Bogota, Colombia

Hola mis amigos!

I´ve spent the last week or so in Bogota and have just arrived in Cali (another city). Before I waffle on about my experiences in Bogota, I have included below a few facts and figures (as the Great Shane Daly would say) about Colombia´s capital city:

Bogota
1 - Population of c 8.5 million
2 - 33rd World´s Most Populated City
3 - Capital City of Colombia
4 - Perched at a height of 2,600 metres as is siutuated between mountains
5 - Average Daily Temperature of 14 degrees
6 - Far from the worst effected place in Colombia by Terrorism but the FARC did have a strong influence here c 5 years ago
7 - Most famous person born here is probably Juan Pablo Montaya (F1 Driver)
8 - If you search Google under worlds most dangeropus cities the first link that comes up is this one
http://www.gustey.com/2010-most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world and Bogota comes in this websites Top 10

Despite all this my greatest memory of Bogota will be the rain! Yes the rain and this is coming from an Irishman who is well accustomed to the night´s skies falling asunder from a height. It has rained every day that I have been in Bogota and a lot of that rain has been a downpour. An English guy from my hostel told me the weather has been pretty much the same for the last 6 months. And to top it off it is pretty cold too - similar to October temperatures at home! So as amazing as it may sound....there is a place in South America that can rival us for the poor quality of our weather!!!

Rant over as this is the only complaint I have about my time in Bogota. Firstly, the people are incredibly friendly. I have rarely met a people who are so obsessed with a foreigner´s opinion of them. I suppose this stems from the negative perceptions of their bloody past and as a result want they go out of their way to ensure they leave you with a positive perception of their homeland. For example, one evening walking the streets looking for a taxi and conscious of being late, I bumb into an elderly gentleman on the way home. He senses I am struggling to get transport, asks me if I am looking for a taxi and where I am going. He then proceeds to wait (c 15 minutes) until a taxi arrives and has a 2 minute chat with the taximan to ensure that I don´t get ripped off. Once I get in the taxi he ambles off home without a care in the world. I have been fortunate to have had numerous similar experiences. Or on another occassion, myself and a Belgian friend got our Spanish mixed up and we overpaid for a taxi by pretty much double the fare. As we are about to leave the taxi suddenly the driver starts handing us back our change and only then it dawns on us eijits that we overpaid! Doubt you´d see it happen in Dublin!

Bogota, despite all the bad press, feels pretty safe so far. I am sure there a numerous no-go areas, as in every city, but walking the streets during the day you never feel threatened and you wouldn´t be on your guard as you would be in Rio.  You get approached by the odd beggar but no more then you would be at home. At nightime, the streets are well lighted and each corner is marshalled by a fully armed member of the police or army. You are not advised to walk the streets at nightime but I have walked home a few times and never felt in danger.

On the going out front, I have had a very enjoyable time. I have been lucky to be shown around by Linus, a Swedish buddy I knew from Dublin, but who is now living in Bogota teaching English to the locals. A night out here is so much more enjoyable than home. The Colmbians know how to enjoy themselves and salsa seems the order of the day. You do as much dancing as drinking but it´s much more fun than at home and it´s also much more condusive for strangers to approach each-other. The locals also know how to enjoy their life and regardless of their economic position tend to concentrate on what they have rather than what they don´t. Jaysus we have a lot to learn from this attitude!

For the lads the cailins are attractive enough and very flirty. By and large it is the guys who get chatted up and even if you approach somebody they will always have some fun with ya even if they are not interested. It reminds me a lot of Brazil in this way. I can sense a few of you clicking on the cheap airline websites already!!!!!!

I have met a real mix of people travelling here. When I travelled 7 years ago, there were tons of English and Isrealis mixed with a few Yanks, Europeans and Aussies. Here the hostels have more Spanish speaking people with a lot of other South American travellers which is an interesting phenomenon. I have also come across a lot more Aussies but that could just be the hostle I am staying in.

