Bogota by Night

Wow, this city as beast. When your living here and you develop a routine its amazing to think how quick you adapt and become a part of something that is totally alien, sometimes i forget that i can't communicate with over 7,500,000 people in my same city. I have always kind of looked at cities like living organisms, partly because they are, to some extent, and partly because the are born, grow, and eventually die. Well, Bogota is in its growing stages, in 1951, there was 715,000 people, today there is over 8,000,000 people with estimates for the 2010 census around 10,000,000 people, this is city is gigantic. In spanish class today the ran begin to fall with heavy force upon the roof off your building, which was nice because the wet moist air help mask the smell of marijuana smoke that was flowing through the window while an entire class of students stood directly out of our window and smoked a big fat joint. Eventually my Spanish professor tapped on the glass and let them have it, "Could you please move over so your not smoking RIGHT next to our window?" Ha! All the kids turned out to have class in the room directly next to ours, another Ha! The rain calmed it self during the duration of the class, so much so the asphalt was dry when i excited the room. But, life was looking me directly in the eye in the form of a gigantic deep black cloud rolling like an avalance down the mountains in the east with a cold breathe that seemed to run down every last vertebre in your spine. I knew i had to get to the bus, and i knew that i had to do it fast, so i put my head down and begin the face paced trek to the Tranmilenio station, i beat the rain there but as i walked through the station i saw B12 roll by, and in the processing while waiting for the next 12, the 11 came, and it was crowded! So crowded when the people couldn't get off the bus, and someone trying to get on actually had to grab the person's wrist and pull them out of the crowd of people. They popped out like a cork, making the same noise and everything, and after the preverbel cork come the pooring of people, like six or seven, and of course nine got on. The last guy getting on got piched big time and when the bus left the strap to his back pack was actually physically haning out the door, i couldn't help but laugh. Immediatly i thought that Karma was going to put me on a crazy crowded bus. But alas, i didn't, and the downpour began as i got on to the bus. The top hatches were open for wind, and nobody close them, so every know and then while hanging out to the handle i would catch a fat rain drop right in the eye. All though all the side windows were closed, witch on this paricular day wasn't the greatest thing because someone farted the fieircest fart i have ever smelled and in stuck in a group of people that are face to back and ass to ass. Okay, this is how big the city is, at the first stop when the doors open the people getting on got soaked in the rain in the from the one inch crack between the bus and the terminal. By the time i got to my stop 145 (my school is on 26) the rain that was moving south had rolled over my bus route and the rain had actually stopped, not just stopped, but the the tread lines on the road where actually dry from the cars driving down the road, awesome. The walk home was a fast one, i moved quickly and than a moment of look around came over me around my house. I looked around my neighborhood, Cedrittos, and across from my apartment there is an all girls middle school more or less, i am not sure of the grades. At the school they were having a parent teacher night and the streets where lined with cars. I thought to my self, wow what a wonderful neighborhood, than i looked up and saw the mountains in the east. In the far east the mountains, and where the gradient allows it, which is still an amazingly steep incline, people build houses, and i assume don't pay for land. In this fairy tale neighborhood (were people still get robbed at 2 in the afternoon on a busy street) the ghettos in the mountains stands guard like a gargoyle in some old gothic castle. Looking across the street at all the happy families it was an erie feeling to think about all the people displaced from guerilla violence, people with half an arm and 2 fingers on the other hand, mothers who walk down the hill to beg with their children, 7 year old children getting tattooed by there 9 year old brothers, houses made of old brown brick and mix fast concrete with stolen electricity and cable but an unfinished second floor with a floor and one wall, just looking down on us all the time... the city is the home of anything and everything. It is a place where all your dreams can come true, and you can loose your life in the same night, what a magical place.

