So the adventure has begun. I am sitting in an apartment in Cali right now (first part of this post), typing up my first blog entry from South America. I must admit that this feels great! I am on a new continent for the first time since back in 2006. Okay, enough of the small talk. I'll jump right in.
The first city on my Colombian/Ecuador adventure was Bogota. So I arrived at the airport in Bogota at about 9:00 at night, and after waiting in the Customs line for about an hour, finally got out of the airport, where the swarm of taxis descended upon me. I was able to figure out how to find an official taxi, and then practiced my Spanish with the driver as he took me to where I would be staying. I had arranged to stay with a family in Bogota, but had no idea where they lived. It turns out that they live in a very poor neighborhood, where you really don't want to be walking around by yourself at night. Go figure! Here I was, a gringo, arriving in Latin America for the first time, in a neighborhood (Comuneros) that was a little sketchy, in the middle of the night. Well, I definitely manage to keep things interesting.
The family that I stayed with was very friendly and continually tried to help me with my Spanish, even when I made a fool of myself. I really enjoyed hanging out with them and they showed me around the city several times, although Bogota is huge and I will never manage to see the whole thing. I visited a few universities, which was really cool, walking around and talking to some of the students. I was also able to walk around the old town of Bogota, called La Candelaria. It is a pretty cool place, with narrow streets, a lot of cafes and bars, and a very fun and rowdy nightlife. I met up with some other young people in La Candelaria for a night and we went to this really cool little bar, where I managed to down a few cups of chicha (a fermented maize drink), try my first Colombian beer, and get up the nerve to ask a girl to show me some of her salsa moves. It wasn't really fair because she is a caleña from Cali, where they are born with salsa genes. It was a lot of fun and a great group to hang out with-- my first Colombian rumba experience!
The other day, I explored the city on my own, by foot most of the day. It was really nice to just relax, go at my own pace, take pictures of whatever I wanted, and drop in to sample the snacks at the various cafes around the city. Getting back to where I was staying was interesting, as I had to try to solve the puzzle of the Transmilenio system (Colombia's first tram system). It was kind of fun, although could have been very frustrating. After being crammed into a car for about 20 minutes, I finally figured out where I had to get out of the car, and managed to walk back home safely.
I also got to experience the fun game of tejo. To make it simple, this bar game consists of drinking a lot of beer and casting metal disks at little objects full of gunpowder. It is actually a lot of fun. My friend took me into one of the barrios (it was a neighborhood in which everyone is on the street, doing everything you can imagine, all night long). I was the first to walk into this little dive, where there were two couples dancing. As soon as they saw me, they stopped and everything went silent. It was actually very funny! I proceeded to make my way back to behind the bar, where the tejo ¨field¨was set up. There were two fields, full of guys that were drunk and tossing things every which way. Needless to say, I caught a few weird looks from them too:) Anyway, it seems that I am a natural in tejo, as I went undefeated and received congratualtions from everyone in the bar when I left. Hmm, I guess I can always become a professional tejo player if things fall apart:)
The people of Colombia are very friendly and warm, the surroundings of Bogota were beautiful, with two sides of the city surrounded by steep mountains. On the peak of one mountain sits Montserrat, a grand monastery. It was really beautiful to visit, and the views of the huge city from the church were amazing.
I am back to washing my clothes by hand, which, funny as it sounds, is kind of nice--getting back to the simplicity of life. I am eating three meals a day, instead of the 4-5 I was managing to put down back home, and have tried many traditional Colombian foods so far, including sancocho con pescado (a type of soup with fish), picuda frita (another type of fried fish, I think catfish), of course fried plantains, and also just the staple rice, potatoes, and carne.
The weather in Bogota is great, with a fall-like climate all the time. It is never really hot, but not too cold either, mostly staying between 50-75 degrees all the time. I know this will change when I move up to the Caribbean coast, so I am enjoying it now.
Yesterday, I arrived on a flight to Cali. After some frustrating attempts at changing my flight that I had already purchased (I just didn't want to use the first part of it; they tried to charge me $150 to not use the first leg; instead, I found a flight that would solve the whole thing, for $50). It is a little crazy that it is cheaper to just buy a whole new flight than to not use one part of a pre-purchased one! I stayed with a friend there, and I can already say, the reputation of caleña girls being really beautiful is right on the money. I can't wait to get back to Cali after Ecuador! What's even better is that Cali is a pretty warm city, so most of the girls are wearing tank tops and shorts. Hmm.....
I was also able to participate in my first class of Hapkido, a martial art. It was a lot of fun, and people were even asking me for how many years I had been practicing. When I told them that it was my first day, they told me that I will be the next Bruce Lee! That is pretty exciting. So I have that going for me now, which is nice! When I return to Cali in a month, I will take up a few more classes and maybe squeeze in a blackbelt or two:)
Right now, I am sitting in the Bogota airport, waiting for a flight to Quito. After waking up at 3:45 this morning to get to the airport in time for my early flight, we sat on the runway for two hours, I missed my connnecting flight, and had to wait around in the airport here for 8 hours. Fun stuff! Well, at least I had some Spanish material with me. I am super excited to visit Ecuador, where I will be staying for about a month. I am really looking forward to Spanish classes so I can enjoy my experience even more, and then also to meet up with my posse in Quito.
So I guess my next post will be from Ecuador. I can't wait to experience some of yet another country. I forgot how fun this is! Ciao from Bogota.
