drink a LOT of it) and the guy I was with bursting into tears when Colombia won (scored in the last ten minutes)!

I'm going to be on the road for the next week, heading a couple of hours south on tuesday and then right down south to Popayan for a few days, which is where lots of indigenous people live and then up to Medellin till a week on wednesday. And then after that, Im going to be in Antioquia (north west-ish) for three weeks which Im very excited about as thats where Medellin is (supposedly the nicest city in Colombia, dont know yet whether I'll be there or in the countryside, probably a biot of both), it will be cool to get to know another part of the country, plus, being the sunworshiper that I am, it is nice and hot there!

Sorry this has been so long, will try and keep updates shorther and more frequent in the future! Thanks for reading this if you have (which you must have done if youre reading this now), I hope all is well with you wherever you are- keep in touch!

Laura xxx