My First Women Cab Driver

Okay, got of the bus and had about a 12 block walk in the rain, it was blowing very very hard and when that happens my 2.50$ umbrella tends to flip inside out and become totally ineffective. So, i broke a rule and paid for a cab, c'mon people it was only a buck fifty. So, i hope in the cab, tell her where my home is, and close the door, "ahhhh, PAPACITO!" and than something along the lines of why did you close the door so hard. After that she explained to me in a very rapid Spanish how there is her job and she doesn't come to my job and start slamming things around, i gave her a very sheepish "lo siento" or I am sorry... and than sunk into the crushed velvet hiding my face behind my backpack. Later, she asked me if she could get to my house by going straight, i thought that we were becoming friends again, so i replied with a smile and a yes and got my posture back. As we rounded the corner we came to traffic light with a lot of cars, probably about 3 lights worth US, 2 down here in Bogota. While waiting at the light, i decided to keep our friendly dialogue going and told her that her next move was a left at the light. "Claro" which means clearly, but used as of course, was her only response. Okay... and i sank bank into the comfy confines of her crushed velvet even deeper than my first visit. While the light was red, red mind you, she started to lay on the horn and honk and honk and honk, while the light was RED! What is gonna happen? Is the light gonna turn green because of increased decibels? Are the cars gonna part like the Red Sea for Moses? You can guess what happened next... nothing, just more honking, oh and PS the horn sounded a lot like a dying cow, the first time she honked i wasn't looking in her direction and was so startled by the noise i looked out the window to see if a renegade cow escaped from the north and came to my neighborhood to die next to the rain water/river of trash. The light turns green, the cars in the right line are driving a little faster, and my cab driver actually jumps in the right side and passes the car in front of us only to stop a 100 feet later, having advanced her position one car! Finally when i got home i gave her the 3000 pesos, quietly closed the door, as she told me "Thank you love!" ...yeah right... and said some hail marys, Thank you god for getting me back to UPSALA....

Festival Iberomericano de Teatro de Bogota

The Bogota festival of Theatre is officially in full swing. What it is is a bi-yearly three week festival celebrating theatre all over the city, in all different shapes and forms, from all different countries all over the world. For example at the university where i work there is theatre performance for free in the auditorium, with acts from Portugal, France and Colombia just next week. The first night it was going on i went down to la Candelaria, the oldest neighborhood in Bogota, where the city actually started. Within the neighborhood you can find Calle 1 con Carrera 1 (the equivalent of 1st Street with 1st Avenue) the corner of the city, it literally sits up against the mountains like they where a gate. I came down primarily to shoot 8ball and eat pizza, but there was no shortage of street theatre. Most of the acts i didn't fully understand, i just clapped when other people clapped, and laughed when other people laughed... but i did understand some jokes! of which i laughed probably a little awkwardly loud because i felt like i deserved a bellowing laugh with the break through accomplishments in my Spanish. There was sooo many people out! The bus ride from the University where i study to La Candelaria was also kind of a trip. We went through the guts of what locals describe as "la mierda." There was hand craft stores, and other independently owned small business trying to make a dollar, restaurants, but every two blocks or so there was big time bordellos. The bordellos are on the second floor and when the hookers don't have a client they come down the stairs and stand in the hallways. I have seen hookers in other cities around the world, and in the US, but i have always seen them working a beat or a corner, this looked like a strip club but it even had the neon lights that said 24 hour service. After the bus ride past la mierda i arrived to the nicer part of the neighborhood, shot some pool, drank some Costeña, and than watched some street art. Than it was time to head to TransMilenio, i know you all know the bus by now. To get there i had to walk through Churo (sp?) i don't know if it is another neighborhood, or just a park in Candelaria, but the vibe there was totally different. They had the classic narrow old streets, with sidewalks chest high on the sides, and they were packed! Primarily with two different types of sub-cultures. The rock/metal culture and the reggae culture. Sprinkled in where Fubu gangsters and Punk Rockers, walked by a Reggae club that sounded awesome, but the area has a reputation for pick pockets and being dangerous when its time to leave the club, you got the vibe a lot of the kids where homeless. After the narrow streets you emerged in to this small little plaza where everybody was sitting on the ground with there legs crossed, passing Rum, Whiskey, Aguardiente and Joints. The smell of cheap crappy pot hung in the sky like a rain cloud that followed you. They where smoking weed like it was legal, and you had to walk like it was the part at the end of the third Indiana Jones where the ground was gonna break because their was so many people that just would not get out of the way. Right when i got out of the park this three kids where smoking a huge joint and one young girl hit it to hard and turned to her six o clock (where i happened to be standing) coughed and let out a mountain of weed smoke that consumed my face as it rolled by. Smoking weed is ILLEGAL in Colombia, but for two blocks it sure didn't feel like it. Finally through the young kids getting wasted and to Transmilenio to head north to the Zona Te and back down to Caracas for bar hopping. On the Transmilenio ride too there was a guy breaking down the art of street vending and talking about his different Colognes, very educational.