Pictures can be found at http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW
The first city on my Colombian/Ecuador adventure was Bogota. So I arrived at the airport in Bogota at about 9:00 at night, and after waiting in the Customs line for about an hour, finally got out of the airport, where the swarm of taxis descended upon me. I was able to figure out how to find an official taxi, and then practiced my Spanish with the driver as he took me to where I would be staying. I had arranged to stay with a family in Bogota, but had no idea where they lived. It turns out that they live in a very poor neighborhood, where you really don't want to be walking around by yourself at night. Go figure! Here I was, a gringo, arriving in Latin America for the first time, in a neighborhood (Comuneros) that was a little sketchy, in the middle of the night. Well, I definitely manage to keep things interesting.
The family that I stayed with was very friendly and continually tried to help me with my Spanish, even when I made a fool of myself. I really enjoyed hanging out with them and they showed me around the city several times, although Bogota is huge and I will never manage to see the whole thing. I visited a few universities, which was really cool, walking around and talking to some of the students. I was also able to walk around the old town of Bogota, called La Candelaria. It is a pretty cool place, with narrow streets, a lot of cafes and bars, and a very fun and rowdy nightlife. I met up with some other young people in La Candelaria for a night and we went to this really cool little bar, where I managed to down a few cups of chicha (a fermented maize drink), try my first Colombian beer, and get up the nerve to ask a girl to show me some of her salsa moves. It wasn't really fair because she is a caleña from Cali, where they are born with salsa genes. It was a lot of fun and a great group to hang out with-- my first Colombian rumba experience!
The other day, I explored the city on my own, by foot most of the day. It was really nice to just relax, go at my own pace, take pictures of whatever I wanted, and drop in to sample the snacks at the various cafes around the city. Getting back to where I was staying was interesting, as I had to try to solve the puzzle of the Transmilenio system (Colombia's first tram system). It was kind of fun, although could have been very frustrating. After being crammed into a car for about 20 minutes, I finally figured out where I had to get out of the car, and managed to walk back home safely.
I also got to experience the fun game of tejo. To make it simple, this bar game consists of drinking a lot of beer and casting metal disks at little objects full of gunpowder. It is actually a lot of fun. My friend took me into one of the barrios (it was a neighborhood in which everyone is on the street, doing everything you can imagine, all night long). I was the first to walk into this little dive, where there were two couples dancing. As soon as they saw me, they stopped and everything went silent. It was actually very funny! I proceeded to make my way back to behind the bar, where the tejo ¨field¨was set up. There were two fields, full of guys that were drunk and tossing things every which way. Needless to say, I caught a few weird looks from them too:) Anyway, it seems that I am a natural in tejo, as I went undefeated and received congratualtions from everyone in the bar when I left. Hmm, I guess I can always become a professional tejo player if things fall apart:)
The people of Colombia are very friendly and warm, the surroundings of Bogota were beautiful, with two sides of the city surrounded by steep mountains. On the peak of one mountain sits Montserrat, a grand monastery. It was really beautiful to visit, and the views of the huge city from the church were amazing.
I am back to washing my clothes by hand, which, funny as it sounds, is kind of nice--getting back to the simplicity of life. I am eating three meals a day, instead of the 4-5 I was managing to put down back home, and have tried many traditional Colombian foods so far, including sancocho con pescado (a type of soup with fish), picuda frita (another type of fried fish, I think catfish), of course fried plantains, and also just the staple rice, potatoes, and carne.
The weather in Bogota is great, with a fall-like climate all the time. It is never really hot, but not too cold either, mostly staying between 50-75 degrees all the time. I know this will change when I move up to the Caribbean coast, so I am enjoying it now.
Yesterday, I arrived on a flight to Cali. After some frustrating attempts at changing my flight that I had already purchased (I just didn't want to use the first part of it; they tried to charge me $150 to not use the first leg; instead, I found a flight that would solve the whole thing, for $50). It is a little crazy that it is cheaper to just buy a whole new flight than to not use one part of a pre-purchased one! I stayed with a friend there, and I can already say, the reputation of caleña girls being really beautiful is right on the money. I can't wait to get back to Cali after Ecuador! What's even better is that Cali is a pretty warm city, so most of the girls are wearing tank tops and shorts. Hmm.....
I was also able to participate in my first class of Hapkido, a martial art. It was a lot of fun, and people were even asking me for how many years I had been practicing. When I told them that it was my first day, they told me that I will be the next Bruce Lee! That is pretty exciting. So I have that going for me now, which is nice! When I return to Cali in a month, I will take up a few more classes and maybe squeeze in a blackbelt or two:)
Right now, I am sitting in the Bogota airport, waiting for a flight to Quito. After waking up at 3:45 this morning to get to the airport in time for my early flight, we sat on the runway for two hours, I missed my connnecting flight, and had to wait around in the airport here for 8 hours. Fun stuff! Well, at least I had some Spanish material with me. I am super excited to visit Ecuador, where I will be staying for about a month. I am really looking forward to Spanish classes so I can enjoy my experience even more, and then also to meet up with my posse in Quito.
So I guess my next post will be from Ecuador. I can't wait to experience some of yet another country. I forgot how fun this is! Ciao from Bogota.
Pictures can be found at http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW
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3 comments:
Great post, Nate! It's so much fun to read all about your adventures. Can't wait for the next installment.
I'm glad you found back to simplicity! And same here: I'm looking forward to the next episode of "Nate's Adventures". Cuidate!
Nate Dogg,
Sounds like you are blending in nicely. I am glad that you are having fun, seeing lots and staying safe. We will test those Hapkido skills when you get back.
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