Bogota, like a lot of South America, is a place of extremes. The city is divided north and south by the city centre. The North is where all the affluent and wealthy live and the South houses the majority of the poor locals. The City Centre divides the two and houses the majority of students in Bogota which engenders a cool and fun vibe to the city. I did spend an evening in the South party area called Zona Rosa and have to admit that for all the bars and tons of people, I was not a huge fan. There was a lot of attitude, its very cliquey and the people were very much inthemselves and not so friendly. Picture Crystal, Harcourt Street on a Saturday night and it would not be too different.

Bogota and Colombia in general has a colourful history. Within the last 200 years it is amazing to think that Colombia, Ecudaor, Panama and Venezuela where at one point all part of the same country. Things appeared to have changed considerably over the last 10 years where Colombia has gone from South Americas problem child to one of their most progressive countries. The government have succeeded in pushing the FARC/Terrorists to the most obscure parts of the country and this has resulted in a lot of new tourism which the locals have embraced. Despite the positive impacts of all the changes, there is still an   undercurrent of a darker side to the country.  The drug trade appears to have a strong influence on the countrys economy which has the knock on effect of corruption, fear and intimidation. I have not experienced any of this at first hand but have spoken to enough Colombians and gringos living here to believe there has to be some truth in it.

I don´t have any real funny stories or any crazy experiences to report, which is a bit strange for me. I did meet a few headers/characters in the clubs but nothing too exciting to talk about.

I have no doubt there will be plenty of funny stories to report later on!



I now am in Cali where thanks to be to God the weather is warmer and no rain to report yet. According to Lonely Planet, Cali is more dangerous than Bogota. Regardless of all this, I don´t think it will make a difference as so far so good in Colombia, which is defintely a place worth visiting!

James.

ps for some unknown reason the pictures I took will not load up on the page so will upload them at a later stage.

Itinerary

Here ye go - Hanbo's itinerary is below.

Enjoy and will be in touch!

Indicative Itinerary

DATE	LOCATION	COMMENT
Colombia
Tue 16/11 to Mon 02/01	Bogota Cali Medellin Cartagena	Get acclimatised Study Spanish (2 week course) Meet Linius & Paul Reidy (friend of Greg Moran)
Venezuela
Tue 03/01	Travel to Merida	May have to stay overnight in Maracaibu
Wed 04/01 to Sat 09/01	Merida
Sun 10/01 & Mon 11/01	Travel thru Los Llanos
Tue 12/01	Travel to Santa Angel
Wed 12/01	Santa Angel/Angel Falls
Brazil
Thu 13/01 to Sun 16/01	Travel to & around Manaus
Mon 17/01	Boat to Belem
Tue 18/01 to Sat 22/01	Belem	Study Portuguese
Sun 23/01	Travel to Fortaleza
Mon 24/01 to Wed 26/01	Fortaleza
Thu 27/01	Travel to Olinda
Fri 28/01 to Sun 30/01	Olinda
Mon 31/01	Travel to Salvador	Meet Lucas
Tue 01/02 to Sun 06/02	Salvador
Mon 07/02	Travel to Belo Horizonte
Tue 08/02 to Sun 13/02	Belo Horizonte	Study Portuguese – Meet Saulo & Andrea
Mon 14/02	Travel to Rio
Tue 15/02 to Sun 20/02	Rio	Meet Celia and mb Mauricio
Mon 21/02	Travel to Sao Paulo
Tue 22/02 to Wed 23/02	Sao Paulo
Thu 24/02	Travel to Porte Alegre/Florinapolis
Fri 25/02 to Wed 09/03	Porte Alegre/Florinapolis	Carnaval
Thu 10/03	Travel to Iguazu Falls
Thu 10/03 to Sat  12/03	Iguazu Falls
Uruguay
Sun 13/03	Travel to Uruguay
Mon 14/03 to Wed 16/03	Uruguay Beaches
Thu 17/03 to Tue 22/03	Montevideo	St Patricks Day
Argentina
Wed 23/03	Travel to Buenos Aires
Thu 24/03 to Tue 05/04	Buenos Aires	Ireland v Uruguay March 29th
Wed 06/04	Travel Home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!