Know Your Cities Streets

Today i was hanging out with my friend Pedro as he packed and got ready to go to Peru for a week of work. The time came for us to say our good byes as he was headed to the airport and he took me to my Transmilenio stop, Mundo Advenutra, up through Caracas all the way to the 146 stop. That is past 32 stops... but its was B5, so thank the lord we didn't stop at all 32, that is just for perspective to see about how long the trip was. I did not take Pedros advice and switch lines, so i could take an alternate route to the north which was thirty minutes fast, why? Because i thought i had the system down. Of the two lines that travel to the north, one takes the innercity express way that has zero lights, and the other goes right through the city streets, sigh... Oh well, i really, literally, got to see ALL of Bogota today, all of it.
Also worth note, another interesting discovery about my favroite mode of Transportation. As you can see from the photo, the middle of the bus is like a slinky, this is because the bus is required, when taking more urbanized routes to perform sharp U-Turns and 45 degree turns at normal city intersections, well you can also stand in the middle part of these buses during your travels (it happens to be quite a roomy area of the bus). Well, this whole area pivots, as you can guess, to make these turns, and when you stand on the pivoting area you move as well. I discovered this today, with one foot on the pivoting area and one off. We made a 45 degree turn, at break neck speeds, of course (you could feel the bus tipping) and half of my body was twisted violently a full 45 degrees, while the other foot kept half my body planted. This had my almost falling down to my knees in front of the entire bus, what a wonderful system.
And on a completely different note, i thought i broke my big toe for half a second. The wind was ripping down 7A, and a kiosk with a large umbrella, i think for Tigo, was on the street. When the wind ripped by it caught the umbrella and the umbrella actually blew the entire kiosk over. Yours truly happen to by walking by at that exact time, and i had enough reaction time to jump out of the way and remove most of my body from harms way, while wearing a back pack full of books, however i didn't jump far enough because my foot was crushed, specifically my toes. I let out a howl that woke the dead, and made everybody on 7A, lunch time traffic, look and stare. But its okay because i only had another 10 or so blocks left on my walk... you can imagine the afternoon bus ride, too.

Some thoughts and Concerts and Such

Damn buses, my whole day in this city revolves around transportation, and i got my but crack pinched in the door on Tranmileno, again. Working long days, can't wait for the weekend, also think i found a new tattoo artist and i am excited about some new work. There is a certain arrogance here in this city that i am picking up more and more that doesn't exist in the other cities, and i guess rightfully so. While i am here, in the 4 and a half brief months i am here, Korn, Metallica, Sting, U2, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Gun n Roses and Aerosmith are playing shows. Damn! Some serious live acts come through here. Now if only the bus drivers could learn to drive...

Thoughts on Barranquilla

Hello, i am going to back track a little bit today because i have just started this blog, and i started it several days after the start of a very exciting time, so i would like to back track a couple of weeks and make sure that i document all of my Colombian experience and i share all of the crazy things that have happened, with me, with you. I am going to talk about a couple of expierences that i had in Barranquilla during the Carnaval. The first being the pick pocket. I was standing on a cart that is used normally to pull around different fruit, pineapple, bananas, and other tropical fruit, by a donkey through neighborhoods, to be sold. But for four days out of the year, this cart is jammed up right next to a metal gate on the side of the parade. For 5000 colombian pesos (2.50 US dollars) you can stand on it to watch the parade go by. I was on the very back, wearing slightly baggy shorts, with my wallet chest level to somebody. While i was standing up there i was tapped and turned around and pulled off by an excited young man, 12 years or so, shouting some things in a caribeen creole spanish. Also worth note, to by suprise, he had my wallet. Apparantly, a man had stole my wallet, i fortunatly had all my money inside of my pockets, and while riffling through the contents a young man who saw the whole scenario chased the man down and aquired my wallet from the theif and brought it back to me. At which point i paid 2000 pesos (1 dollar) to the young man. Shortly after, in slight disbelief at the lightness of the theif´s (whom i never saw) fingers, i heard quite a ruckus coming from the left. I thought the police where breaking up a fight, or something a long the lines of a collegiate tailgate at a US university. Shorty after a large man with no shirt ran directly by me, looking over his shoulder, and in his right hand was a long sharp knife, ready for action. Shortly after a crowed of around 20 to 25 men where chasing him, chairs above head, broken legs off of tables, metal piping, and anything that could be used to beat the theif in to the ground. Wow, had i spoke a little more spanish maybe i could have helped, but in the scenario of a fleeing criminal with a knife ready to kill somebody, maybe it is better to be a spectator or bystanderded. After about thirty seconds of chaos and confusion, the party resumed as usual, back to dancing and mas rumba. Oh yeah, this was day one of a four day party by the way...

The Dry Weekend and a lil Boltero

Okay, first lets talk about this weekend. This weekend is the election, Uribe has been president in Colombia now for 8 years, super right wing and conservative. When he was younger his family was killed by the FARC and sense that time he has held a chip on his shoulder, using a lot of violence in the last eight years to reduce the number of FARC members in the country. THis includes legal force, and fighting with fire in the form of the paramilitary. Okay, so many colombians feel that now is a time for change in their country and don't want Uribe anymore, but Uribe didn't want to give up his presidency, so he made an effort to amend the constitution of Colombia so he could run for additional terms, this created a lot of protest among the public, and what happened? The supreme court said he would not be allowed to amend the constitution and run for another term, victory for the Colombian citizens.... for a couple of days. After Uribe was informed that that was not going to be possible, he went back and looked through the constitution and found that there is nothing that says he can't be VICE president. so, he and his vice president have simply switched roles and he is on the ballet again this weekend. Wow, and, in the country of Colombia the hold the elections of an entire weekend, which means for some reason the don't serve any alcohol in the ENTIRE COUNTRY at bars, or sell booze at stores, for the whole weekend starting at six o clock on friday night, sooo all the discos are closed and the city is quite (all though for some reason i saw a line two blocks long at a grocery store last night at two and my broken spanish couldn't quite figure out exactly why while i was talking with the taxi driver). It came on a good weekend because i have lots of work, but, i still think it is kind of lame. Also i threw up some pictures of Medellin for you to enjoy, awesome city, my favoirte in Colombia, these are some pictures from Plaza de Boltero, right outside of the Museo de Antioquia which also had an awesome Boltero exhibit. Take it easy!

Last Thoughts of Medellin

Monday morning and back in Bogota, couldn´t be happier... sort of. It is nice to be back in my own city, working (i really do love my job) and studying spanish again. Having said that, i prefer Medellin as a city to Bogota, without a doubt. First the weather, oh my lord, it was never unbearale hot, but i came back with a new golden skin color. And the public transit was so much easier, maybe it has something to do with 2.5 million people instead of the 8 million i live with, but it never seemed impossible to get from on place to another. My morning commute in a bus is an hour and half everyday, in a hot sweaty stop and go bus. In Medellin you just walk to the Metro and fly across the city, and because it is twice as wide as Transmileno, it never feels THAT crowded. I only had the good fortune of going out one night, but i had a wonderful time. I went to a club that had this egyption theme going, waiters and waitress in all egyption type stuff, pretty girls and buff dudes dressed like kings and queens on thrones, mummies walking around, belly dancers on the bar, and three different times there was live music with guys jumping around on the bar. My favoirte aguardiente comes from the area, which was also a plus and i have developed a strong taste for Pilsen as well. The night club felt a lot like Las Vegas (i have never been) in the sense i wasnt in a crowded Bogota club but this huge open area with a ton of people, and mobility! Medellin is known around the country for its plastic surgery and it was very evident at night in and around the clubs and bars. Women their have fake t AND a out of control, not really my thing (also a lot of highlights and blonde girls, hair dye capital) but if your in to it, really its the place to be. A word of warning though, a lot of women all done up with a lot of fake stuff going on are super high end prostitues, and more often than not they´re up in the club with someone who is affiliated with drugs. So, before playing the "i am going to date your girl game" cause it could, serioulsy, live you dead in a street. Other than that it´s all good and i am counting the time until i get to go back! Miss you Medellin, and everybody there!

Medellin First Impressions

One day in Medellin and i am so in love with this city. It is not quite as hot as Cali, but never the less warm, very warm. It is not quite as big as Bogota, no Transmileno, the Metro has so much more elbow room than those red buses. Speaking of the metro, the recently built new cable cars and it was interesting to see the economic status of the families change as we rode the cable cars up in to the mountains, where some young little man fresh out of school asked me if i spoke Spanish, i replied yes (tiny fib) and then he proceed to ask me how i feel about his neighborhood, good little guy. The city built this gigantic library, very modern and progressive, that the king and queen actual came from Spain to see it sitting a top the hills towering over the city in a poor (but not the poorest) neighborhood. In combination with the cable car, the library seems to draw all different types of people to the area and the neighborhood, to spend money and interact, and at least in the small radius between the cable car stop and the library you feel very much apart of a safe, vibrant, lively neighborhood, although its a small sample size. Plus the amount of people that use these cable cars is amazing, when we rode them back down it was the teeth of rush hour and the metro train stopped and everybody, everybody, got off the train and rushed up the stairs in an attempt to avoid the line, easily 100+ people, but the cable car moves constantly so the line doesn't take THAT long. It is interesting to see how it has changed people in that particular neighborhoods lives, no longer requiring the use of several different buses and traveling up the steep mountain side on long dangerous windy roads with crazy drivers. All and all the first day was wonderful, i am just touching on a couple of things, in an Internet cafe, more or less, and i have the city to see, so expect a more detailed account of events on Sunday evening. Ciao!

The Great Bus Strike

Wednesday morning and still order has not been restored in the city of Bogotá. The current situation here with the mass transit that i rely on daily is becoming increasingly standoffish as well as tiresome, especially for the commuter. The southern portion of the city has a reputation as being more dangerous, and the northern neighborhoods have a reputation of safeness, cleanliness, and an over all better quality of life. So, it is very common to see people working in the south, and living in the north. Calles are the streets that run from east to west, and help measure how far north or south you live in the city (with carreras run north to south). For example, i live on calle 145, and i work on calle 26. I do not own a car and public transportation is absolutely necessary to my vitality. Right now there is a strike though with the buses... and it has made for a very difficult three days. My sister arrived in Bogota Sunday night, and the next day was my first day of work. The blue bus, with a sign in the window that reads ¨Germania¨ when running south is the one i take every morning, and it just happens to make its only right hand turn directly in front of the building where my sister needed to go. We rode the bus together, after being passed by three full buses, and I got off at my stop for work. The last thing that I told her to remember, when the bus turns right, you need to get off and you will recognize the green door (it is her second visit in Bogotá). Well, come to find out later that afternoon, the bus never made a right hand turn, in fact it stopped in the middle of carrera 7a, and told everyone to get out. Apparently bus drivers around the city have been throwing rocks at the scabs operating the buses, breaking out windows and hitting passengers, and this particular scab did not want to wait until the rocks where being thrown. So my sister found her self with a cellphone that had no minutes, in a foreign country, in a city with 8,000,000 other people, and no ability to speak Spanish. Thank the good lord our friend Nisma made a call to my sis and came and found her so she could make it to her destination. That is just one story of many by the people being affected by this strike. The mayor authorized owners of trucks to drive around the city and pick people up in the bed of the truck for 2000 pesos (about 1 dollar) while the strike has been taking place. All over the city it is a common site right now to see truck beds packed to the rim full of people. Something has got to give because this whole city is dependent on the bus systems (pico placa means car owners can only drive three of the five weekdays, so EVERYONE uses mass transit) and if the system is crippled the city is slightly crippled. Even though, like we see with the trucks, it is a resourceful country and people will continue to find a way... but this strike needs to stop.